Joe-Max Moore - National Team

National Team

While in college, he began playing for the national team. In 1989, he was part of the U.S. U-20 team which placed fifth at the 1989 FIFA U-20 World Cup. In 1991, he scored the winning goal against Mexico in the Pan American Games championship game. In 1992 he was a member of the U.S. Olympic team which went 1–1–1 and failed to make the second round.

After the 1992 college season ended, Moore signed with the U.S. national team. Beginning in 1988, the United States Soccer Federation (USSF) had begun to sign top U.S. players to contracts, making the U.S. national team a de facto professional club. USSF would then loan out U.S. players to club team, recalling them for national team games. Moore chose to not return to UCLA for his senior year and joined USSF as a full-time national team player.

Moore's first appearance for the US national team came against Canada on September 3, 1992. He played in the 1994, 1998, 2002 FIFA World Cup tournaments and became the sixth US player to earn 100 caps, doing so against Poland.

His 24 goals for the US rank him fifth in national history, behind only Landon Donovan, Eric Wynalda, Brian McBride and Clint Dempsey. On January 27, 2006, Moore was inducted into the Oklahoma Soccer Hall of Fame.