Conor O'Brien (soccer)

Conor O'Brien
Conor O'Brien, June 2011. (Photo: Lars Schmidt)
Personal information
Full name Conor Stephen O'Brien
Date of birth (1988-10-20) October 20, 1988
Place of birth Mount Sinai, New York, United States
Height 1.77 m (5 ft 9 1⁄2 in)
Playing position Defensive midfielder
Club information
Current team
 Charlotte Independence
Number 2
Youth career
2006–2009 Bucknell Bison
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2009 Cary Clarets 15 (2)
2010–2011 Blokhus FC 23 (9)
2011–2012 SønderjyskE 45 (7)
2013 Nordsjælland 14 (1)
2013–2014 OB 16 (0)
2014–2015 Wiener Neustadt 29 (4)
2015–2017 AC Horsens 55 (2)
2017 IK Start 9 (0)
2018– Charlotte Independence 0 (0)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 27 December 2017

Conor Stephen O'Brien (born October 20, 1988) is an American soccer player who currently plays for Charlotte Independence in the USL.[1]

Youth career

Conor O'Brien won a State Cup as a Boys-Under-10 player with the Long Island Junior Soccer League's Terryville Fire in 1999. He was the only Fire player remaining the next time they won the State Cup—as an Under-18 side in 2007.[2] In 2007, O’Brien pulled off a stunning accomplishment when he led his club team, the Terryville Fire, to a U-18 national title. For those who follow youth soccer in this country, Terryville’s national title was a Hollywood–style Cinderella run that would surpass what was seen in either “Miracle” or “Hoosiers.” [3]

A Long Island native, O'Brien was one of the most decorated players at Bucknell University, finishing his career 2nd in school history in assists and 9th in goals. He also was named first-team all-Patriot League twice, winning the league's Offensive Player of the Year Award twice.[4] He also became Bucknell's first All-American in 33 years and was named a finalist for the Hermann Trophy, given to the national player of the year.[5] At Bucknell he started every game over four years and led the club to their first ever Patriot League title.[6]

Club career

After finishing his Bucknell career, O’Brien went undrafted in the 2010 MLS Superdraft despite rave reviews at the MLS Combine in 2010. Not wanting to give up on his professional ambitions, O’Brien joined Blokhus FC, a tiny club playing in the third division of Denmark.[7][8] At Blokhus, the midfielder found immediate success. O'Brien found the net 10 times as the club stormed to the 2nd Division West title and then emerged victorious in the promotion[9]

Following the 2010-11 season, he signed an eighteen-month contract with SønderjyskE in the Danish SuperLiga.[10] In his first year, he scored 3 goals in 25 league appearances. After scoring 4 goals in 20 appearances during the first half of the 2012-13 Danish Superliga, O'Brien's contract expired, and he did not choose to resign with the club.[11]

After his contract expired with SønderjyskE, O'Brien signed with reigning SuperLiga winners FC Nordsjælland. and participated in the team's 2012-2013 Champions League campaign. Following O'Brien's brief stay with the Wild Tigers he would head to Odense Boldklub.[12] When struggling to maintain position in the league table, Odense BK seemed to prefer to play a product from the team's youth system rather than the American.

During his stay in Denmark's top flight, O'Brien logged 9 goals and 5 assists across all competitions for Odense BK, SönderjyskE and FC Nordsjælland, for whom he made his Champions League debut in 2013.[13]

Conor O'Brien has the most goals in Denmark's SuperLiga as an American born player with 8 and is third in most games played with 79.[14]

In the summer of 2014 O'Brien signed a one-year contract with Austrian Bundesliga side Wiener Neustadt, in which-given the opportunity to play-he returned to form, recording 29 appearances on the pitch with 4 goals in Austrian Bundesliga domestic matches.[15] In addition to competing interest from the Danish Superliga, MLSsoccer.com has learned that O'Brien also had free agent contact from Major League Soccer.[16]

Conor O'Brien has started his current season with AC Horsens in 2016 after recording 21 starts and 23 appearances with the squad in the 2015-16 SuperLiga season. Given O'Brien averages a goal in over 10% of his games played, he is likely to put more distance between fellow Yanks, in Denmark's SuperLiga, and his career total goals scored in the league (currently at 8). He left the club in the summer 2017.[17]

References

  1. ↑ https://www.charlotteindependence.com/news_article/show/948012
  2. ↑ http://www.longisland.com/articles/04-14-11/conor-obrien-scoring-goals-in-attempt-to-lead-blokhus-fc-to-first-division.html
  3. ↑ http://theshinguardian.com/2013/02/12/conor-obrien-winning-is-the-only-calling-card-needed/
  4. ↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on October 24, 2012. Retrieved October 23, 2012.
  5. ↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on June 11, 2013. Retrieved June 12, 2013.
  6. ↑ http://theshinguardian.com/2013/02/12/conor-obrien-winning-is-the-only-calling-card-needed/
  7. ↑ http://theshinguardian.com/2013/02/12/conor-obrien-winning-is-the-only-calling-card-needed/
  8. ↑ http://goal.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/05/02/obrien-blazing-his-own-trail-in-denmark/
  9. ↑ http://www.yanks-abroad.com/content.php?mode=players&id=251
  10. ↑ http://www.soenderjyske.dk/Default.asp?Default.asp?name2=&SideName=&StrMenu=3&IntID2=5903&strMenu2=4&SideID=31&intPage=1 Archived December 27, 2013, at the Wayback Machine.
  11. ↑ http://www.mlssoccer.com/news/article/2013/01/07/american-exports-new-suitors-race-free-agent-obrien
  12. ↑ http://www.yanks-abroad.com/content.php?mode=players&id=251
  13. ↑ http://www.mlssoccer.com/news/article/2014/08/01/american-exports-conor-obrien-signs-short-term-deal-austrian-club-wiener-neu
  14. ↑ http://www.superstats.dk/spillere/udl-land-alltime-spec?land=USA
  15. ↑ http://www.yanks-abroad.com/content.php?mode=players&id=251
  16. ↑ http://www.mlssoccer.com/news/article/2014/08/01/american-exports-conor-obrien-signs-short-term-deal-austrian-club-wiener-neu
  17. ↑ Fire mand forlader AC Horsens, bold.dk, 14 June 2017
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