First time I've seen the words from the man himself. What could of been, oh, what could of been. Would have loved to see JOB on the field with Donovan, Adu, Dempsey, Beasley and Altidore. That would have been a treat. http://www.blueninja.net/mls/john.html
best of luck to him With his development in Holland maybe he could get into coaching. For American coaches to get better, it's going to have to start with people who grew up with the game the way he did.
Given the brevity of his playing days we cannot say John was one of the best american players. It really was all too brief. But we can certainly say that never have we so cruelly lost a player of such promise. Yes, Ramos is another example. But at least there were a handful of years where he played a lot for us before that awful leg injury. O'Brien was little more than WC2002, but his talent burnt brightly in that short time.
That 2002 World Cup, meant so much more than basically any other thing he could have done. So, im happy.
Noone will ever forget that goal against Portugal. Also would love to see him get into coaching. Who knows if he wants to.
I read somewhere he wanted to go to Med School and help disadvantaged kids with the heartbreaking condition "massive ear displasia" - kind of like what doctors have done for kids with cleft palates in the developing world, except in this case for kids who look like Alfalfa. He will not, however, throw in freckle bleaching free. Either that or sit on the beach and popcicles and hope no one kayaks over his leg. The truth is, even in his shortened career, JOB had a lot of success. 2002, Olympics, watching him displace Tim De Cler at Ajax and play the LB position like a point guard with Chivu patrolling the middle next to him, van der Vaart, Maxwell, Sneijder, Pinenaar, Trabelsi and others sharing the field with him was a heck of a lot of fun. Thanks Jonny.
The Ramos leg injury was the result of an intentional, cheap shot tackle from a coward from CR that he had been schooling all day. For me, a "leg injury" makes it sound like some kind of accidental injury. This was far from that. He was never really the same after that but is still the best we've ever produced to date
I am only 18 and I don't remember much about O'Brien at all. I guess the only time i've seen him was in the 2002 World Cup, however I was to young and new to soccer, to tell the difference between a good player and I bad player. Now that I'm old enough and have seen enough soccer to appreciate the game, I want to see this guy play, however I am having trouble finding video clips. I've already searched youtube and I didn't find much. Any help would be appreciated
I have to disagree with this. For my money, Bo Jackson was the best running back I've ever seen, ahead of even the ridiculously amazing Barry Sanders. Just because his career was short doesn't lessen his greatness. By the same token, JOB was a player the likes of which the USA has/had never produced. At his peak (shockingly short though it may have been), he was, in my most humble opinion, the #1 midfield option in any all-time USA starting XI. It's a sad end to a tragic story, but, at the very least, we were all treated to his brilliance at the world's biggest stage. No one who has ever watched the USA play will ever forget how, before a mere four minutes had been played in Korea, he set us on our way to what would become a month none of us would ever forget.
You know, I had never, ever ever yelled harder ever in my life than with JOB's goal back in 2002. I basically woke up half of my building, the other half being night owls who were stunned that Portugal got schooled. I also remember ESPN running 7 seconds after Univsion, and I quickly flicked to ESPN to see it again and to make sure JOB was onside. JOB was a real destroyer, no other US midfielder could hold the ball better than he could. I remember back on Soccer365 telling everybody that, when JOB is healthy, he is probably one of the best DM's in the world. Of course, I got roundly laughed at, but I think all of the US was laughing when Luis Figo couldn't make a pass without JOB taking it and starting a US attack with it. I would also like to apologize as well. I remember the last time I saw JOB in person, during the Morocco game in Nashville. I remember screaming at him "YOU SUCK JOHNNY" when a Moroccan outpaced him. That was dumb. Arena was at fault for not letting JOB get back into match fitness. In fact, I really blame Arena for the loss of JOB in the first place. It seemed he pushed himself way too hard to make the 2006 roster, and I think he reinjured himself twice in the process. Arena should have played more younger players (Example--We could have played Heath Pearce more and then have Cherundolo play as DM) and if he had let JOB rest and recover properly, I think JOB would still be in the player pool today. We will miss you, JOB.
O'Brien was our hope for the future. When you look at the quality of that 2002 team it's pretty amazing.
I loved watching Ajax on FSC many yrs ago. He kept alot of very good players on the bench and flowed very nicely with many Super Stars. I remember the line up well. Ibrahimovic, Mido, Van der Vaart, Sneijder, Pinaar, Galasek, Chivu, Berglomo, Hietinga, Vander Meyde, Stecklenberg, De cler, Maxwell and O'Brien. They lost to Milan in the Quarters I beleive on a last second goal. http://www.ajaxusa.com/team/2003-2004/ Great Site for Rosters. I guess I'm combining some yrs.
As meaningful as the goal against Portugal was, it was 40% Ernie's cross, 45% McBride's almost un-stoppable header and 5% JOB being in the right place to clean up the garbage. JOB's signature moment that WC was his pass to Mathis for our only goal against South Korea. What a pass to pick him out between two defenders on a dead run (being Mathis, the run really wasn't that fast, but he was thinner then). Then again, there's the infamous Hand-of-JOB against Mexico. JOB was the perfect compliment to Reyna. Reyna held the ball up, looked for the attack, fed the ball back to JOB who pushed it forward from deep. The US went to unskilled destroyers with Reyna and never was the same after his injury.
Who? Seriously, I had thought that he had already retired. I loved watching him play for the US. Unfortunately, I didn't see many of his games with Ajax (except towards the end). I barely remember his goal against Portugal, but I will always remember the beautiful pass to Mathis for the goal against South Korea. Thanks for the memories JOB! Good luck!
So was Donovans goal vs Mexico. Go back to it, and look atthe ball O brien gave to an in stride Lweis, it was amazing. At least something we dont see from the Mnt.