Ronnie O'Brien
Personal information | |||
---|---|---|---|
Full name | Ronnie O'Brien | ||
Date of birth | 5 January 1979 | ||
Place of birth | Bray, County Wicklow, Ireland | ||
Position(s) | Midfielder | ||
Senior career* | |||
Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
1997–1999 | Middlesbrough | 0 | (0) |
1999–2002 | Juventus | 0 | (0) |
1999 |
→ AC Lugano (loan) | 8 | (0) |
2000–2001 |
→ Crotone (loan) | 4 | (0) |
2001 | → Lecco (loan) | 8 | (0) |
2001–2002 | → Dundee United (loan) | 6 | (0) |
2002–2006 | FC Dallas | 108 | (12) |
2007 | Toronto FC | 13 | (0) |
2008 | San Jose Earthquakes | 28 | (4) |
Total | 175 | (16) | |
International career‡ | |||
1997–1998 | Republic of Ireland U16 | ||
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 17 August 2018 ‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 7 April 2018 |
Ronnie O'Brien (born 5 January 1979) is an Irish retired footballer.
Although released early in his career by his first club
O'Brien also represented the Republic of Ireland under-16 team and was part of the squad that won the 1998 Under-16 European Championship.
Playing career
Club career
O'Brien's footballing career began very promisingly, when at the age of 18 he signed a contract with
Italian giants
His solitary competitive appearance for Juventus was an Intertoto Cup match against Rostov on 4 August 1999 when he entered the match as a substitute for Zoran Mirković in the 77th minute.
MLS
In search of consistent playing time, O'Brien, made the unconventional decision to move to America to join the Dallas Burn. O'Brien made an immediate impact, scoring on his debut for the club in a
In 2005, O'Brien repeated his Best XI form, finishing the year with six goals and 12 assists. During the 2006 season, O'Brien clashed with FC Dallas' head coach
Due to a knee injury during a training session, which was later aggravated during a friendly match, O'Brien was limited to 13 games in the 2007 season.
In 2008, O'Brien was traded to the San Jose Earthquakes. In return, Toronto FC received San Jose's first round pick in the 2009 draft plus an undisclosed amount of money.[1] He made 28 appearances, scoring 4 goals (his 16th in the MLS). His 6 assists brought his MLS career assist total to 45 (from 142 total appearances).
Following O'Brien's strong performance and evident leadership in 2008, the San Jose Earthquakes stunned their fans by failing to pick up his contract option for the 2009 season. Instead, Earthquakes' GM John Doyle was hoping that he would accept a substantial pay cut. In January 2009, O'Brien made it known that he would not be returning to the San Jose Earthquakes.[2] Without O'Brien's leadership and strong play, the Earthquakes struggled early in 2009. Despite a favourable schedule in which San Jose played five of their seven games at home, the Quakes managed just one win, leading many San Jose fans to call for O'Brien's return.
International career
O'Brien achieved success with the Republic of Ireland national youth sides, including winning the 1998 Under-16 European Championship alongside John O'Shea.
Despite having played multiple times for the Irish underage sides, O'Brien only received one call-up to the senior side. Steve Staunton contacted Toronto FC about his availability for a short tour of the US in June 2007. However, O'Brien turned down the chance to play for his country again, as he had just returned from injury, while adding he was happy playing club football.[3]
Coaching career
He is now a coach of FC Dallas' youth teams.[4]
Personal life
O'Brien keeps an off-season residence in Dallas and is an avid Dallas Mavericks fan.[5]
Time magazine stunt
In August 1999, e-mails circulated urging Irish people to vote for Ronnie O'Brien in
Career statistics
Club | Season | League | Other1 | Total | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
League | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
FC Lugano | 1999–2000 | Super League | 5 | 0 | — | 5 | 0 | |
Dundee United | 2001–02 | Premier League | 8 | 0 | 8 | 0 | ||
Dallas Burn/FC Dallas | 2002 | MLS | 11 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 14 | 2 |
2003 | 6 | 1 | — | 6 | 1 | |||
2004 | 29 | 2 | 29 | 2 | ||||
2005 | 28 | 6 | 2 | 0 | 30 | 6 | ||
2006 | 27 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 29 | 1 | ||
Totals | 101 | 12 | 7 | 0 | 108 | 12 | ||
Toronto FC | 2007 | MLS | 13 | 0 | — | 13 | 0 | |
San Jose Earthquakes | 2008 | 28 | 4 | 28 | ||||
Career totals | 158 | 16 | 7 | 0 | 165 | 16 | ||
Sources:[7][8] |
- 1.^ Includes MLS Cup playoffs.
Honours
Juventus
Republic of Ireland U16
Individual
- MLS All-Star: 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007
- MLS Best XI: 2004, 2005
References
- ^ Campbell, Morgan (28 February 2008). "TFC trades O'Brien to Earthquakes: Report".
- ^ Carlisle, Jeff (22 January 2009). "O'Brien: "I'm definitely not coming back"". Archived from the original on 28 June 2013.
- ^ McIntyre, Doug (24 May 2007). "O'Brien has no regrets about declining Irish invite".
- ^ FC Dallas (2010). Spring Break Youth Soccer Camp (Video).
- ^ "Ronnie O'Brien". Archived from the original on 27 April 2011.
- ^ Wrafter, Mark (6 April 2003). "Polling power of viral e-mails". Archived from the original on 1 March 2009.
- ^ "Ronnie O'Brien » Club matches". World Football. Retrieved 12 March 2017.
- ^ "Ronnie O'Brien". Major League Soccer. Retrieved 12 March 2017.