John Harkes

That season, Harkes became the third American (after Bill Regan for Romford in the 1948–49 FA Amateur Cup final and Mike Masters for Colchester United in the 1991-92 FA Trophy final) to play at Wembley when Sheffield Wednesday reached the 1991 League Cup final.

There, the Second Division (now Football League Championship) Wednesday upset the First Division (now Premier League) side Manchester United 1–0.

Also that year, Wednesday won promotion to the First Division.

John Andrew Harkes (born March 8, 1967) is an American soccer coach and former professional player who last coached Greenville Triumph SC.

During his high school career, Harkes played in four New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association championship matches and led his team to the 1984 Group 4 State Championship and a 24–0 record.

He was the 1984 Parade High School Player of the Year.

Harkes graduated from Kearny High School in 1985.

Harkes played for University of Virginia where he was named 1st team All-American in 1986 and 1987, and was the Hermann Award winner in 1987, as the best player in US colleges.

A mainstay in the U.S. national team midfield for most of the 1990s, Harkes appeared in two FIFA World Cup tournaments.

Harkes moved to Sheffield Wednesday of the English Football League in 1990.

In a game that season against Derby County, his 35-yard blast glided into the net past former England World Cup goalkeeper Peter Shilton and earned him English football's "Goal of the Season" award.

John Harkes played in the 1990 and 1994 FIFA World Cup

A member of the National Soccer Hall of Fame, Harkes was the first American ever to play in the English Premier League with Sheffield Wednesday, the second American to score at Wembley, and the first American soccer player to appear in the final of a major English tournament, in the 1991 Football League Cup Final with Sheffield Wednesday.

In 1993, Harkes became the only American to score in a League Cup Final, in a 2–1 loss to Arsenal.

His goal was the second by an American at Wembley Stadium following Mike Masters' goal for Colchester United in the F.A. Trophy Final the year before.

He appeared in the FA Cup Final one month after that League Cup disappointment, with Sheffield Wednesday again losing to Arsenal (2–1 in the replay, after a 1–1 draw in the first game).

Harkes played one more season in England after moving to Derby County in the summer of 1993.

In 1995, Major League Soccer (MLS) began preparing for its first season, which it first thought would come in the fall of 1995.

As part of that process, MLS signed prominent U.S. players to league contracts.

After moving to Major League Soccer in 1996, he won two MLS Cup titles with D.C. United.

Harkes was one of the players who signed with MLS, only to discover the league would not begin play until 1996.

Therefore, he, and MLS, negotiated a one-year loan to West Ham United.

In 1996, Harkes, along with his U.S. national teammates based overseas, returned to the U.S. for the launch of Major League Soccer.

MLS had signed numerous prominent U.S. players and eventually allocated them throughout the league's teams in order to create an initial equitable distribution of talent.

MLS allocated Harkes to D.C. United, making him the team's first player ever.

That first season, he led the club to a MLS Cup win and a U.S. Open Cup title.

D.C. United successfully defended its MLS Cup title in 1997, with Harkes assisting on the match-winning goal in the cup final.

He was named the team's "Captain for Life" by then-head coach Steve Sampson before having that title stripped ahead of the 1998 World Cup.

Harkes ended his national team career with 90 caps and six goals.

Despite the disappointment of being left off the 1998 World Cup squad, Harkes helped United capture the Supporters Shield for the best regular season record in the league, before losing in the MLS Cup Final to the Chicago Fire.

He also helped United become the first MLS club to win the CONCACAF Champions' Cup and upset Brazil's Vasco Da Gama in the Interamerican Cup.

At the end of the 1998 season, he traveled back to England for a two-week trial with Nottingham Forest.

In 1999, he was named by The Star-Ledger as one of the top ten New Jersey high school soccer players of the 1980s.

On January 28, 1999, the team accepted Harkes for a two-month loan period.

He played only three games for Forest (including the infamous 8–1 defeat to Manchester United) before returning to the U.S. While he was in England, D.C. United traded him to the New England Revolution for the Revs first and second round 1999 MLS College Draft picks.

United traded Harkes in order to make room under the salary cap.

Harkes played three seasons in New England before being traded to the Columbus Crew in the mid-season of 2001.

After an injury-plagued 2002 season, Harkes announced his retirement in 2003.

Following his retirement, he served as a color commentator for ESPN's coverage of MLS and U.S. international matches, including the 2010 FIFA World Cup.

Harkes grew up in the soccer hotbed of Kearny, New Jersey, and played youth and high school soccer with future national team teammates Tony Meola and Tab Ramos.