Fotios "Frank" Klopas (Greek: Φώτιος «Φρανκ» Κλόπας; born September 1, 1966) is an American former soccer player who played as a forward.
In 1983, he signed with the Chicago Sting of the North American Soccer League straight out of high school, but an injury led to him missing the team's final outdoor season.
Klopas would start and play the full 90 minutes in a 0–0 draw with hosts South Korea and a 4–2 loss to the Soviet Union as the U.S. failed to advance from their group.
Klopas made his full senior team debut when he came on as a halftime substitute for Chico Borja in a 2–0 friendly loss to Colombia in Miami on May 14, 1988.
[7] He scored his first two international goals in a 5–1 defeat of Jamaica in St. Louis in the second leg of a home-and-home World Cup qualifying series on August 13, 1988.
In early 1994, Klopas returned from surgery on his anterior cruciate ligament and began working towards a place on the hosting U.S. side's roster for the 1994 FIFA World Cup.
Under the guidance of Bora Milutinovic, the U.S. team took on a conservative, defensive approach in the lead-up to the tournament which was also predicated upon the fact that the side didn't have a lot of offensive weapons.
Klopas returned to the national team on February 18, coming on as a halftime substitute for Joe-Max Moore in a 1–1 draw with Bolivia in Miami.
Over the next few months, he continued to build his fitness up and scored his third international goal in the team's 3–0 friendly win over Moldova on April 20 in Davidson, N.C. Klopas would go on to score five goals in the eight international friendlies the U.S. played immediately prior to the start of the World Cup, tallying against Iceland, Estonia, Armenia and his native Greece.
Despite his recent strike rate, Klopas was left out of the starting 11 for the American's historic 1–1 draw vs. Switzerland and didn't appear in their opening match of the tournament played June 18 at the Pontiac Silverdome.
Four days later, Klopas again didn't see the field as the U.S. upset pre-tournament favorites Colombia 2–1 at The Rose Bowl in Pasadena, Calif, putting the team in a great position to advance to the second round.
Just over a year after being knocked out of the World Cup, the Brazilians were once again responsible for the U.S. team's exit, sending them to a 1–0 semifinal defeat on July 20 in Maldonado, Uruguay.
At the end of 1995, Klopas sat fourth on the U.S. all-time goal scoring list behind Bruce Murray, Eric Wynalda and Hugo Perez.
He now sits 16th on the list and along with Bobby Wood jointly holds the distinction as the U.S. players with the most goals scored without appearing in a FIFA World Cup match.
[12] While he did lead the Impact to a CONCACAF Champions League final in 2015, narrowly losing to Mexican powerhouse Club América, he was formally relieved of his duties in late August 2015 after a string of poor performances, and replaced on an interim basis by Mauro Biello.