Jeff Agoos retires from soccer

[bshredder]

http://www.metrofanatic.com/mf/story.jsp?ID=3091


Thanks for everything Jeff! Classy player and I wish him nothing but the best. I hope he stays involved with the sport in some manner!

[MightyMouse]

Jeff definitely deserves praise in MLS at least. His contributions to the national team we from solid to disasterous at times. He was a fantastic defender even without great speed. I was not the biggest fan of the guy once but then appreciated the little things he brought to all the championship teams he played for in MLS. Awsome years Jeff, great career, have fun in life post soccer my man.

[Davids26]

I hope we keep this thread clean...

Thanks for everything Jeff. Especially for cutting your hair.

[StillKickin]

Best wishes for your future, Jeff. Thank you for your service to MLS and our National Team. You had a career to be proud of (especially MLS - 5 championships!)

[texgator]

Mazel Tov, my brother, mazel tov.

[ojsgillt]

so who is the ugliest player in MLS now? I am going for Franchino.

[swedust]

Gooooooooooooos


now makes way for


Goooooooooooooch.



Thanks, Jeff.

[Zathras]

Respect the guy for all that he's done in the game, and have never been down on him as much as certain other people on here.



HOWEVER

Two years ago when he was in town for a USOC game with San Jose, he took it upon himself to flick off the fans after his side won on PKs. Classless, especially considering that they/we included children and hadn't subjected him to much abuse as he'd been pulled at halftime. Hardly the reaction I'd have expected from a man who's played in the Azteca and Saprissa.

[ojsgillt]

I bet no profanties from the stands were heard at that game either....... I bet he was taking some crap and he threw some back at em. Good for him. This is professional soccer, not your orange eating saturday morning get the fat kid some exercise game.

[Austin_Anderson]

I bet no profanties from the stands were heard at that game either....... I bet he was taking some crap and he threw some back at em. Good for him. This is professional soccer, not your orange eating saturday morning get the fat kid some exercise game.


good point, because professional soccer and flicking off crowds go hand in hand. everyone knows you have to be an ass to be a good player.

[Bajoro]

Goos is an inspiration to every underdog soccer player;

every guy who isn't big enough,

who isn't fast enough,

who doesn't have the flashiest skills,

who didn't have the benefit of the best training from the earliest age.

To see how much he accomplished without some the athletic tools of other great backs will always inspire.

Way to go Goos. Thanks for all the great years.

[drew_VT_6]

Thank God it's Christmas season so I can listen to my Handel's Messiah cd on the way home.

Hallelujah!
Hallelujah!
Hallelujah! Hallelujah!
Halleeeeeeeeeeeee...lujah!

Now I'm really in the Holiday spirit! Thanks Jeff! There really is a Santa Claus!

[Zathras]

I bet no profanties from the stands were heard at that game either....... I bet he was taking some crap and he threw some back at em. Good for him. This is professional soccer, not your orange eating saturday morning get the fat kid some exercise game.

Actually, there was very little. He didn't take much crap. Most of it was directed at Landon "Pretty Boy" donovan and Brian "Sounders Reject" Ching, both of whom took things better (Ching especially, giving us a hearty smile.) I interviewed Goos before the game, and he was a great interviewee, I just didn't understand that behavior as it seemed totally out of character for him.

[texgator]

First of all, really sad that this thread turned into a discussion of one action of a player that has over 10 years of history playing the game and representing his country.

Secondly, in response to Zathra's last post, there is no way that you can be sure that he wasn't subjected to some kind of verbal abuse or that he was responding in kind to a fan that had flicked him off earlier. You will never know that, and as such you should probably refrain from making such a judgement on him, particularly when you yourself say that his actions were out of character. How about you give him the benefit of the doubt on this one?

[terp fan]

Congrats to Jeff on the gretaest MLS career anyone has had to date. He set the standard for professionalism and success in this country's domestic league. Hopefully he will stay invovled in the game.

[Gints86]

Great career and sorry to see him go. I often wondered how the guy kept chugging along when the worst seemed to happen to him every so often. An own goal here, a slip there, the guy always bounced back. Great character and a great player. Good Luck Jeff.

[MikeLastort2]

Goose is one of my all-time favorite players. Good luck and Godspeed in whatever his future holds for him.

[Bruce S]

Jeff has a good soccer brain.Decent skills too.

[Zathras]

First of all, really sad that this thread turned into a discussion of one action of a player that has over 10 years of history playing the game and representing his country.

Secondly, in response to Zathra's last post, there is no way that you can be sure that he wasn't subjected to some kind of verbal abuse or that he was responding in kind to a fan that had flicked him off earlier. You will never know that, and as such you should probably refrain from making such a judgement on him, particularly when you yourself say that his actions were out of character. How about you give him the benefit of the doubt on this one?

Don't think that I've said anywhere that I have anything other than respect for his accomplishments, just pointing out the one event that has tarnished it at all. I don't blame him like most on here for poor play in 2002 -- I think he played well and that he gets far too much stick.
I know that he wasn't subjected to much abuse because I was standing next to the SJ bench the whole game. Unless this came during the half he played, which would make the people that he gestured at illogical. Even if he were 'responding in kind' to a fan, isn't professionalism supposed to mean that you don't stoop to that level? He managed it in Costa Rica and the Azteca which is why the event sticks out in my mind--what set him off in Minnesota???

I don't mean this as an attack on Jeff at all; I'm more interested in the aspect of it as a facet of the professional game.

[swilso01]

Who wants to check and see if there is a "Thanks for everything Jeff" over on the Jamaica boards?

Really, great career, regardless of the miscues. He was integral in DC's early dominance in MLS. Best wishes....