Cool, he looks like staying... At least he'll play a few CL games, which is better for experience and visibility.
Omi, has he been with the team all this time? And when does Standard kick off? It shouldn't be too long as I saw the Belgian Super Cup was being played today.
Seems Gooch injured his ankle and didn't play against Roma. http://www.standardliege.be/ndl/index.html There are also some pics from the Metz game and training 7/21.
Omi, thanks for keeping us informed. I looked it up and that date looks like the announcement of the 3rd round draw. Standard wouldn't actually play til sometime in August. There are 2nd round CL qualification games next week but Standard doesn't come in until the 3rd round. It's surprising how hard it is to find the info. I didn't see it at either UEFA or Standard's websites.
Here's the UEFA page that tells you which stage each club enters: http://www.uefa.com/competitions/UCL/news/Kind=1/newsId=429304.html
Thanks for the link. By that guage, PSV is the 11th strongest club in the competition, one spot ahead of bmunch (this year you'd take juve and milan out, though).
sorry bsers, i'm a little lost. has anyone heard anything from anywhere (british tabloids, anything!) that someone may have even whispered a slight interest in gooch?? bs speculation is fun, but is there any reason to imagine that our hero actually has options?
At this point in time, I'm not sure there are many options being reported. The Middlesbrough thing was before the World Cup and before they signed Huth.
??? The Teessiders never signed Huth. Huth injured his ankle in the WC and failed the Middlesbrough physical exam. In any case, as of today he has not been signed.
i believe they said that when they gave huth his physical that they weren't aware of his injury and view it as minor. If i remember right they are going to give it another go with him
If not actually signed, I believe they had an agreement in principle, which appears to have been enough for them to count him as signed as far as planning goes.
You remember incorrectly. The deal fell through. He FAILED the physical and the injury is not minor. Google it...sort the news by date...there's about a billion articles on the subject. That having been said. If Huth can get healthy, the deal may go through at some point in the future.
sorry, you are of course right. I meant that the deal for Onyewu fell through in part because they had signed Huth "assuming he passed the physical" which he didnt. essentially Gooch and Middlesbrough was a dead issue once they made Huth an offer (which woudl have required a passing medical exam). But you're right, what I wrote was incorrect in completeness, but I just meant Middlesbrough had 2 central backs.... Huth and Onyewu.... they needed one, opted for Huth.... bridges burned on Onyewu deal... and then Huth fails medical leaving Boro without either fo the center backs they had been after.
Howevre thisa doesn't affecr Gooch either way as Middlesbrough have stated that they are no longer inetrested in him.
It sort of affects Gooch. Either that or it was completely coincidental that Middlesbrough's interest in Onyewu waned once they thought they have Huth signed sealed and delivered. Boro misplayed this one (unless they truly had absolutely no interest in Gooch after the Czech game). They could have held off on comments on him until after they knew the results of the medical. They didn't... they said immediately that there was no interest in Gooch... so once Huth failed the physical --- there was no going back.
No my friends Nat and Tunde said so too. Anyway, I think that gibbs is the only USA team guy that got signed - I guess it was smart to get injured before anyone found out about lack of talent!
Difficult to see how they misplayed it given Gooch's comments about not joining a "small" team like Middlesbrough. At first, they were pursuing both Huth and Onyewu concurrently and had the latter accepted terms prior to the WC he would be a Boro player now. So I don't see how they could have lost interest because of Huth: they clearly were interested in signing both at one point. Additionally, I'm not sure that Onyewu's comments were wise:- he didn't need to say it and it's not the kind of thing you say when you're trying to drum up as much interest as possible in your services.
See I think they were interested in both, but only wanted 1. Huth agreed first and seemed to be their favorite of the 2. Once they thought they had him all set, they didn't need Gooch anymore and cut links to him by saying they weren't interested anymore. Gooch's comments where he didnt' want to join a small team came afterwards. I'll agree I don't think it was wise for him to make that comment... but I thought it was basically him saying.... "Well Boro say they don't want me... thats ok, I'm not that into them either". Sort of like asking a girl out and having her turn you down so you go back to your buds and say "yeah, but I realized she wasn't so good looking anyway".
Hard to know the real story about Huth/Onyewu, but I think you are spot on here- don't ever burn bridges (even Wayne Rooney felt compelled to diss Moyes- just to sell a few books?) Onyewu could have done better with his 'positioning' of the situation. Sounds like he attended the Bruce Arena quote training camp- and that ain't a compliment. Likely it doesn't hurt him, but you never know.
The 'no interest' came after the Czech game. I wish I coulda been a fly on the wall at Boro after the Italy game (maybe they said nothing, but maybe it was juicy )