'We can follow each other' - US legend Jones jokes that he'll join Rooney

Cobi Jones, the most capped player in the history of the United States national team, wants to know if he can join Wayne Rooney for a farewell match at Wembley.

'I played 164 times and had no idea when it was my last. I was just like, "Oh, yeah, the phone has stopped ringing",' Jones tells Sportsmail from Los Angeles.

'So I'll come and play, me and Wayne can just follow each other around the pitch!'

For a nation not exactly shy in celebrating their heroes, it is a surprise there was no fanfare when it came to saying goodbye to their most decorated star, a forward who appeared at three World Cups between 1994 and 2002.

'My last game was a World Cup qualifier against Jamaica, I think,' says Jones. 'Or maybe it was Panama.'

Clearly, then, there was no sentimental send-off. To that end, Jones is surprised by Rooney's recall.

'As a footballer, my initial reaction was, "Why are they doing that?",' says the man who was a team-mate of David Beckham at LA Galaxy and had one season in the Premier League with Coventry City.

'The national team is for current players, you're not supposed to reach back and give someone a farewell.'

Jones, however, has witnessed Rooney's impact for DC United in MLS and says the news has been well received in the States.

'Wayne has really captured the imagination of the American public,' he adds. 'People are buying tickets just to see Wayne Rooney.

'He's been accepted and has played fabulously. He has made other players better. He's having a huge impact, on and off the field.

'People here are excited to see him involved on Thursday. It gives recognition to MLS, DC United and to Rooney for what he has achieved here already.'

Jones, though, has an immediate sense of perspective when we speak of the furore Rooney's involvement has caused within these shores.

The 48-year-old grew up in Thousand Oaks, the city in southern California where a gunman killed 12 people at the Borderline Bar & Grill last Wednesday.

'I biked past that place every day,' he reveals. 'It was disturbing. I called my parents straight away, you're worried.

'A friend and former team-mate of mine, Eric Wynalda, his goddaughter was supposed to go to the bar that night and ended up not going, thankfully.

'You are always connected to your hometown and as soon as you see it on the television, you recognise the area and the people. It is so much more shocking than a typical news story.'

It is the horror of events such as last week's shooting and the California wildfires - which have also affected Thousand Oaks - which have dominated media coverage in the US in recent days.

But Jones, who co-hosts the Totally Football Show: American Edition podcast, has also been keeping check on the headlines over here.

'It is interesting that Wayne has dominated the agenda, but it's also understandable because of what he means in England,' he says.

'As an American, I don't actually mind it, for everything Wayne has done, his record and his ability, he probably deserves this.'

Is it not disrespectful to the US national team?

'Not at all,' he says. 'They will want to beat England no matter who is playing. Once that game starts, it's about winning. So when the statistic goes in the history book, all it will say is: England 0 USA 1!'

Jones played for the US during England's infamous 2-0 defeat in Boston under Graham Taylor in 1993.

'Everyone says how bad England were,' he recalls, 'But we were just better!'

He won a move to Coventry on the back of the 1994 World Cup in the States, but reflects: 'They played me in midfield. Then Big Ron Atkinson came in and put me up front and I scored against Crystal Palace. I thought, "Okay, here we go".

'The next game I was ill and had to sit out and then it was like, "Okay, you're done".

'But that's life. I went on and had to make something else work.'

Jones joined Galaxy in 1996 and spent his final season alongside Beckham before retiring in 2007.

'I remember David's welcome party,' he says. 'We had every Hollywood A-lister queueing up to get in. That was pretty interesting.

'Tom Cruise and Will Smith hanging out and partying with all the guys. It was like, "Okay, we've taken soccer up a notch here".'

Rooney, it appears, is achieving something similar, and that is why his adopted homeland has offered no resistance to his farewell outing.