Etcheverry to lace them up (again) (not DCU)

[dale_wilster]

It looks like Marco will be back in Bolivia playing with his childhood friend Erwin Sanchez at Oriente Petrolero. I hope he does not look as bad as he looked when he tried returning with Bolivar.

http://www.eldeber.com.bo/20050101/deportes_2.html

[vivaelbolivar]

This is great I knew he still has some left in the tank.

His biggest assets are his passes and kicks since he cannot run much.

I wish him a great year in 2005 futbolistically speaking.

[terp fan]

Hey, if somebody will still pay him to play, why not? Good luck to him.

[Lanky134]

Every day that Marco thinks he can still perform up to his own standards is another day that his deserved testimonial here is delayed.

[futbolrey]

This is great I knew he still has some left in the tank.

His biggest assets are his passes and kicks since he cannot run much.

I wish him a great year in 2005 futbolistically speaking.


I don't think Etcheverry has anything left in his tank. I hope to see him as coach some day.

[John_Harkes_6]

Every day that Marco thinks he can still perform up to his own standards is another day that his deserved testimonial here is delayed.

actually - if what I heard was true it is Marco who is delaying the match. He still believes (as above) that he can play and in fact tried to land with Chivas in MLS. The match is being delayed until he truly retires.

[CHICO13]

He still believes (as above) that he can play and in fact tried to land with Chivas in MLS.
No, he was approached by Chivas but went back to Bolivia instead. He once said he would never wear another jersey in MLS and is true to his word.

[JoeSoccerFan]

Soccer is what Marco knows. This is what he is most accomplished with - playing the game.

However, if you can not run - you are a liability to your team (and they must compensate). This is a weakness that can be be exposed by your opponents.


While I respect and admire all the Marco has brought to DC, what I've observed is that Marco can be a detriment to his team because of his inability to play the midfield (i.e., run).


I wish him luck!!!

[Allan Quatermain]

I too wish him luck, and I hope he finds success and fulfillment in whatever he does.

Marco Etcheverry, quite simply, is the greatest player MLS has ever seen. In a league which has been around for nine seasons, that may not seem like saying all that much. But I suspect it may still be true twenty or thirty years from now. He did things on the field that nobody else has come close to, and that includes Goose (with his five rings), Jaime, Preki, Pitr Nowak, Carlos Valderamma, Landon Donovan, or anybody else who ever played in the league.

[Kaiser]

oh come on, valderrama never ran in his life, if its good for carlos, its good for marco. I heard Valderrama was lacing them up for Chivas.

[McOwen]

Oriente? --Well Oscar will be happy :D

[Jose L. Couso]

I too wish him luck, and I hope he finds success and fulfillment in whatever he does.

Marco Etcheverry, quite simply, is the greatest player MLS has ever seen. In a league which has been around for nine seasons, that may not seem like saying all that much. But I suspect it may still be true twenty or thirty years from now. He did things on the field that nobody else has come close to, and that includes Goose (with his five rings), Jaime, Preki, Pitr Nowak, Carlos Valderamma, Landon Donovan, or anybody else who ever played in the league.
Very well said!

Eventually I hope that Marco returns to DC United in some capacity.

[Section106]

oh come on, valderrama never ran in his life, if its good for carlos, its good for marco. I heard Valderrama was lacing them up for Chivas.


I quite agree. IMO, it was not Marco that failed United but United that failed Marco. Had Rongen or Hudson provided a better tactical system that utilized MAE's talents correctly maybe we wouldn't have had to question Etch's abilities. I think that Etch was caught in a situation were the supporting cast wasn't up to par and he tried to do too much (you try playing with Alavanja). This showed his weaknesses and didn't play to his strengths. Instead of springing a player on a break away or placing a free kick in the upper 90 he had to drop back to his own 18 to try and shepherd the other players toward the goal. I feel bad for Etch that his last three years in MLS will cloud his legacy.

[scarshins]

I ran into Marco at Chi-Chi's in Arlington about a month ago. He said he wanted to play 1 more season. Said he was going to give it a try with Chivas.

[neilgrossman]

Marco Etcheverry, quite simply, is the greatest player MLS has ever seen. In a league which has been around for nine seasons, that may not seem like saying all that much. But I suspect it may still be true twenty or thirty years from now. He did things on the field that nobody else has come close to, and that includes Goose (with his five rings), Jaime, Preki, Pitr Nowak, Carlos Valderamma, Landon Donovan, or anybody else who ever played in the league.

What did Marco do that Preki didn't?

