Gooch Onyewu revisited

From an article:

Standard has seen the light in Onyewu: "they can even put me in the goal".

Standard-trainer Dominique D'Onofrio did win from Mons but wasn't too happy about it. "This victory makes me feel embarassed" he admitted to local newspaper GvA.
"We needed to win this one, but next wednesday against Anderlecht things need to be better." Especially the Nigerian American Onyewu was the lighting point at Standard. "Put him up front from the start? What about the defense? On his own he kept the defense going strong."

Onyewu didn't know what was happening at first. "From the gestures of the trainer I had understood I had to go up front. The first ball I received there was a goal. Onyewu, the right man on the right place. Indeed, I can play anywhere, even in goal if I have to. Let's just remember we still have the spirit to fight back."

Gooch managed to score two in the 3-2 win.

 

I have to admit that I'm quite impressed by the guy. He's a big bear in the defense but he also has a reasonable technique. I believe he is Standard's best buy this year (well, we'll see when Wamberto returns).

Have you ever heard the guy speak? He's got a really strange voice.

 

No, I'm not talking about the accent, rather about the way his voice sounds. It sounds really deep and hoarse, as if a mountain were speaking with beas in it. (what am I saying?!) Hear it and you'll know what I mean.

 

This is a free (and probably bad) translation from SM/VM, the interview was taken before Standard played against Anderlecht.

Standard has a new Daniel Van Buyten. His name is Ogushi Onyewu, 22 years old, 1,94m and 91 kg. A real bear that has to grow from promising player to fixed value with the experienced Leonard, Dragutinovic, Deflandre and Runje by his side. In the beginning that was a little bit difficult due to a lack of team automatisms, but the last few weeks the American is getting better and better.
"Everyone coaches everyone, but we all have to listen to Vedran [Runje], 'cause he the boss in the back." Until the game against Club Brugge the organisation went well. With only 5 goals against in competition, Standard prooved itsself solid in defense.
Onyewu made quite a step last summer in moving from modest club La Louviere to Standard. Onyewu:"The difference is the experience. Except for Siquet the defense was totally inexperienced then. Klukowski was 22, me myself 21, Proto 20 and Blay 23. We had nothing to fall back upon. But you can hardly compare the two clubs in other aspects. There we had to play with a lot of people around the ball and more defensive, because we lacked players who could make individual actions. At Liège we can make something out of nothing. Defensively it works, although I have to admit that we haven't found stability in our attack yet."
According to coach d'Onofrio Standard is a bit affraid because it focuses on its organisation. Onyewu:"we play it safe, that's right. I believe the club needs someone to be the leader, someone who dares take some risks. Maybe more defenders have to try and come up front., but I wonder if we're ready for that. Before the defenders start worrying about the attack, we first have to see that the midfield can pull it as a midfield and the attack as an attack. Only afterwards the lines can whirl. The coach also thinks we are too passive in the area. You can miss a chance, nobody will blame you, but you also need some tenacy. Anyone can run and play at this level, but 80 % of your power lies between your ears."
"A good player knows his qualities and uses them", Onyewu says. "A good defender doesn't have ups and downs, but always plays at the same level." On the other hand evolution also means that someone who gets more confidence, tries things that might not have worked out before. Onyewu:"The fact that I came into the USNT has certainly helped in that. I'm one of the biggest players on the pitch, so in fact I still need to become more dangerous up front. A bit like Van Buyten, without wanting to become a second Van Buyten. Someone asked me what my weak points were. Everything, I answered, everything can be improved.

It was Metz that discovered Onyewu in a game for the American youth team in Toulon. "France wasn't the only option, but perhaps the best one. Maybe a transfer to Holland, like Beasley, would have been easier for the language, but in life nothing needs to be easy. The easiest choice would have been to go and play in the MLS, but I reckoned the level wasn't high enough. Yi, who grew up together with me in Washington and was with Antwerp last year, plays there now. I tried to convince him to stay, but in vain."
That one person fails, where another succeeds has a lot to do with mental strength, in his opinion. Onyewu: "The first six months I didn't play for Metz because there was a problem with my contract. Afterwards it was very irregular, play, don't play. When I was on vacation at home, the coach called me to say he didn't really need me anymore. My stomach turned, so I talked to my family and they told me: this can help you, or it can break you; the choice is yours. So I returned to Europe and signed for La Louviere last season."
Initially Onyewu was affraid he wouldn't play much for "les loups" either. "When I arrived, I asked Klukowski, about the only one who spoke some English, how my chances were. 'Really bad', he answered, 'cause we have Arts and Siquet playing there and they are really experienced and solid defenders. I reacted like 'Oh, no, not again...' But luckily the trainer liked me and he put me in the team. I believe I had a good season there, something I can build on now. Liège isn't the end of the ride for me. I want to go up." Fast? Onyewu:"Those are things beyond my control. Others need to decide whether I'm good enough for that. My contract ends in 2006, my manager is coming over soon. Either I sign for one more season, or I leave at the end of this season."

Onyewu grew up in Washington, as a kid of two emigrated Nigerians. Does he have an American or an African spirit? Onyewu: "Both. My parents moved to the USA when they were teenagers to study and they stayed there. I grew up in the American system, but I was raised in an African family, in that sense the end product is a mixture... (laughs) Work, work, work, that's my American side. Ambitious. Knowing my father, he must have had a dozen of jobs to pay his studies. The African side is the peace, the ease of mind. They don't get me crazy easily. Nigerians are also very proud people. I have family in Nigeria that I don't know, never saw, but who does mail me, stating that they're very proud of me. I also have that proud."
He did choose for the USNT. "When I received my first call up for the US, I heard from Peter Odemwingie that Nigeria had also been following me, but I reckoned it was too late. I was already 22 and had for the youth teams from my 16th. Both teams are equally good, in my opinion."
It was the 1994 WC that drove him to soccer. Onyewu was already 14 at that time. A late calling? "It was a search, yeah, soccer at youth level isn't as present in the US as it is here in Europe. On the other hand... If I would have gone through the entire youth system here, I might not have been a soccer player anymore. So hard, so much physical work. At Metz the youth players used to train 3 or 4 times a day during summer break! In the US it's all about fun at that age. I tried everything: soccer, track and field, even basketball, but I wasn't good enough for that. I've always been big, but also very skinny. If you would see teen pictures of me, it would scare the hell out of you. Only when I was 16, 17 I started pushing weights. I continued to train on that here, to that extent that family members who saw me again last summer didn't even recognize me."
At the Onyewu home people are, as many black people, democrats. Onyewu: "Politics is not my cup of tea, but I wanted to vote for Kerry. Unfortunately I couldn't because I forgot to register for the vote. I had hoped Kerry would have won, but the US is a crazy country. People often vote for the strangest motives."
Where's his future. Onyewu: "In England. My style! Where? At a smaller team, so I can always play. Rather that than a nice contract at Arsenal without playing. Also therefor I hope my NT-career will last a long time, 'cause whoever wants to go to England, needs caps. Even though I fear you need to be French to play for Arsenal."
Or speak it, start studying!

 

I don't think he was a first team regular and perhaps the fact that Antwerp was relegated.