In Appreciation of John O'Brien

Discussion in 'USA Men' started by cpwilson80, Nov 18, 2015.

  1. Eliezar

    Eliezar Member+

    Jan 27, 2002
    Houston
    Club:
    12 de Octubre
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I agree with that point. The super elite players whether a Pirlo for Italy or Ronaldo for Portugal or JOB/Donovan for the US aren't "produced" by the country. The country produces a certain level of player and they are simply an outlier to that.

    And on Bradenton, I was told that England tried a u17 national academy set up and after a long run found that the players at the academy were falling behind their peers that were in pro academies and thus scrapped it.
     
  2. butters59

    butters59 Member+

    Feb 22, 2013
    It's hard to produce, it's easy to ruin.
     
  3. jeff_adams

    jeff_adams Member+

    Dec 16, 1999
    Monterey, Ca
    And that's the crux of the issue. Coaches generally have to worry about a team, not an individual. Coach's sons or players developed by skilled fathers tend to be the outliers. Having the skillset is one thing, having the right environment to showcase that skillset is another.
     
  4. How do you look upon the cooperation of St Louis SG Illinois with Feyenoord's Academy?
    By the way, around 1987 as a boardmember of a pensionfund I bought with a consortium a shopping mall in St Louis and I'm pretty sure that was in the South of the USA and Illinois is somewhere in the neighbourhood of the Great Lakes as ear as I know. So what is the logic behind that name?
     
  5. jeff_adams

    jeff_adams Member+

    Dec 16, 1999
    Monterey, Ca
    Well, I'm not sure how the set up there is, but I will give you my general opinion on the proliferation of American soccer academies partnerships with professional foreign teams. My observation has been that the teams do it for financial reasons rather than developmental. They bring coaches (sometimes even players) and hold summer camps to teach kids "the Man United Way (insert your team here)".

    It helps bring brand awareness to the area, but most of the time I get the feeling they really don't expect to find a diamond in the rough and are just there to spend some time in the USA and get paid for it. In the area I live in, there are many Hispanic players and I'm hearing that several Liga MX teams are trying to get academies going (like Atlas, Morelia and Tijuana to name a few). Looks more like a money grab to me than anything.
     
  6. Info on the partnership:

    SLSG Illinois and Feyenoord Rotterdam Announce Formal Partnership
    07/18/15 SLSG-IL
    [​IMG]
    Representatives from Feyenoord & St. Louis Scott Gallagher Announce Partnership at World Wide Technology Soccer Park.

    St. Louis Scott Gallagher and Feyenoord Rotterdam Enter Into Educational Partnership
    St. Louis Scott Gallagher Illinois is pleased to announce they have entered into a formal Master Educational Partnership with Feyenoord Rotterdam who were voted the top Dutch Academy in Holland for 5 consecutive years between 2010-2014. The Feyenoord Academy is recognized world wide as one of the top clubs for developing youth players into professionals and SLSG Illinois players and coaches will now have access to that knowledge and experience through a collaborative working partnership.


    The Master Educational Partnership will provide benefits to all SLSG Illinois players in the form of a coaching education platform to include onsite coaching clinics in the United States, monthly online collaboration, coaching internships for SLSG coaches in Rotterdam and yearly site visits to monitor the SLSG Illinois player development structure. The first onsite visit is being held this week and included a 7 hour long classroom/field module for all SLSG Illinois coaches in addition to 12 field sessions that will take place over the course of the weekend for selected SLSG players.

    According to SLSG Illinois Director of Coaching, Blake Decker, “As an organization, we are now provided a unique platform to educate our coaches under the direction of a youth academy that is recognized as one of the worlds best in the development of professional and international players. Furthermore, we are able to provide an outlet for our very top talent to expand their opportunities in a professional European club environment. This collaborative effort further strengthens our goal to build the best club in the country as our coaches and players now have access to opportunities and experiences which are very rare in the United States.”

    The formalization of the Master Educational Partnership is the product of two years of interaction and negations which included St. Louis Scott Gallagher Illinois players and staff spending 18 days in the Netherlands at the Feyenoord Academy during trips in the spring of 2014 and 2015. It was there that SLSG Illinois staff first sat down with Feyenoord Manager of International Relations, Gido Vader, to discuss a possible relationship. According to Vader, “In the past two years we have gotten to know the people at SLSG Illinois and have experienced first-hand that they have both a true love for the game and a real desire to provide the players in their system with the best learning experience possible. Through the partnership with Feyenoord, Saint Louis Scott Gallagher Illinois will be able to tap into our knowledge and experience in the field of talent development. The partnership will help SLSG Illinois to improve their talent development methods and educate their coaching staff.”

