McBride, Lilly top US Soccer Hall of Fame ballot

CHICAGO (AP) — Brian McBride and Kristine Lilly are among the first-year candidates for the U.S. National Soccer Hall of Fame.

McBride is a veteran of three World Cups and scored 30 goals in 96 international appearances from 1993-06. Lilly, a two-time Women’s World Cup and Olympic champion, scored 130 goals in an international record 352 appearances from 1987-10.

The Hall said Thursday that Clint Mathis, Chris Klein, Eddie Lewis, Steve Ralston, Jaime Moreno, Briana Scurry and Kate Sobrero Markgraf are on the 27-player ballot.

Raul Diaz Arce, Marco Etcheverry, Zoran Karic, Victor Nogueira and Cindy Parlow Cone are in their final year of eligibility.

Voting runs through Feb. 7, and the electorate includes all Hall of Famers, coaches, executives and media. Each voter can select up to 10 players, and 66.7 percent is needed for election.

The veteran ballot includes Shep Messing, Glenn Myernick, Dominic Kinnear, Frank Klopas and Linda Hamilton, and the builder ballot includes Bob Bradley, Don Garber, Chuck Blazer, Bob Contiguglia and Sigi Schmid.

The hall building in Oneonta, N.Y., closed in February 2010.