Ok - I'll admit my ignorance. I don't know a thing about this player except he's at Liege. Can anyone save me the trouble of looking him up on google and give me some background? Also, is he any good?
haven't seen him play, but I heard he is very good and could be one of our future center defensemen alongside the Spector's, Whitbread's etc.
6-4, 205 pounds and he's fast too (at least that's what I've heard). Sounds like a tremendous athlete.
I've been watching Onyewu for quite some time now and I don't think it's out of the question to suggest that he potentially can be the most dominant defender this country has produced to date.. He is a mountain of a man but his speed is what makes you notice him.. We simply haven't had a defender for the US with his type of quickness and speed.. Not Armstrong, not Pope, no one... He is that scary talented..
I'll second this and in addition he's a monster on the offensive end. Gooch, Bocanegra, Pope, Casey, McBride, Johnson - scary on corners.
Are you forgetting Ching and Gibbs? Even Berhalter has some height. Free kicks should be a big part of our game in the next couple of years.
Not to be a jerk, but his club resume' to date doesn't exactly jibe with your assessment. He's Landon's age, right? 22? I know defenders come along a bit later, but geez, he's playing on a mediocre Belgian club. It's not like he's on Anderlecht or Club Brugge or the 3rd strong club whose name escapes me right now.
If you're going to judge by club prestige than we should call up Whitbread, Spector and Simek... It's about pro experience and the fact Gooch played against Anderlecht, Club Brugge and participate in UEFA cup last yr and will this yr says alot for a 22 yr old defender. I would rather judge him by his talent. Btw, MLS clubs aren't the greatest teams in the world either.
I was going to say the same thing... Last I saw Cory Gibbs (whom I like tremendously) is playing on a mediocre team in a mediocre league. Pope is on a worse team in the same league. I love MLS, but it's not a top league as of yet. Lets not be too hasty to downplay the Belgians.
not to be a jerk...whatever superdave - I've seen your work a) Standard Leige is one of the better Belgian Clubs - a perennial UEFA cup team at least. b) This is a loan - it's Metz that owns his contract. THe only reason why he hasn't crakced their backline is that they have the best defense in Ligue 1 and haven't wanted to make any changes
To think the last time I saw him play on TV or anywhere was when he was representing the US U20s in Argentina 3 years ago. Glad to see that he's improving, just like Cory Gibbs.
Frankie getting nutmegged by a Jamaican attacker is not being outmuscled, just outclassed, I suppose.
By that logic Brad Freidel is not a great goalkeeper because he plays for Blackburn and Keller isn't a great one because he plays for Tottenham. The team a person plays on isn't as important as the league he plays in... People could have said the same thing about Bocanegra a couple of years ago when he was just becoming a good defender for the Fire. He was probably about the same age as Gooch is now. I'm not saying Gooch is going to be a great player. I've only seen him play once and I was VERY impressed by his size, skill, and speed. He needed some experience and some work on his mental game. He can get that in Belgium and when he's ready hopefully he'll move to a better league and continue to improve and challenge for a spot along with Spector, Gibbs, and Pope.
Only if you consider the EPL and the Belgian league to be equivalent. As for Simek and Whitbred...I'm talking about the caliber of team they play for. They don't play for Arsenal and Liverpool. They play for their reserves. Finally, look back at the ACTUAL CLAIM I was responding too. The issue isn't whether Gooch might be able to help the Nats. Altho, to be fair, cweed did use the "double caveat" mode of posting, so I guess there's room there.
I completely agree with Cweed's assessment, and have made the same assessment before. He is talented enough to be as good as any defender we have ever had. His club career has been perfectly adequate; he just hasn't been sold to a big club. We are obviously all aware that players who are talented enough, or who some think are talented enough to be among our best ever, don't always pan out (Snow, Slivinski, etc., etc.), but don't knock Gooch's potential because he's a highly thought-of starter for a Belgian team.
As noted below, Standard de Liege is one of the top three teams in the Jupiler League. The US is starting to produce good defenders, like keepers, and this guy is one of them. Good to have him called in for these two games....
Standard Liege finished third in the Belgian league last season. Standard have finished in the top 7 in Belgium for the past six seasons, including a couple of 3rd and 5th-place finishes. They're in the UEFA Cup this year which is more than can be said about Hannover, Mainz, Man City, Blackburn, Tottenham or Fulham. And the Belgian league is one of the top 10 leagues in Europe. Actually the 10th best league in Europe IMO.
The Bruce says: “‘Gooch’ I don’t know. I haven’t seen Gooch since last November and, at the time, I still didn’t think he was ready to play for us. I had him in camp briefly last summer before we went to the Confederations Cup, and this time around I want to see what kind of progress he’s made. He’s had a year in France and now he’s in Belguim, and he’s a guy with a lot of talent. I don’t know what I’m going to see this week in training. That’s one of the reasons I have him in here. I think we need to start moving along some of our young defenders and Gooch is a guy that is now playing on a regular basis at Standard Liege and it’ll be interesting to see if he’s making the kind of progress I hope he’s making in order to help our team.”
I'm really excited that Bruce is calling him in for next WCQ. I hope he gets on the field, I want to see him play!
Good post. When I saw him playing at Clemson, he enver struck me as having a defender's personality. He was too quick to go forward and played like he thought he was special. Sure physically, he looks like an outstanding centerback. He's a monster in the air. He's a great guy to send forward on set peices. But for the other 85 minutes he needs to defend with no mistakes and act as a team player.