    [​IMG]
    Feyenoord Staff Provide Coaching Education to SLSG Staff

    In addition to coaching education and player clinics this week, Vader also came to St. Louis to present information to the Directors of the club as it relates to both the player development structure and business structure of Feyenoord. Similarly, SLSG used the opportunity to provide further detail to Feyenoord with information related to the soccer landscape in the United States and, more specifically, St. Louis as well as the structure of St. Louis Scott Gallagher in order to more effectively facilitate the start of the collaborative effort designed to help St. Louis Scott Gallagher more fully achieve its’ mission of building the best club in the country.

    According to Decker, “This has been a long process for us and one which we approached with a great deal of rigor, discipline and thoroughness. We have been seeking out the right international partner for the better part of 5 years and have been working with Feyenoord informally for over two years now. Our priorities were to find a club who was committed to a long-term process, had a track record of development from within their own organization and who were willing to provide our club leadership, coaches and players with opportunities to further their own development. With Feyenoord, we found exactly that for which we were looking and are extremely excited for the opportunities this partnership will provide our staff, coaches and membership in the coming years.

    • News overview[​IMG] International
      Sunday 15-03-15 13:07
      Another great Dutch football experience for SLSG Illinois (VIDEO)
      This March American soccer club St Louis Scott Gallagher visited the Feyenoord Academy for a week long European football experience. Like last year the boys from Illinois plus their coaches were immersed in Dutch pro academy football for a full week, combining intensive football practice sessions with Feyenoord coaches with sightseeing and visiting several Eredivisie matches.



      ‘This year’s trip was even better than last year’, said Blake Decker, head coach of SLSG Illinois. His side travelled to Rotterdam for the second time in two years. Decker, whose U14 and U13 squads played against the professional academies of both Feyenoord and FC Volendam and showed great improvement in comparison with their first trip.

      The aspiring players spent 8 days in Rotterdam, in which they experienced 7 intensive practice sessions with Feyenoord Academy coaches Melvin Boel and Marchanno Schultz. Obviously there was also time for sightseeing and more fun elements. 'It was an awesome experience for us', said SLSG player AJ Sullivan.

      After the first two days SLSG Austin Chang was hand picked by Feyenoord Academy coaches to show his worth amongst his Dutch peers. Likewise, Wan Kuzain spent a full week training with Feyenoord U18 during which he once again proved himself to be a promising player.

      Gido Vader, manager of international relations, was happy to see SLSG return to Rotterdam after their maiden trip in 2015. ‘SLSG are a great club who want to be among the best sides in the USA. Already they are producing players for US Soccer's national youth selections. We have worked hard to make sure that trips like these have a lot of positive impact on the players, both on and off the pitch. We look forward to expanding our cooperation with St Louis Scott Gallagher over the coming seasons.’

      Click on the link below to watch a video impression of the SLSG visit

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    ==x==

    At the moment there are a few young kids from the USA (Wan Kuzain is oneof them) going through a few weeks of assesment how they progressed since the last time they were in Rotterdam.
    The purpose of Feyenoord is to have at least one partner developing the way done in Rotterdam, so when a talented kid pops up and is attractive for Feyenoord, we have the head start that that kid is already groomed the Dutch/Feyenoord way and no time is lost getting a Yank talent up to our standards as the kid already knows what is expected from him.
    FSF.
     
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  7. jreadusaf

    jreadusaf Member

    Jun 18, 2009
    Tübingen, Germany
    Club:
    Fulham FC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    With all due respect to Landon Donovan and Clint Dempsey, John O'Brien is the best soccer player the U.S. has ever produced. It was a sham that he wasn't named to the best 11 of the 2002 Fifa World Cup; Claudio Reyna was the only U.S. player to make that team. The only reason Claudio Reyna made that team is because he was the only somewhat known U.S. player, so he made it be default. He didn't even play the first game and there were about 8 other players who all played better (John O'Brien should've been selected).

    Another great player who doesn't get his due respect is Damarcus Beasley. He was plagued by injuries throughout his career, but a great player when he was healthy and younger.
     
  8. Scotty

    Scotty Member+

    Dec 15, 1999
    Toscana
    One of my favorite O'Brien memories came in the away friendly we played against Italy just before the 2002 WC.

    At one point JOB completed a pass by nutmegging Christian Vieri with a back-heel. It wasn't initially clear what had happened until the broadcast showed an up-close slowmo replay, which brought a collective "Oooooh!" from all the Italians in the bar where I was watching it.
     
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