By Andrea Canales

Sometimes the odds are so daunting that it seems easier to give up than to try. The kind of reckless courage that it takes to persevere when the chances of success are so low isn’t easy to find.

It was a play that seemed to encapsulate the personality of Eddie Robinson. In 2006, a hastily-thrown together squad of Major League Soccer’s top players faced England’s Chelsea F.C. in an All-Star game. Against the offensive talent of the Premiership’s defending champions, the players from the U.S. league fought to earn a measure of respect in the friendly. The pressure was especially high on the defenders, and none faced a tougher moment than centerback Robinson.

It was fellow MLS’er Facundo Erpen who set up the difficult play. Erpen was successful in poking the ball away from Salomon Kalou in the box, but he accidentally put the ball between the legs of goalkeeper Joe Cannon, sending it rolling straight towards the goal.

There was the slimmest possibility disaster could be averted by chasing the ball down, but the far more likely outcome was that any touch on the ball would be too late. Robinson didn’t delay an instant. He went full-tilt after the ball, barely reaching it with an outstretched leg to clear it off the line from behind. It was the most astonishing play of the game, which the MLS side eventually won by the slimmest of margins, 1-0.

Robinson has made a habit of going full-throttle against every obstacle throughout his playing career. That has both made and crippled his career. Though he is an athletically gifted player with good skill on headers, he nonetheless had never appeared with the U.S. national team.

International soccer games are generally called tighter than the rough-and-tumble games of MLS, where Robinson mixed it up with opposing players and didn’t hesitate to use everything he possible could to prevent the other guy from scoring. His style was effective, but it lacked finesse. The rap on Robinson was simple - he was considered too much of a hothead and too physical of a defender to ever be called up, unless there were few other options. Generally, there were always other, safer, options.

”If you look at what America has at centerback, there were always four or five guys who have proven themselves time and again at this level,” Robinson acknowledged about his lack of opportunity despite his club success.

After all, Robinson, though a key member of championship teams in MLS, had to be considered a bit of a liability. Forty-one yellow cards and four ejections pepper his seven-year playing career in the league. That’s in stark contrast to Michael Parkhurst, for example, who has a mere four cautions in three years.

Age was also a factor.  Robinson knew he couldn’t be considered as a project for the future.

“I’m 29 – and chances are that at this level, Bob knows what he’s got at that position,” Robinson said. “Why risk seeing [me] if you’ve got another guy, because you’ve got so many good players in that position?”

Yet Robinson finally got his national team chance this January. He made the most of it, delivering a solid defensive performance and, astonishingly, scoring the open tally after a goalmouth scramble off a corner kick.

If it wasn’t clear by Robinson’s joyous, gleeful celebration after he scored how much his first national team game meant to him, it was evident afterwards.

After the 2-0 win versus Sweden, when he talked in the post-game conference, Landon Donovan joked that he might put the soccer ball he saved after the match on Ebay. It was the ball with which he scored his record-setting 35th national team goal of his career, but Donovan has enough caps and honors at a young age to kid about such a move.

In contrast, Eddie Robinson wouldn’t let the ball with which he scored in the same match out of his sight. He walked out of the locker room after the game with the souvenir in hand. It was marked all over with signatures and messages of congratulations and good luck from his teammates.

Coach Bradley praised Robinson’s fighting spirit in the match.

“Eddie is a terrific competitor,” said Bradley. “He put his stamp on the game in that regard. I talk so often about the way that we do things collectively on the field and how those things can improve. I’m very pleased when I see any of these guys get on the field and compete at a high level.”

Robinson hesitated for a moment when asked what the experience meant to him.

“You know, outside of the context of soccer, I know what the American flag means and to see people out there wearing it and knowing I’m stepping on the field wearing that is a feeling that I can’t describe,” said Robinson. “It’s just spine-tingling. It almost brings tears to your eyes because it means so much.”

It meant all the more because after being passed over for so long and for so often, even never-say-die Robinson had practically given up hope of getting a call.

“I was talking in the locker room yesterday with Clarence Goodson, I told him, ‘I thought that maybe this just wasn’t meant for me.’ I was always just close enough, but it just never was.”

The same guy who wouldn’t tone down his forceful style throughout his club career didn’t see the point in changing course when he finally reached the international stage.

“I told my wife, when I found out I was going to start, that if this is the only game that I play I’m going to make sure I give it my all and come away happy that I got the chance to do this, because not many people do,” Robinson said. “It was just a wonderful experience. It was awesome. I had a blast.”

Though he didn’t back off at any point, Robinson played a smart game. His name didn’t appear on the misconduct summary that cited eight other players. Yet he didn’t care to speculate on whether his play would lead to more call-ups in the future.

“I’m just so appreciative that I got the opportunity,” Robinson stated. “If something else comes of it, awesome. If it doesn’t, I couldn’t be happier about it.”