Meet John O’Brien: Playa del Rey native. Retired U.S. soccer star!
At 16, he left for AFC Ajax’s renowned academy, rising to its first team, winning the Dutch League and Cup, and became the first American to play in the UEFA Champions League quarterfinals.
For the U.S. National Team, he helped lead a historic run to the 2000 Olympic medal round and the 2002 World Cup quarterfinals. Coach Bruce Arena recently called him, “one of the best players to ever wear the American jersey.”
But to me, he’s Uncle John. I’m a 13-year-old soccer player from Playa del Rey, and we share a love for the “world’s game.”
With the World Cup approaching, I interviewed my uncle about being a sporty kid in Playa del Rey in the 70s and 80s, his journey to the top of U.S. Soccer, what it’s really like to play in a World Cup, and why our community should be beyond excited to host the 2026 World Cup at SoFi Stadium.
Benjamin: What was it like playing soccer as a child in Playa del Rey?
John: It was fun. I started playing AYSO. I remember playing at Westchester High School and the duck pond. My mom was the coach. It was my sister’s team. My mom just enrolled me along with her even though I was supposedly too young. I remember a lot of moms being out on the field, helping us get organized and enjoy the game.
Back then, Playa del Rey had a lot of open fields: gas company fields and empty lots. We had an empty lot right next to our house. There were a lot of places to play, including a church, and, if it was after school, people wouldn’t be at the church, and they had some nice big walls that you could kick the ball against.
I remember when Nielsen Field opened, we helped pick rocks off the field and made that field ready for play.
Benjamin: It sounds like there wasn’t too much structure, like you could just go play soccer, casually.
John: There weren’t too many cars on our street, so I used to love kicking the ball against the curb. Our garage made a perfect goal. We had wood squares in the upper corners, and I’d always try to hit those, and I’d end up breaking them. I didn’t want to be outside and see my dad driving home because he was always concerned about me breaking the garage! I never got in trouble for it. He would just tell me to be careful, but it was just too exciting to kick the ball against the garage door in the top corners.
Benjamin: What do you think kids should do now if they don’t have as much space?
John: Get out to the parks! Find little spaces. If kids are serious about soccer, any space or any wall will do. It’s all about getting touches. If you’re passionate, you’ll find different places to play.
Benjamin: Describe your journey from the local fields of Playa del Rey to the European Champions League quarterfinals and the U.S. Men’s National Team.
John: I got into club soccer and played in Manhattan Beach, which was a really fun team. We had a great group of players. We won State Cup a couple of times and went to the U.S. regionals. That was really the beginning of my competitive soccer journey.
After that, I joined a team in Pasadena and that became even more competitive, with camps in the summer and playing games regularly and tournaments.
And, that’s when I started playing on my own even more. I remember having teammates over, and we’d get these really competitive games going. I remember going to LMU. They had some great fields there. I’d do extra trainings when I had a tryout for a youth national team or something upcoming, I’d go to LMU and do some training there.
There was a back field with goals, and they let me train there. It was really fun and a good resource.
And then I had an opportunity to try out in Europe when I was 16. In the U.S., I was playing on the Youth National Team and playing at a really high level club in Los Angeles.
Benjamin: When did you first make the Youth National Team?
John: Age 14 is when I made the US National team, but it was just on paper.
There were 25 players selected, but we didn’t actually get together. What happened afterward was I was invited to the under-17 World Cup, and we went to Japan for the Youth World Cup.
I was still living in the U.S. then. That was great experience. I was playing with older kids–most of them were a year older. I didn’t play one minute. I was there on the bench, hoping to get in, but I never did. But the whole experience helped me grow a lot.
Benjamin: Was it leading up to the U17 World Cup that you would do the LMU training?
John: It was before that. I probably started doing stuff on my own and with friends, definitely earlier. When I was 14, 15 and 16, we’d have these really intense games. And, I just loved the ball and loved juggling, bouncing it off walls and doing moves with it.
My dad would always encourage me, and say, “Hey, tryouts are coming up, if you get in shape, you’ll have an advantage.”
Benjamin: Where would you play with your friends or have these competitions?
John: No it was usually at people’s houses. I remember having games on our patio deck with my two friends when we were probably 14. You learn a lot in those games. We’d set up 1v1v1, so there are three goals and you’re defending and you’re attacking. Even before that, when I was probably 12, we’d just play in driveways and do one-on-ones.
Benjamin: So from driveways, to empty lots and church walls, to LMU. That’s a lot of different spaces in Playa del Rey and Westchester. And, playing soccer outside of structured practices.
John: Yeah, that unstructured practice was, I think, huge in my development, and that really is a place where my imagination could come to life. I could imagine all these scenarios, practicing things I wanted to do, and I could dream of being a certain player. There was an Italian player, Roberto Donadoni, I saw at the 1990 and 1994 World Cup, and I wanted to be like him, so I imagined doing plays like him engaging my imagination and then trying stuff out. That, along with the structured practice and competition, those things together set the stage for me to be able to go over to Europe and join a really competitive European Youth Team.
