How many times was the video re-run? "Just inches inside" usually can mean just inches outside too...
So Onyewu was beaten for the 1st goal. Also, how did he slam a Turk to the ground and only get a yellow?!?!?! And I almost missed the fine print... "note: The match was played under a near military presence, as a tight security force was deployed in response to last week's incident at the stadium in which a 16 year old boy was murdered during the side's league match against Rizespor. The first 10 minutes of the match were played under silence as Besiktas'supporters remained silent in a show of respect for the youngster."
Judging my his most recent match reports, he has a LOT of work to do before he becomes one of our studs.
I agree. It sounds like Gooch may be in a bit of a slump, with his poor game against Jamaica, his 4-0 loss to some bottom-feeder in the Jupiler league, and now giving up the penalty against Besiktas. But he appears to have enough natural talent that I'm still cautiously optimistic that he will in fact become one of our studs.
Agreed somewhat - I won't agree his whole game against Jamaica was poor... but he definitely had poor moments. If we turned away all our players that had a couple bad weeks we'd have no one left. 2 weeks can be an aberration if it goes to 2 months, then that required rethinking beyond that...
The problem I have with the Gooch worship, since the arrival of OMI in USMNT is that everyone was so high on him, saying how stupid BA has been for not calling him in while never seeing any matches only relying on match reports from the team forums and match trackers. Some of the quotes from people in the Oguchi Onyewu thread were simply uninformed as no one in the states gets the Jupiler league beamed into their homes. Now for the last month, YA has been sending someone to every single one of his games and we have seen him in a qualifier that didn't mean anything (to the coach). He has not impressed, and has at times been horrible. I'm not saying he's not going to be good - but some of you people have gotten way ahead of yourselves in prediciting certain success for the guy.
True, his whole game against Jamaica wasn't poor, but for a defender, all it takes is a few poor moments to have a bad game. Gooch's poorest moment, IMHO, was when he got beat 1 v. 1 on the play leading up to the penalty kick, and that made the difference between a 1-0 victory for the U.S., and the 1-1 draw that we ended up with. Gooch might have been stellar for the rest of the match, but, like I said, all it takes for a defender to have a bad game is one bad moment...
I agree with you here. It's like the keeper position... you can have a really good game but have 1 or 2 mistakes that make a difference. For my part, I thought gooch was too up and down in the Jamaica game. Honestly thought he was nervous. The move by Fuller was part gooch's fault, but partly it was one heck of a good play by Fuller. That is one tough hombre. Anyway, it will be interesting to see where he is in a few weeks. And to those that think the only good reports came from OmiKell that's simply not true. If you go to the Standard Liege website and fansites, there was praise from everywehre for him.
Ya but we get the negative and positive reviews from the same sources, of which YA is just one. And, several people (I believe AllosM was one of the major ones) wanted to see Gooch with experienced team mates against Jamaica, so to have both continuity and mutual cover for the 22-year old defender. However, Arena went with Corrales who knocked Gardner down for the PK. If that didn't take place, Onyewu's mistake would have caused as much damage as any of Pope's gaffes that resulted in goal scoring chances but were eventually prevented either by Keller, by Pope's team mates or by the ineptitude of the forward himself. By the same token, Bocanegra was awful against Chelsea in an EPL match. Yet I don't see the " 'Los is an overrated, bring back Goose" pleas. So, as Proud'homme said a month or so ago about OO, "He is not ready for the EPL or Serie A at this point. He needs more seasoning."
Good point. He was also rated one of the top transfers in the Belgian league. So clearly OmiKell isn't the only one who thought Gooch was playing very good ball. My guess (having only seen Gooch play against Jamaica) is that Gooch is probably going through a bit of a rough patch right now, not, as Flan seems to suggest, that Gooch has been playing as poorly the entire season as he has his last three matches (including the Jamaica match).
1. He's young. Very young. He'll have rough patches here and there as he continues to improve, so give him time. 2. Most of us have never seen him play except for the two WCQ games. Therefore, our sample size is extremely limited. Bruce, on the other hand, has probably watched oodles of game tape of Mr. Onyewu, leading one to believe he's in a better position to evaluate his talent than us. 3. Stone and Balboa have spoken very highly of him during the last two WCQ games. Come to think of it, however, they speak highly of just about everyone, so take THAT with a block of salt. 4. Yes, he had some rough patches against Jamaica. But look who he was playing with in the backline. Sanneh in the center, Albright on the right (who admittedly had a great game), and Gibbs on the left (out of position.) No Pope, no Bocanegra, no Berhalter, no Cherundolo, no Hejduk. So not only was it his first start, which would cause anyone to be nervous, but his backline was a patched together lineup. 5. Finally, anyone with a nickname of "Gooch" just has to be good. Therefore he will be in center defense in Germany next to "Boca" (or "Los" as G.A.M. likes to call him.)
I, for one, don't think that since there has been plenty of negative coming from Omi via YA. I've never doubted that he's a talent, just that people are to quick to tout the next star.
What part of "for the last month" translates into "as Flan seems to suggest...the entire season?" I'll take your answer off the air.
And most importantly when he does get us a gamewinner, we will get to "Gooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooch" in the stands. Was the first to get that Lou Pinella, btw? The "No, they're not saying "Booooooooooooooooooooooo", they're saying "Louuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu".
Most BS posters have been very high on this defender because of his . . . . . offence. NOT his defense. He finished some chances and delivered that amazing cross a few weeks ago. However I wonder if attackers have figured him out, i.e. don't get in a foot race with him, don't try to beat him over the top, just go straight at him and get him to commit a foul. Expect to see a lot of late game subs dribble right at Gooch in the next few weeks. It may be his Achilles heel.
great point... Well, if opponets are able to figure out this then he should try to reinforce his game... if he does, that's a sign of a good player...remember, this CB thing is still new to him esp playing against higher competition ala uefa cup. It's good he's making mistakes now in his club team then national team later on.