Born in Ireland in 1979, Ronnie O'Brien plays as a midfielder on the pitch. In his youth, he left a strong mark for the Irish national youth team. In 1998 he defeated Italy in the final of the Irish youth team led by Manchester United star O'Shea to win the European u-16 championship.
The name may be unfamiliar to many fans, especially those born after 2000. But his peculiar career and off-field anecdotes have had to become a hero worshipped by many fans. Let's take a look at the stories that happened to him!
Quirky transfer experience
In 1997, Championship favourites Middlesbrough signed O'Brien, 18. Despite their outstanding performance in the national youth team, Middlesbrough chose to sack O'Brien in 1999 due to his inability to help the club improve in the Premier League. In fact, he never gained the trust of the team's head coach, Robson, and even the first-team appearance record could not be found.
In 1999, O'Brien, who had a thin resume, boarded the Juventus ship. At that time, the Bianconeri was highly competitive in both Italy and Europe. How to catch up with this little-known young general, we don't know. Ancelotti's Juve also gave the attacking midfielder a five-year contract, making O'Brien the third Irish player in history to join Juventus.
The fringe of premier league relegation teams being spotted by Europe's top giants is big news for the Middlesbury region. Robson, then head coach of Middlesbrough, said: "I don't think O'Brien is good enough. Excited because he went to Juventus, but he hadn't done anything yet. Good luck to him. I hope he did a really good job, enough to prove me wrong. ”
Juve period
Juve in the summer of 1999 was in the midst of a period of uncertainty. They have some of the greatest players in history in their squad, including Zidane, Davis and Piero, yet other star players such as Deschamps and Peruzi have left.
With the International Toto Cup match in July and August, Ancelotti is ready to try his first-team line-up. After playing in three friendly matches, O'Brien was relegated to a substitute for a clash with Romanian side Nyam before getting a great chance in the second leg of the semi-final against Russian club Rostov.
O'Brien was substituted in the final 13 minutes. Juve's aggregate score was already 9-1, but blurred footage of the game showed him performing well: moving up and down on the right wing, winning a free kick on the edge of the opposing penalty area, and then making a key tackle in the Juve penalty area, ending the Russian club's attack.
He was probably supposed to score, but two shots were deflected off target and his best chance was for Inzaghi to cross the defence with a volley that resulted in the young Irishman giving way to dashing Del Piero. In fact, Juve's new midfielder has a better position, meaning there is a great chance of scoring if they choose to shoot. However, being too "unselfish" caused Piero's shot to be out of balance and the team missed the 10th goal.
Selected as Time Magazine's Person of the Century
Time magazine is one of the most well-known publications in the world. In late 1999, they conducted an online poll to identify the people of the 20th century they were about to publish.
Cultural and political figures from Martin Luther King, King Jr., Winston Churchill, Elvis Presley and Albert Einstein are on the list. Times also allows netizens to provide their favorite lists – the first major event of online voting.
What is jaw-dropping is that O'Brien, a footballer who is not particularly good, has taken the lead in the online voting. Soon, the famous American publishing house closed the voting, and O'Brien was removed and the voting rules were changed. The public reason is that Whimsical candidates who do not fall within the spirit of the title will not be counted.
In the end, Einstein, Churchill and other figures won support (our country also has two), and the Irish athlete had to continue to work the green field.
During the Grand Alliance period
O'Brienne's preseason performance disappointed Juventus. From September 1999 he was loaned to Club Lugano in Switzerland. During his three-year Juventus career, he was loaned to the Italian lower divisions of Crotone and Lecco, and returned to England with Dundee United in the Scottish league.
Even though he caused a stir on the internet very early on, O'Brien didn't attract any of his makeshift clubs. In the summer of 2002, three years after his five-year contract, he was terminated by Juventus.
However, the story doesn't end there.
O'Brien's exciting career took him to major leagues, signing with Dallas Burn in 2002, now Dallas Football Club, and really got a foothold. He scored in his debut in the 2-1 win over San Jose.
In 2003, one of O'Brien's legs was shoveled off, ending the season early. The following year, however, O'Brien performed well, making 29 appearances, providing 10 assists and 2 goals to help Dallas into the major league playoffs. He was nominated for the league's All-Team of the 2004 season and was named to the prestigious All-Star Game.
In 2005 his stats were even better, scoring 6 goals and 12 assists in 30 games and again making the top 11 and All-Star Games, with Dallas second in the West and fifth in the playoffs.
However, it began to decline later. O'Brien fell out with Dallas head coach Colin Clark and plans to move to Toronto Football Club were hampered by a knee injury. He signed for the San Jose Earthquakes during the 2008 Major League season, but after 28 appearances in that game, O'Brien unexpectedly decided to retire at the age of 29.
Since hanging up his boots, O's returned to Dallas to play golf and even coach for a time at the academy of his old club.
summary
For football, O'Brien's career is not spectacular. Even in Europe, the world's highest level, there are very few opportunities to get. But in every industry and every field, the number of people who succeed is always a minority. O'Brien is like the ordinary you and me in our lives, maybe not shining enough, but only for self-understanding.
I'm Yu Banxian Er, goodbye!!!