Old villain Grabavoy ready to play hero

Spend two minutes with Ned Grabavoy, and it becomes clear that one thing he doesn’t do is live in the past. Case in point was his goal against the San Jose Earthquakes on October 29, 2005. When he slipped the ball past then-Quakes’ goalkeeper Pat Onstad, it not only clinched the Los Angeles Galaxy’s playoff series victory over San Jose, but it would also prove to be the last live goal that most Quakes fans would see for a while, as their team was relocated to Houston during the subsequent offseason.

Two-and-a-half years later, Grabavoy now finds himself suiting up for the reconstituted Quakes ahead of Thursday’s opener against – you guessed it – the Los Angeles Galaxy. Yet it took some prodding from general manager John Doyle and head coach Frank Yallop for the irony of the move to be driven home.

“My first talk with John and Frank, on the day of the expansion draft, John brought [the goal] up over the phone,” said Grabavoy. “But that was a long time ago. It’s crazy to think that this is going to be my fifth season. I feel like I just got into the league yesterday.”

It’s the kind of goal that many a player has used as a springboard to better things, and it did end up helping the Galaxy win the 2005 MLS Cup. But for Grabavoy, it also highlighted the frustration of trying to break into the starting lineup of an MLS side, as well as the instability that has come to characterize the Galaxy in recent years.

Grabavoy was never able to make a position his own in L.A., an djust six weeks into the 2006 regular season, Grabavoy was shipped to Columbus along with Joseph Ngwenya for Kyle Martino and John Wolyniec. While the Indiana University product made more of an impact in Columbus than he did in L.A., the arrival in 2007 of a certain Guillermo Barros Schelotto meant that Grabavoy’s creativity would once again be pushed to the shadows.

But Grabavoy hasn’t been operating in complete obscurity. He notched a career high 24 starts for the Crew in 2007, and his ability on the ball was well-known not only to Yallop but one of his new San Jose teammates as well. Quakes’ defender Ryan Cochrane played on numerous youth national teams with Grabavoy, and has long appreciated his attacking gifts.

“He’s a very cerebral player,” said Cochrane of Grabavoy. “He’s really smart on the ball and knows how to slow the game down when you need to and push the game when you have to as well. He’s a player that is rare in this league”

Like many of his teammates, San Jose represents an opportunity for Grabavoy to show off the full range of his abilities. The native of Joliet, Ill. has spent preseason bouncing around a variety of positions, including some brief stints up top. But the same has been true for many of Grabavoy’s midfield cohorts, adding a twist to the Quakes’ attack.

“It gives guys a lot of leeway,” said Grabavoy of the team’s midfield approach. “If a Ronnie O’Brien wants to take a guy on and dribble into the middle, a guy like myself or Ramiro [Corrales] has no problem floating out wide and filling that space.

“I think it definitely helps out, and if you look at the teams in the league that have had success over the last four or five years, they’ve had midfielders who can adapt and play different positions.”

That flexibility will be put to the test on Thursday night when the Quakes take on Los Angeles, and while Grabavoy is excited to be heading back to his former home stadium, he’s also determined to keep looking forward.

“I’m just looking to build from last year. Hopefully, with this team, we can get everybody on the same page, and we can really jump up and surprise some people.”