AT HOME—U.S. Soccer Hall of Famer Eric Wynalda takes in a match at the Crown and Anchor in Thousand Oaks. Wynalda, a correspondent for Fox Soccer, recently sat down for an interview with Acorn correspondent Irish John Gore, who first covered the former Westlake High star in 1977. IRIS SMOOT/Acorn Newspapers I first met Eric Wynalda in 1977.

He was playing soccer for his father, Dave, in Westlake Village in AYSO’s Region 9.

I was a soccer correspondent for Scripps Newspapers and had heard there was a youngster with great athletic ability playing in the Conejo.

I will never forget that day. Wynalda lived up to the hype, and I went back to the newsroom and wrote him up as a soon-to-be soccer superstar.

He didn’t let me down, going on to score 56 goals in 16 games that season, more than all the other teams combined scored that year.

Wynalda, now 42, went on to be the most successful American soccer player of his time.

John Gore Until 2008, when he was passed by current American soccer star Landon Donovan, he was the leading goal-scorer in the history of the U.S. National Team with 34.

His list of accomplishments is long.

At Westlake High School, he earned All-State honors three times. At San Diego State University, he scored 34 goals and had 25 assists in three years.

Wynalda was the first player to score a goal in Major League Soccer. He was elected to the U.S. Soccer Hall of Fame in 2004, named the Honda Player of the Decade for the 1990s, the Honda Player of the Year (’94 and ’96), and is a member of the Ventura County Sports Hall of Fame, AYSO Hall of Fame and the SDSU Hall of Fame.

On Feb. 6, Wynalda, myself and two local English soccer fans—Paul Rose and Ted Quiatt—gathered at the home of soccer in the Conejo, the Crown and Anchor pub in Thousand Oaks, to watch the English Premier League Game, Tottenham vs. Liverpool.

SOCCER DAD—Wynalda with three of his four children— Braeden, 3, Timothy, 10, and Tatum, 7—in front of a signed poster of himself. IRIS SMOOT/Acorn Newspapers The following is an account of our conservation.

Speaking his mind

Despite all of his success, Wynalda, who works as a soccer analyst for Fox Soccer, has experienced his share of setbacks and controversies.

He lost his analyst’s job—by mutual agreement, he says—at ESPN in 2007 when he disputed the makeup of the network’s soccer coverage team.

The same year, he had a famous spat with radio personality Jim Rome, after Wynalda was caught on tape using harsh (and profane) words against him.

During his playing days, his biggest blow, Wynalda said, was when he got red-carded against the Czech Republic in the 1990 World Cup.

“That was a bad scene,” he said, “but it made me a better player and a better person.”

Like him or not, the former WHS star tells it like it is.

His onair debates on Saturd ays and Sundays on Fox with Arsenal fan and TV star Piers Morgan (of CNN and “America’s Got Talent”) are worth watching. Even though, as Wynalda says, it’s 5 a.m. here on the West Coast.

“It hasn’t all been easy,” he said of his post-soccer career. “Lots of soccer folk don’t like me. They think I’m too opinionated and too aggressive at times.”

Wynalda is unapologetically vocal about how to improve the state of professional soccer in America, starting with moving MLS games from the winter to the spring.

“The salary cap leaves a lot to be desired,” he said, “and the season is played at the wrong time.”

Although soccer is the thirdwatched sport in America, the father of four says the TV ratings don’t show it.

“Ratings have been the same since 1996. Playing the MLS finals in November is a disaster for TV,” he said, pointing out that the league’s biggest game is up against the NFL, college football and the end of the Major League baseball season.

Wynalda would also like to see MLS players compensated better.

Most up-and-coming U.S.- born stars make around $65,000.

“That doesn’t cut it,” he said, “especially when you read about players like Wayne Rooney of Manchester United taking home a quarter-million dollars a week.”

Despite his criti- cisms, Wynalda said he thinks MLS is doing okay.

“After 16 years or so, you have to agree crowds are still coming to see the games,” he said. “And the foreign players coming over are a big help.”

He said he feels the David Beckham “experiment” with the Los Angeles Galaxy worked well, with Beckham bringing in big crowds when he plays and also selling millions of dollars’ worth of shirts and souvenirs.

“He is definitely an ambassador for the game of soccer in America,” he said of the English megastar.

Family man

Wynalda, who grew up in Westlake, now lives in Thousand Oaks with his financee, Amanda Fletcher, and four soccer-loving children, three of whom he shares custody of with his first wife, Amy.

He gets lively when he talks about youth soccer.

“If we could only take those young up-and-comers and transfer them onto the international scene it would be an accomplishment,” he said.

He says soccer stars in high school and college almost always end up in baseball or football.

“We have to keep them in the soccer ranks and let them progress,” he said. “All the superstars like (Wayne) Rooney, George Best of Northern Ireland, Christiana Ronaldo (Real Madrid), and Lionel Messi (Barcelona) came on the scene when in their teens.”

Looking ahead, the Conejo Valley native said he’s happy with his current gig at Fox.

Fox Soccer has bought the rights to the 2015 Women’s World Cup in Canada, as well as coverage for the 2018 and 2022 Men’s World Cups.

“They have paid over $500 million for those rights,” he said with a lot of pride.

I have known Wynalda for more than 35 years. His personality and his love for the game of soccer have never waned.

It has been such a pleasure to have been a part of his career. He will continue to be around the sport for a long time.

Irish John Gore, 75, is a 49-year newspaper man who played professional soccer in his native Northern Ireland. He was a longtime member of Irish League’s Cliftonville and Bangor. Gore played for Northern Ireland in two Junior World Cups in Germany (1956) and in Italy (1957). He covered the soccer scene in the Conejo for 10 years with the former Thousand Oaks News Chronicle in the ’70s and ’80s.