In the MLS, which players do you think had alot of potential to succeed at the beginning of their career, but are failing (or have failed) to live up to their potential? for me it's Chris Carrieri, and Kyle Beckerman
Beckerman and Martino. However, I think their failures have more to do with the system (or lack there of) they play.
Ditto. Benny was on his way to being a star before his injuries... hopefully he'll get back to a place where he can contribute in some way with the nats. He's a good guy.
Agreed, Olsen was a star for Forest. In the sense that he's had horrible injury problems he hasn't realized his potential, but he's not a bust. Beckerman= Maybe I know nothing about soccer, but I only saw a snot-nosed kid when looking at Beckerman. I never saw such a huge amount of potential. Some fancy plays and passes here and there. No D. Martino/Vaca=both kind of in the same category--very creative, but my 5 year old nephew could knock them off the ball. Ironically, it was only 2 years ago when we Dallasites were wondering whether Vaca or Ronnie O was the future at RM. Both still have potential to get better, but if I were JV I would go back to Bolivia--he was player of the year there at like age 18. Convey=Overhyped from the start. Still has potential to get better. Quaranta=still young. Not sure where he's going. Ironically, it wasn't long ago that people were wondering why EJ hadn't delivered while SQ had. Gbandi= Doesn't have the mental skillz. A liability because he's out of position all the time...which might be understandable if he were that good on offense--but Roberto Carlos he'll never be. A-League future? I think most of these guys would have done fine in MLS years 1-3, but the league has gotten deeper and tougher.
Jonathan Bolanos, i remember during Chicago's injury plagued season they thought he was real good, he played like two games and then left
Vaca has already gone back to Bolivia, and he scored a goal in World Cup qualifying a little while ago.
He was brought on at the end of that season. Made one sub appearance, and in the season finale played the whole game and was MOTM, it was also 2003, when the Fire were great.
Whatever happened to Steve Shak? And Justin Mapp is still only 20 yrs old. Give him another year or two to pan out.
I believe he's playing with the Virginia Beach Mariners these days. And you can't really put him in with the wasted potential crowd so much, as there was seemingly only 1 person who really thought he had that much potential in the first place. If he had gone when he should have and been a 2nd or 3rd round draft pick, no one would be overly surprised at the path his career has taken.
Roy "Lights Out" Lassiter I'm not sure if he ever REALLY had much potential, but he did make the cover of FIFA 98...