 george edward "eddie" pope (december 24, 1973) is a retired american soccer player who last played for real salt lake of major league soccer and spent eleven years as a defender for the united states national team. he is a member of the national soccer hall of fame. pope spent most of his career playing for d.c. united. ==youth== born in greensboro, he attended southwest guilford high school. pope had a very successful career playing for the north carolina tar heels where he also kicked for mack brown's football team. in 1994, he was a first team all-american, and also earned all-acc and all-south region honors. ==professional== in 1996, d.c. united selected pope in the first round (second overall) in the mls college draft. his first season in washington, d.c. was split between united and the men's olympic team, which was preparing for the 1996 summer olympics in atlanta, georgia. however, he still played 18 games for united and won a league title with the team, scoring a golden goal in the mls cup against the los angeles galaxy. he also played his first game with the national team, helping the team beat trinidad and tobago 2-0 on november 10. in 1997, pope made quite a splash on the mls scene. he was named mls defender of the year and earned a place in the mls best xi, as well as winning a second mls title. in 1998, pope helped united win both the concacaf champions cup and the interamerican cup, the first continental honors earned by an mls team. he scored the winning goal in united's victory in the interamerican cup. pope's 1999 season was beset by injuries, and his playing time was limited, which continued to pester him into 2000, although he would play 19 and 21 games, 
1973_births 1998_CONCACAF_Gold_Cup_players 1998_FIFA_World_Cup_players 2000_CONCACAF_Gold_Cup_players 2002_FIFA_World_Cup_players 2005_CONCACAF_Gold_Cup_players 2006_FIFA_World_Cup_players African-American_sportspeople CONCACAF_Gold_Cup-winning_players D.C._United_draft_picks D.C._United_players Footballers_at_the_1996_Summer_Olympics Living_people Major_League_Soccer_All-Stars Major_League_Soccer_first_round_draft_picks Major_League_Soccer_players National_Soccer_Hall_of_Fame_members New_York_Red_Bulls_players North_Carolina_Tar_Heels_football_players North_Carolina_Tar_Heels_men\'s_soccer_players Olympic_soccer_players_of_the_United_States Real_Salt_Lake_players Soccer_players_from_North_Carolina Sportspeople_from_Greensboro,_North_Carolina United_States_men\'s_international_soccer_players United_States_men\'s_under-23_international_soccer_players