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| Monday, September 24, 2001 19:21 EST |
Calling out to an X-factor
By Marc Connolly
[ABC Sports Online]
The ringing of the phone when calling overseas to Holland sounds like the usual busy signal in The States. A protruding beep that causes you to wonder whether you mixed up a phone number that’s longer than your social security digits.
The machine picks up, and you hear a low-key, half-mumbled voice talking over what sounds to be a mixture between roommates or friends and music. Much like something you’d hear 95 percent of the time when calling a college dorm or frat house.
Mr. Versatile: John O'Brien can be effective at a number of positions. |
It’s comforting to hear. Reminds you that John O’Brien, an emerging star for the both the ultra-prestigious Ajax Amsterdam club and the U.S. National Team, is still just a 24-year-old kid from California pursuing a lifelong dream. And one whose skills have been developed and fine-tuned at one of the sport’s Meccas to the point where his presence among Bruce Arena’s starting 11 is now vital.
After several months of injury-plagued days, missed games and practices and lost opportunities to help his beloved country in a serious World Cup qualifying bind, O’Brien is of the highest spirits as we speak since he just recently returned to the pitch.
“I started training with the team again about two weeks ago,” he says. “And I went 80 minutes with the second team last Wednesday night (a 4-0 win over Haarlem), and it went well. I got several balls at my feet within the first few minutes in, so I got right into the game.”
Any soccer fan in America, whether a card-carrying member of Sam’s Army or just a casual observer of Arena’s squad, who knows anything about this young man and his game has to be relieved to hear such words with the crucial match with Jamaica coming up on Oct. 7.
With midfield maestro Claudio Reyna -- arguably the team’s most essential component -- still recovering from a groin injury to lead an all-star injury list of U.S. players, and a host of uncertainties surround a national team that has lost three straight games after winning four of its first five in qualifying, O’Brien’s services are essential. Though injuries have forced him to miss so many matches over the last few years that it’s impossible to say he “was missed” in devastating losses to Honduras and Costa Rica this month, O’Brien is one of the first players any knowledgeable soccer person would mention as someone who could have made a difference.
That’s exactly why Arena has been dialing long distance to a country that’s six hours ahead of him in Fairfax, Virginia.
“Bruce has been keeping updates on me,” says O’Brien, who impressed Arena by scoring two goals in five matches with the National Team last year. “He’s been talking about the October 7 game and when I can get back to the States.”
Any time you mention O’Brien to Arena, you can immediately tell he’s a favorite of his. It’s not often you can do that, either, seeing that the fourth-year U.S. coach plays his cards close to his vest in a way that would make Bat Masterson proud. But, then again, O’Brien is a coach’s dream, the type of player you’d manufacture in a computer program if possible.
For starters, his versatility gives any of his coaches a multitude of options, either in setting the starting lineup or when changing formations and moving players around late in the match. One could put O’Brien at either wing back position and not worry, or slot him into any midfield role. In today’s era of specialization in most every sport, it’s refreshing to see such a player who not only can fulfill many roles, but also has no qualms about it.
“I think it’s because of how I play,” explains O’Brien, who stands at 5-9, 155 pounds. “I like to control the ball and see what is going on around me. That helps for any position. I feel comfortable filling in a role, and once I’m ok there, I try to bring creativity to that position. I’m left-footed, but I have a pretty good right foot, which helps.”
That doesn’t mean he’s merely a left-sided player, though, such as a David Regis or an Eddie Lewis. In fact, I’d bet several people who have watched O’Brien come up through the ranks with youth national teams and the Olympic squad were unaware that he was a lefty. For Ajax, he’s played in the back in the past, and claims that his best shot to break into the starting side at the moment happens to be on the left side as a midfielder.
“It’s not the position I think I can play the best,” says a modest O’Brien. “Every game is a different scenario as to where I can get into the game since you never know about cards and injuries. I think that’s where I can do the most for the team right now.”
His best position, though, is as a defensive midfielder, which is where he lined up for the reserves in last week’s match. Unfortunately, the first team doesn’t employ such a position right now in its 5-3-2 formation that features an attacking midfielder and two midfielders spread wide, but not enough to get in the space designed for the outside backs to roam up the flanks.
But it’s a spot where he could end up playing against Jamaica, most likely in a dual role with defensive stalwart Chris Armas. While some players prefer to be alone in such a position, O’Brien says he likes having a partner in the defensive midfield.
“It’s easier defensively because you have someone else running around there trying to get balls,” he says. “Offensively, you have a little less space and it can get crowded in the middle, so you have to move forward many times to keep space.”
One would think that Arena would utilize O’Brien in such a way, because it would be in essence having a true link between the defense and the offense and someone who could play more of a central role behind Earnie Stewart and slightly ahead of Armas. It would also give Arena a Reyna-like presence, based on O’Brien’s strong holding skills and composure in tight spaces.
O’Brien, who grew up always playing as an offensive center midfielder, would just like to be in the middle of the field if possible.
“I think in the center midfield is where I can help,” he says. “I don’t know in what formation or with who depending on who is back (from injury), but that’s where I can play my best.
If Arena goes back to a formation with wing midfielders (please do, Bruce), O’Brien would certainly be the best player available to roam the left side. It might help to have a defensive-type player out there on that side if David Regis is to ever see time at left back again after a poor second half of qualifying.
Either way, the subdued redhead from Playa del Ray, Calif., will surely be one of the keys to the U.S. in two weeks and, due to his injuries the fact that he’s never started a final-round World Cup qualifier, the team’s X-factor in the midfield. It’s a burden he is ready for after surviving in the cutthroat world of European soccer the past five years.
“I’m pretty happy right now,” he says. “I had a good preseason over here, but right when things were kicking off with Champions League and qualification, I got injured. I’d like to contribute to the National Team, but I haven’t been able to be able to do it as frequently as I’ve wanted to.
“A game like this has me excited already. There are times when I’m nervous about it. It’ll be a high pressure situation, but I’ll be ready when the whistle is blown.”
Marc Connolly is a senior writer for ABC Sports Online. He can be reached at marc.connolly@abc.com.
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