Benjamin: When you were 16, about to be 17, you moved to Amsterdam and played with the Ajax top youth team. How did you get connected to Ajax?
John: At that time, there was no professional soccer in the U.S., and my youth coach was really encouraging. He’s like, “You got some skills, you got to try to get over to Europe.”
The assistant coach knew someone in Holland. He wrote a letter (laughing), not an email, but a letter, to a guy working with the Dutch Football Federation. This is when I was 14. I went for three weeks. It was really hard. They were really good. They thought I was too young to come over there, but they thought I was a good player, so they said to keep in touch.
So, in the spring of 1994, when I was 16, I got to go on a trial. It was pretty cool. I trained with the team for a couple of days, and then we got on a bus and drove down to Paris and played in a tournament organized by Paris Saint-Germain.
I just remember it being really tough. The weather was cold. Their play was really fast, but I was playing with kids who were my age, where before they were a year older, so I was able to hang and do okay. And they said I was good enough to make their team.
So, after the summer that World Cup was here in Los Angeles in 1994, I moved to Amsterdam. I was 16, about to be 17, and I finished high school in Holland.
Benjamin: How did you find a place to live in Holland?
John: That’s a funny tie-in. So, I made the team, and my parents had to figure out what that meant for me and my school and for living.
My dad had always gone to the Westchester YMCA. He overheard a guy speaking in a Dutch accent, and he told him that I was moving there. The guy said his brother lived right by the AJAX stadium. His kids had just moved out and so he had a room to rent, so that’s who I ended up living with for the first couple of years.
Editor’s Note: If you’re continuing the story from the HTN article, it starts below.
Benjamin: So, someone Grandpa met at the YMCA?
John: Yes, all these different tie-ins to the community.
Benjamin: Tell us the next chapter of the story. You became a soccer star in Europe- one of the first Americans to do that. In the 2002 World Cup, you helped the U.S. beat World Cup favorites, Portugal, and win the historic Dos-a-Cero game over Mexico.
Tell us what it was like to play in the World Cup.
John: It was really cool and exciting. In 1998, I had just missed out on the World Cup, so I was excited. I’d been close before, and I really wanted to go. I was playing really good soccer at the time.
And then, when I got there, I couldn’t believe the scale of how big of an event it was. Just seeing how much it mattered, not only to the U.S., but even more to these other teams. Playing Portugal in the first game and knowing how much this game meant to their whole country was really impactful. And also, we were in Korea, and seeing how much the whole country was following it and rooting for their team was amazing. I’ve just never seen something impacting so many people.
Benjamin: What was it like to score a goal against Portugal, a team that was a favorite for winning the World Cup?
John: It was great! When playing against a team that’s supposed to be a lot better than you, the worst thing that can happen is that they just beat you, and you feel like you shouldn’t have even been on the field with them. Scoring a goal against them was like saying, “No, we’re here to play; we’re competing; you’re going to take us seriously and respect us”. It felt really good to make our mark and challenge them.
Also, for the World Cup, there’s a lot to the athlete being able to manage pressure. The field’s still the same size, still the same game, but the skill is managing pressure and still being able to play. There are really fine margins. Small things can make all the difference: just one slip here, or a pass that bounces one other way can make the whole difference in the whole tournament. When you get teams that are really competitive and at similar level, the difference between who wins the game and has a great story and who loses the game and is labeled a failure is in the really fine margins.
Benjamin: What makes some people able to handle that pressure?
John: I can’t speak for everybody, but I really wanted to be there. I felt really good in my skills, and I knew I had trained hard. I had shown up and put myself in good places and been honest with what I was good at and what I wasn’t, and I worked at it. And I had developed some mental skills to calm myself down and get in the right headspace to play.
Benjamin: Tell us why having the World Cup in Los Angeles and with SoFi Stadium so close to our community is so special.
John: Well, I watched the World Cup Finals in Pasadena in 1994. Now, it’s coming back again, and it’s amazing to see how the country has developed in terms of soccer since then.
And for Playa del Rey and the local community, I think it’s a chance to tap into the “World’s Game,” as they call it. People all over the world play soccer, and it’s a great way to connect, learn about cultures and share enthusiasm.
Benjamin: How should people support the World Cup and show their enthusiasm?
John: Enjoy it. Really, go there, enjoy it. Root for your team. Support youth sports. Keep it fun and educational, so that kids can live out their dreams in sports and not have it spoiled by too competitive or intense environments.
Benjamin: What’s your outlook on the U.S. team this year?
John: This team has some real talented players, and there are times that they can put it together for different games. So, there is a chance. All you need is one or two games, and it can make a difference to get you out of your pool and into the next round.
Benjamin: Thank you, Uncle John, for sharing your inspiring story that began right here in this community. It reminds us to take pride in our local spaces, encourage kids to have free time to play, and to create positive youth sports environments. Good first moments unlock passion and potential. Now, let’s enjoy this moment in history when the World Cup comes to Los Angeles!
Since retiring from soccer, John became a Sports Psychologist. You can learn more about his current work at johnobriensportpsych.com.
Interview by Benjamin Cisneros. Photos courtesy the O’Brien family.