I thought it was a tweeked hammy that kept him out of the Holland friendly this year. That was about 9 months ago and he just now came back.
Obviously, hindsight is 20/20, but you've really got to wonder about Ajax's medical staff. Hamstring injuries recur with over-use, and O'Brien had already re-aggravated this one several times. There's no way that he should've been on the field 78 minutes into his full-team return.
he does not have the body for professional sports.Most of us don't, but sadly, he has alot of talent.
Obviously all hamstring injuries are different. A torn hamstring is at least 9 months if not longer. A pulled hamstring is a different matter. Kerry Zavagnin pulled his hamstring against the Quakes in the 2nd leg. It was bad enough at the time that they took him out with the game still tied on aggregate. He had it wrapped, but played the full 90 against the Galaxy the next week.
Tallevana-- In your Babelfish translation from the Ajax website it said "Cow man complimented its orphan." This comes from "Koemann complemented his pupil" in Dutch. Cripes, sounds like a signature to me... It definitely is a jammer that he so frequently injured is, that's for sure.
Damn it. This guys is the difference for the nats. People on here talk about Donovan, and all these other guys, but with O'Brien on the field, the team is just at a different level. Why? He just understands, and thinks at a faster rate than most players. Combine that with the fact that he has superior ball skills (I think one time someone called him one of the best techincal players on Ajax...) and one can see why he is so important.
I don't hink anyone will disagree with you, but at this point what do you do? You have to plan without him, and just forget about him. If he can come back it is a huge surprise and bonus. Too think any other way is just plain wrong at this point. Yes, it's frustrating, but it is what it is right now. I hope JOB reads these boards because I can't even imagine how you feel right now brother. Keep the faith, and get back on the field playing. I don't care for who and where. I just wish you the best and want to see you playing the game. I wish you well and all of the luck in the world. Fingers crossed and best wishes.
Well, I guess I'll be the one to disagree with him then TAKK. O'Brien isn't THE difference maker anymore. With year 2000 talent, yes. With year 2005 and beyond talent, he is not. We could definitely use a healthy O'Brien, but unlike many on here who think the US is doomed to failure without Reyna and/or O'Brien, I just don't see it that way. O'Brien is a luxury ......... not a necessity.
To clarify. I don't see the US doomed to failure without CR or JOB. On the contrary, a healthy CR in those last two qualies and we win, but we don't dominate or run over those teams. That's for damn sure. Would just slow things up and give the inferior opp more time and make them look better. CR and Armas and it get's ugly just like all of the previous qualies. I agree with the previous poster as far as JOB taking us up a level. A guy with his skill and vision, combined with the talent we have coming, and we could really go after some quality sides. Not just compete, but go after. If he plays in that Holland friendly we don't play that conservative D. We play off the Dutch, but counter hard because he holds and distributes so well. We counter and punch the entire match like we did those last 10 minutes. We create a lot more chances while taking the Dutch out of their 80 minute comfort zone. As for CONCACAF opponents, ha, we don't need much (sorry apologists - it's just CR and Mexico and we don't even need these two too compete toe to toe with them, but they sure help) and against average Euro sides we will be fine. I just feel that we need him against top tier teams to compete and play a bit aggressively. The good news is we don't play teams like that in matches that matter unless it's the World Cup or the Confed Cup (hehe, like they matter). JOB would fit our middle very nicely now, but alas. Good news is that we are close to getting more soon. I guess we should qualify and let JOB get healthy 6 mths before the Cup and d o what he does. I'll take that, but I feel for the guy. What would you be thinking right now? Hell, would I want to play anymore? I believe he questioned his own will once in these last couple of years, if this keeps him out another sevral mths he may just walk away. Almost 2 1/2 years of injury if this one's bad. Don't know if I could take it.
Never say never, but...it doesn't look good. A while back Arena, in response to a query about O'Brien's return to the USMNT, made a cryptic remark. He and his staff know the real story here, and while I'm sure they would love to see John back in the Red, White & Blue, they ain't countin' on it.
Ill agree with you Onefineesq - and disagree with the previous comment. But I'll go a little further... I'm not sure where O'Brien is these days. Yes, in 2002 he was huge for us... definitely one of the best players we had and probably the most versatile. And Ill argue that had he been healthy and playing, he'd still be a cornerstone of our team. However, he's been hurt.... a LOT. I honestly don't know where he is right now. Forget improvement since WC2002... is he back to where he WAS 2 years ago... will he be able to get back to where he was. I loved watching John and really hope he can come back from this, but we shouldn't look for him anytime soon, at least until he can play and make real contributions to Ajax. If he can do that, hey I welcome him back with open arms... and maybe a fruit basket, but I need to see that he hasn't lost something from the injuries.
so, wait a minute, has there been any word anywhere on JOB and this supposed injury? For all we know he came out because his hamstring was starting to tighten up a little and he thought it was time to come out.
I haven't seen anything on their site other than the initial report that he injured his hammy. Perhaps because it is JOB they assume we already know what the prognosis is.
This is from a Dutch newspaper named Dangblast Van Hit Noreen: Apparently, it says the extent of O'Brien's injury isn't known yet.
Come on guys, keep the faith and hope that its just a minor bump on his road back to full fitness. If we're lucky, it'll just be a minor aggravation.