John O'Brien (soccer player)

John O'Brien
Personnel
Surname	John Patrick O'Brien
birthday	August 29, 1977
place of birth	Los Angeles ,  USA
size	178 cm
position	Left mid-field
Men's
Years	station	Games (goals) 1
1996-2004	Ajax Amsterdam	64 (3)
1998-1999	→  FC Utrecht  (loan)	19 (2)
2004-2006	ADO The Hague	3 (0)
2006	CD Chivas USA	1 (0)
National team
Years	selection	Games (goals)
1998-2006	United States	32 (3)
1 Only league games are given.

John Patrick O'Brien (born August 29, 1977 in Los Angeles , California ) is a retired American football player . The United States international competed in the 2002 and 2006 World Cups. His strengths included his versatile use both in the central midfield and in the outer positions and his flanks hit with the left foot.

Athletic career

O'Brien first joined a football club at the age of twelve and completed his first trial training at the Dutch club Ajax Amsterdam at the age of 14 . In the summer of 1994 he joined the renowned youth department of Ajax after the then youth coach Co Adriaanse had previously visited him in his homeland in California. O'Brien had already taken part in the FIFA U-17 World Cup in Japan in 1993 , where the US youth team took seventh place.

While he was henceforth trained in the Ajax Academy, he continued to play in the youth national team of his country and took part in the 1997 Dallas Cup for Ajax , where he failed with his club on penalties at the Brazilian club AC Vitória . He was also part of the team that played at the U20 World Cup in Malaysia . In March 1998, O'Brien signed a first three-year contract with the Ajax professionals and made his senior national team debut just a month later in Vienna when he beat Austria .

O'Brien was loaned to league rivals FC Utrecht in the 1998/99 season and came there to 19 missions, where he injured his foot at the end of the season. After this one year he returned to Amsterdam and established himself there after his debut in the UEFA Cup when he came on for Aron Winter , from then on more and more to a regular player in the honor division , where he was usually assigned the task of left full-back . His appearances in the national team were very limited from then on, as both commitments at Ajax and recurring injuries prevented him. After his only international match in 1999 - when he played a friendly match against Liverpool FC for an American U-23 team - he took part in the Olympic football tournament in Sydney in 2000 and came fourth there.

In 2000, O'Brien scored his first goal in a 7-0 win over Barbados in a qualifying match for the 2002 World Cup in Japan and South Korea , but had to sideline much of the 2000/01 season for Ajax due to injury problems. He was only able to celebrate his comeback in May 2001 and played as a right-back.

Only about 1.73 meters tall, O'Brien was a key player in the successful qualification of the US selection for the 2002 World Cup, for which he was then nominated after a successful club season as Dutch champions and Amstel Cup winners. At the World Cup itself, he was on the field in all five games, not missing a minute and contributed to the 1-0 goal in the initial 3-2 win against Portugal . He also prepared Clint Mathis' opening goal against South Korea . His achievements in defensive midfield and as a playmaker were highly recognized by the professional world.

Back at his club, O'Brien played in the Champions League for the first time and was the first American to be represented in this competition in the quarter-finals against AC Milan . A torn Achilles tendon in the 2003/04 season, however, meant that O'Brien had to sit out for a long time at both Ajax and the national team. He was then given in February 2005 to the club ADO Den Haag , where he only came to three games in a time plagued by injuries again. He then moved to the MLS for the first time in his career to play in his hometown for the club CD Chivas USA, which was founded only a year earlier . Despite the long absence in the national team, O'Brien was then appointed to the squad for the 2006 World Cup in Germany on May 2, 2006. In the first game against the Czech Republic , however, he suffered an injury and could no longer be used during the further course of the tournament. The World Cup game was also his last game in his career, in 2008 he stated in an interview that he had ended his career because of persistent injury problems.

successes

• Dutch champion: 2002, 2004
• Amstel Cup winner: 2002

Web links

• Photo by John O'Brien
• O'Brien information at www.ussoccerplayers.com

Individual evidence

1. ↑ thesoccermag.com: QUESTION AND ANSWER: JOHN O'BRIEN  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.