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March 07, 2008
More on Ronnie O'Brien plus a Santa Clara improvement update
When he traded Ronnie O'Brien to the Quakes for cash and a draft pick, Toronto GM Mo Johnston used the midfielder's health as an excuse for the deal. As we noted last week, he told Canadian sports site Goal.com that he thought "we were on the brink of maybe something happening to him. It's a big, big gamble."
When we first linked to that story last week, we commented that it sounded an awful lot like a GM searching for a way to justify letting a popular player leave his team. After reading Jeff Carlisle's story on SJEarthquakes.com, we're even more convinced of that.
O'Brien's season finally ended in September when he underwent arthroscopic surgery, but it wasn't until another operation three months later that a bone spur was found to be the root cause of his discomfort. With that ailment now taken care of, O'Brien believes that he is ready to regain his form of 2005 when he was named to the league's Best XI for the second year running."I'm back to feeling like I did before," said O'Brien. "I'm back running around with no problems, and I'm striking the ball the way I want to. It's just a case of maintaining it now so that it doesn't happen again."
Hmm, maybe Johnston was right and O'Brien is on the brink of something — something like returning to full health for the first time in a year. Time will tell...
Yesterday over on BigSoccer, user athletics68 posted photos showing the progress being made on renovations to Buck Shaw Stadium as well as the new, artificial surface practice field.
To sum up, the practice field is almost finished and the field has been leveled and graded, so it's almost ready for new sod to be placed. Check out the link for photos.
Posted by Jay at March 7, 2008 06:19 AM