I was saving this audio clip of Eddie Robinson until the little feature I wrote about him went up on soccer365.
Jonny Bornstein scored on his debut with the national team last year, but Robinson scoring was way different, mostly because he's so much older. It's not the arrival of a young talent that can now look forward to many more years with the NT. It's more the sweet solace of, "Finally, damn it - and if it's the one and only chance I get, I know I made the most of it."
It's always rewarding to read something that adds some thickness to a previously two dimensional picture of a player. It's not always, though, you find yourself becoming a fan of a guy you didn't really think all that much of before as a result. I confess I previously would have quipped that Robinson's initials stood for Emergency Room.
ReplyDeleteNot anymore. Oh, he'll still be rough and tough, but this "little feature", as AC calls it, has made Eddie Robinson one of the players I'll now care about in MLS, and NT if he gets another shot. Eddie getting this long hoped for chance, appreciating it when it came, and making the most of it was a nice story, nicely told here. Fine, fine work: both player and writer!
Thanks, Ghost. As a former defender, I'll admit to a bit of a soft spot for all the players who man that position well. Robinson's great play in the All-Star game two years ago stood out for me partly because I was sure he wouldn't make it in time. I consider myself a scrapper, but I'd probably have given up on that ball.
ReplyDeleteThe audio here catches a bit of the emotion in Robinson's voice when he talks about what his first cap meant to him, but I wish you could have seen the look on his face.