With the U.S. Hall of Fame building in upstate New York shuttered, Bruce Arena, Kyle Rote Jr., Thomas Dooley and Preki Radosavljevic were inducted during a ceremony in a stadium club at the New Meadowlands before the United States' exhibition against Brazil on Tuesday night.
The Hall building in Oneonta, N.Y., shut down in September except for special events and closed for good in February.
''The Hall is an important part of what we do,'' U.S. Soccer Federation president Sunil Gulati said during the two-hour ceremony. ''The physical structure - someday we'll have that back.''
Arena, the former U.S. national team and current Los Angeles Galaxy coach, exchanged a few playful jibes with Gulati, who let him go in 2006 after Arena's second World Cup in charge of the Americans.
''Unquestionably the most successful coach in the history of American soccer,'' Gulati said.
Arena coached Virginia to five NCAA titles in 18 seasons and D.C. United to a pair of MLS Cup championships and one U.S. Open Cup win before taking over as national team coach in 1998. The U.S. advanced to the 2002 World Cup quarterfinals, the best finish for the Americans since reaching the semifinals of the first tournament in 1930.
Arena said his best moment was the opening 3-2 upset of Portugal at the 2002 World Cup.
''The U.S. had to step on the field after 9-11 and be unified and demonstrate to the world that we are united country and that we could put a product on the field,'' he said.
Rote Jr., the North American Soccer League's 1973 rookie of the year, was a forward for Dallas (1972-78) and Houston (1979), and made five appearances for the U.S. national team from 1973-75. His father, Kyle Rote, starred for the NFL's New York Giants from 1951-61 and became a broadcaster for NBC.
Gulati called Rote soccer's ''first American superstar.''
Dooley and Preki were both on the 1998 U.S. World Cup team, and the two started back-to-back MLS All-Star games in 1998-99.
Dooley, the 1993 U.S. Soccer athlete of the year, was born in Germany, then became a U.S. citizen and had seven goals in 81 international appearances for the U.S. Dooley also played for the U.S. when it hosted the 1994 World Cup.
Preki, current coach of Toronto FC, was the only player to start the first eight MLS All-Star games and was the league's career points leader when he retired and the first player with five 10-goal, 10-assist seasons. The Yugoslavian-born star had four goals in 28 appearances on the U.S. national team.
Soccer America's Paul Gardner received the annual Colin Jose media award.
