There was a thread on here a week or two ago, basically saying, which MNT can we least afford to lose, and a lot of people said JOB. But really, haven't we already lost him? Since the Japan/Korea, he has been pretty much non-existent not only on the MNT scene, but the club scene as well (7 Eredivise games in 4 years). I say to Bruce Arena: proceed in your planning as if JOB won't be available. If he is, it's a bonus. Don't get me wrong, I love JOB (I woke up half of Queens after his opener against Portugal). After Claudio, he is our best holding-type midfielder. But let's face it, the dude is made of glass.
Because (and this is as much a shock to me as it might be to you) a good number of BS posters actually recognize a quality soccer player. Not all, mind you, but a good number. That, and they think if JOB is on the team and we win, there will be free popcicles at the HDC all next year. (But I think that's being optomistic.)
Agreed, JOB was still good when he played this summer. He wasn't as good as in 02 but he still was quality. So if he could get his legs under him and some practice time there is geniune hope he would return at a level that would help us. The stretch obviously is can he get healthy. I for one thought he should have been the US rep on the all world cup team last time. We only have so many guys that could lobby for that kind of spot.
Don't get me wrong. I rate JOB VERY highly, but he virtually hasn't figured in the MNT mix at all the last 3 years, and I doubt he will be okay for the WC. Hope I am wrong though.
sure we have...unless you don't think that a WC qualifying win over a seeded team and the 5th ranked team in the world is a real opponent (not that i place ANY stock in fifa rankings)
I have decided not to even consider the possibility that John O'Brien will be healthy in time for the World Cup. I think Bruce Arena has probably had the same attitude for awhile now. You have to plan to be without him, and if he's fit, that's just an unexpected bonus.
At the risk of hijacking; are there other players as fragile, and important to their national teams as JOB? Are there players who would start for Brazil, England... but who are always injured?
I think we have to prepare like he wont be fit , but hope that he will be , and can get back into the game in time for Germany..
Well, I don't think O'Brien is the least replacable or the most pivitol player for US success during the Germany World Cup, but I think that most posters think that having O'Brien in the mix for our center mid spots gives us three good players that we can slot in the center with JOB Reyna and Mastoeni. After that, the players that can be slotted in don't have the skills or experience that those three do. One thing I heard a poster somewhere talk about is maybe he just isn't looking forward to getting back on the field so he won't suffer injury before the cup. ADO, the last time I checked, was firmly planted in the basement iirc. All in all, I would love to see him healthy. He is my favorite Nat and I think he brings great vision and personality to our team. If he gets in some friendlies before the Cup I think he'll be alright, just look at impact he had on the TnT game in Hartford without much time in game-form.
Because there's no one else for whom the word sublime can be used on the side. He's just a special player who makes good things happen whenever he's on the field.
the dropoff in class between job and anyone who will play in his place is roughly the same as the distance between mcbride and a twellman/ching- if not more. could we have qualified with twellman/ching? yeah, probably pretty easily. does that mean hes someone we could do just as well without in the cup? you can answer that one...
I've come to that conclusion for some time now. But I hope all the medical people, along with JOB, prove me wrong. We are capable of building a winning team without him, as we proved in the WCQ's; but with him, it just makes the task that much easier.
And then there's this, which doesn't exactly suggest an immediate end to the ongoing state of this trend in his career. Hey, at least there are those trying to help him get healthy, so he can get back on the pitch at ADO Den Haag, that's the first step...
setting aside that your "eredivisie four-year game total" is only off by about 40 (why do people always insist on exaggerating this stat?), you may want to ask yourself one little question? how many world cups have we played in since korea/japan? is no one getting that the world cup is easily the biggest, most important, prestigious soccer even of all? your thread title is a lot like asking st louis cardinal fans why they'd hope scott rolen would be available for the 2006 world series... the answer being "so we can have the best chance possible to succeed"
Repped. Someone cover me on this one... And I know he's less than 50-50 now,but if there's anyway he can be there at game fitness,he's there.
He's a BS darling and has been promoted to the status of soccer savior. I seriously doubt he'll be available for us and we can live with or without him. When is he not hurt?
Not to strike an unnecessarily defiant tone, but I don't think "hope" is what reputable BSers are placing in him. "Hope" would be: "If we don't have JOB in Germany we're screwed." I haven't seen too many posts like that (those type of posts seem to center on Eddie Johnson), but maybe you have. What I see is more of what others in this thread have said: "If we do have JOB in Germany, we'll be a lot better off." Watching how our team works when he's there and how it works when he's not, I don't find this to be an unreasonable sentiment.
EJ? No. Those posts usually center on Claudio Reyna. EJ is even lower on the totem pole of hope than JOB. Hell, the fans on the FC Dallas board are salivating over the idea of getting RID of the guy. I think that says it all.
I've mentioned this before, but I'll save a spot on the roster for O'Brien unless he can't walk come April. Even if he's playing his way back into fitness, O'Brien off the bench for 15 minutes is a better option than anybody in the midfield. O'Brien's technically sound, distributes the ball well, can play one-touch or possession ball, makes creative passes from the midfield, has decent pace, and has not only played but starred in a previous World Cup. He's one of our most talented players. Factor in the lack of depth in players with his skill set, and you can see why, when healthy, he's one of the first names in the starting XI.
Darren "Sicknote" Anderton comes to mind for England c.2000. People really do have short memories here, eh? JOB missed 1998 due to injury, hardly played during the next cycle, then showed up and played very well in J/K. We're hoping he can do the same in Germany -- if he's healthy, he plays.