Other than the rings, which I beleive Preki would have gotten if he had been surounded by the same cast as Marco. A Preki-and-Jaime combination would have been just as potent as Marco and Jaime.

(I personally think Jaime is the league's best ever player, but it's hard to compare apples and oranges. Because Preki and Etch played the same position, it's easier to compare. Preki is the best attacking mid the league has had.)

[prk166]

IMO, it was not Marco that failed United but United that failed Marco. Had Rongen or Hudson provided a better tactical system that utilized MAE's talents correctly maybe we wouldn't have had to question Etch's abilities. I think that Etch was caught in a situation were the supporting cast wasn't up to par and he tried to do too much (you try playing with Alavanja).

Good point.

[Jose L. Couso]

What did Marco do that Preki didn't?

Other than the rings, which I beleive Preki would have gotten if he had been surounded by the same cast as Marco. A Preki-and-Jaime combination would have been just as potent as Marco and Jaime.

(I personally think Jaime is the league's best ever player, but it's hard to compare apples and oranges. Because Preki and Etch played the same position, it's easier to compare. Preki is the best attacking mid the league has had.)Miami...

CHOKE...

[Luis Chavez]

Well we can go ahead and talk about what if's all day long, but the fact is that Preki has one ring he won in MLS and last years open cup win, I can't even list all of marco's rings.

Good players win games, great players win championships.

Hint-Amado Guevara.

P.S. This is from a guy that really likes Preki

[Allan Quatermain]

Well we can go ahead and talk about what if's all day long, but the fact is that Preki has one ring he won in MLS and last years open cup win, I can't even list all of marco's rings. ...This is from a guy that really likes Preki


But it's even more than that with Marco (and I too am a big Preki fan). It's not just about rings -- hell, by that standard at one point Jesse Marsch would have been considered the league's greatest player. What separates Marco from Preki and Jaime and others is that while those guys were very good and even very often excellent, Marco was something else entirely.

He was sublime.

He did things on the field -- particularly with some of the most spectacularly breathtaking passes we will ever see -- that nobody else was capable of contemplating, much less accomplishing.

I have often argued (and I know others have as well) that even on his worst days Marco Etcheverry would always do at least one thing -- a pass, a shot, something -- that was in and of itself worth far more than the price of admission, and often something not one other player in the league could ever hope to do. Often it was five or six or even ten of these things in the the course of a game, so regular as to render a lot of us desensitized to his greatness.

I love Jaime Moreno, and think he has been one of MLS's all-time greats, perhaps even the league's second greatest all time player. But even he could rarely do the sorts of things Marco did day in and day out with spell-binding regularity. Any of us this season see a perfectly placed 65 yard pass to a streaking player on the run with two defenders on him where the ball landed precisely on his foot and he needed just a step to slot it past the goalie? Maybe, but I can't recall it. But with Marco, you got at least one or two of those per game. They were exquisite.

As for Preki, he's a gamer, a competitor. He is maddening because he beats you with that damn left foot even when every single person in the stadium knows the move he is going to make. He is a great player. But his greatness was a greatness of predictability. You slap your forehead when you see it -- because you knew you were going to see it and sure enough you did -- but you never drop your jaw.

Marco's greatness was of the unpredictable nature. He did things none of us had ever seen and likely never will again. He did things that made you say to yourself and your seatmates, " I refuse to believe what I just saw." And then you'd watch it on the replays later and still couldn't believe what you saw. He did these so routinely it was almost criminal that we were only paying 15 or 20 or 30 bucks a ticket -- even during his last few seasons when the club wasn't winning.

In addition to his many rings and awards (a measure by which Marco outstrips Preki anyway), Marco brought a true artistry to DC United and MLS. And he brought it full-bore into every game he played. Jaime shows tiny glimpses of that sort of artistry now and again, and is far superior to virtually every other player the league has ever known because of it. But it is a small measure compared to the contributions that Marco Etcheverry made to justifying the claim that soccer is "the Beautiful Game."

[thepundit]

unfortunately running is required in Jogo Bonito. sure he was a lot better than all of the washed up old stars that came to play after their skills had already abandoned them, not to mention the goon squads that made up MLS defenses back in the day. don't doubt that i think the guy had enviable feet to say the least, but he never had the discipline as a professional to maintain his fitness, and that's why his bag of tricks never thrived on the biggest stages, but in MLS. that said, DC United has more championships than any other MLS side, and that is due in large part to Marco Etcheverry. as a teenager, i'm too young to appreciate what Wynalda and Harkes did for the league in the beginning, but i did see enough of Marco to see why his skills merit an argument in his favor if one is considering him as the greatest ever in MLS.