Charles, Arena have Ajax product in their plans
Clive Charles has big plans for John O’Brien, but those must wait. Bruce Arena’s plans come first. All of this fits nicely into O’Brien’s plans: The 22-year-old Californian, who left home at 16 to hone his skills in Europe, has long had Olympic and national team matters in mind.
He’s in Chula Vista, Calif., starting Jan. 5, showing Arena what he can do while Charles ù who wants O’Brien in the middle of the Americans’ midfield this summer in Australia ù watches on in anticipation.
It’s another step along a path that’s supposed to take O’Brien to World Cups, to stardom with Europe’s biggest clubs, all that. So far there have been few hitches, and six years with Ajax Amsterdam ù first in the Dutch power’s legendary youth system, now as a starter (when healthy) for its first team ù have prepared him, it appears, to take on the world.
“John is a very good player,” praises Charles. “Unfortunately, the last couple years he’s been riddled with injuries. But he’s very technical ù he’s got a very good future.”
Foot ailments have been the bane of an otherwise sensational year and a half for O’Brien, who made an enormous impression after Ajax loaned him to FC Utrecht last season (Voetbal International, the Netherlands’ leading soccer magazine, ranked him the third-best rookie in the Dutch Honor Division), then cracked Ajax’s first 11 last fall once he’d recovered from a painful toe injury that sidelined him in December 1998.
He’s been knocked out twice since with ankle injuries, and Arena acknowledges that assessing O’Brien’s health is among his top priorities of the U.S. camp.
“We want to see if he’s really healthy,” says Arena, more concerned about the toe injury ù a mysterious cartilage ailment that doctors struggled to cure ù than anything else. “He’s certainly a very good player, and when he’s in camp with us, we’ll find out a little more.
“He’s a left-footed player, versatile, can play a number of positions. You can put him at left back, defensive midfielder or left-sided midfielder. We want to see if he can offer that type of versatility. If so, he’ll certainly have a lot of value to our program.”
Charles can’t wait to get him into the under-23 team’s lineup, but he’ll have to. Arena wants him with the full national team and has plans for him against Iran on Jan. 16 at the Rose Bowl.
A reputation for developing talent
O’Brien, who plays primarily as a right-sided midfielder for Ajax, has made one appearance with the national team, in the romp over Austria before the 1998 World Cup. He also was part of the U.S. squads at U-17 (1993) and U-20 (1997) world championships.
He’s gotten where he’s at because of his experiences at Ajax, which has a reputation for developing talent and counts Johan Cruyff, Marco Van Basten and Frank Rijkaard among its youth-system alumni.
“John plays with great skill,” admires Ajax coach Jan Wouters. “He’s both-feeted, and he has a good sense of positional play, when to stay and what to do. … So we have a lot of trust in John O’Brien.”
He’s played in 10 games, starting seven, this season for Ajax, which is third (five points behind PSV) in the Honor Division but crashed in the UEFA Cup’s third round. The club, once among Europe’s elite, has faded as its top young players have chased big money across the continent, leaving for greater riches in England, Italy and Spain.
O’Brien has no plans to join the exodus.
“If you haven’t reached what you can reach in this country, why leave?” he says. “I see Barcelona, there’s great players sitting on the bench. What are you thinking if, as a young player, you go there. You’re not going to get on the field.
“I still have to develop more of my game before I go off to [another] foreign country. I could see myself staying here for awhile.”
by Soccer America senior editor Scott French in Amsterdam