thats great they won and great gooch played but doesnt he have 7 matches he is supposed to be missing? what happened on that front?
L'equipe has it as 2 points.... http://www.lequipe.fr/Football/CLA_BEL.html Either way, great accomplishment for Gooch & the rest of the team so far.
Yesterday on sport.be it said the appeal of his two red cards would be heard on the 10th. I didn't know he was looking at a 7 match suspension. You can get Standard Liege news in French at http://www.sport.be/fr/jupilerleague/0506/ploegennieuws/?comp=2304 or Dutch http://www.sport.be/nl/jupilerleague/0506/ploegennieuws/?comp=2304 (scroll down near bottom). Onyewu gets mentioned occasionally. A while back it said that he had been linked to a team in Italy, but that Gooch was interested in the Premiership.
He's a perfect CB for the premiership and I think he could help a lot of teams there. What's his WP status? He's played quite a bit for the nats this year.
The 75% of FIFA "A" matches (friendlies don't count) is over the last two years... I guess someone could figure that out.. They can always appeal anyway though... I think Gooch is great but perhaps a year or two away from the Premiership, at least as a starter mid-table and above.. He still has some important learning to do and he has said that himself.. Learning how to use his strength to his advantage and not disadvantage as has sometimes been the case, for one thing.. Maybe after the season is over I'll get a surprise and he'll go to a big club right away but I still think it will be a couple of years before he shines at the top level despite how great he looked against Mexico, for example.. He will be a big star someday though.. IMO.. But some big club who see's his potential may come along this year thinking he may not be quite ready but want to get him before someone else does..
Positioning, he's caught out of position a decent amount. He's very good with stoping attacks when he's in the right position so it's just a matter of seasoning and experience with good coaching until he's a truly "world-class" defender.That and not losing his physical gifts. He's a better man marker than zone defense guy is my way of understanding it.
Both red cards were overractions by the ref. One was a complete accident and the other was a hard, yellow-worthy tackle that was overblown by the ref because of man-child's size compared to the guy he tackled.
I like Gooch but for the USA he gets called for fouls alot.I would not like to see that in the WC where games are called VERY tightly.
It will be interesting to see Gooch v. Scotland. He will see a combo of Everton's McFadden, Hibs O'Connor, Shaun Maloney or O'Connor's teammate Derek Riordan. With a midfield that should include ManU's Fletcher, Ger's Bazza, S'hampton's Nigel Quashie and perhaps Paul Hartley. Funny, on paper Scotlands front 6 should be able to keep it interesting, but they've had trouble getting goals from their young forwards, even against mediocre sides. I think they scored 9 goals in 10 quali games, 3 from Kenny Miller - who is hurt, and another from Steve Thompson, who is not called up. Fletcher hit one and Hartley hit one in the Slovenia win (3-0) I think. They just don't seem to find the net. I'm guessing Boca and Gooch will go in the back for us, unless he gets paired with Berhalter and Boca goes LB (Lewis and Convey are out, I believe) or we go with a 3 again (Dolo/Gooch/Boca? probably not.) Scotland should not score this game, unless Gooch gives up a pk!
It will be interesting to see Gooch vs. smaller, quicker guys. That's probably his biggest issue. Obviously strength/big guys are not really one...
As a center back it won't be as big an issue as if he was an outside back but I'm sure we'll get to see him deal with some quick guys soon enough.. Jaap Stam is considered by many one of the world's best defenders and I'm sure a lot of you saw the trouble he had with Beasley at times the other day.. Perhaps Jaap is out of position a little at right back when a speedy guy is there to face him...
True. From my observation, Gooch is not slow. Its just he is still learning as far as timing of challenges and positioning. As that continues to develop, I believe he will be a beast. Physically, he's got to be so imposing for his opposite number. Big, strong AND quick. Now if we could only get Spector back in the middle where he belongs, we'd be all set...
Gooch had his 2 matches suspension confirmed today by the Union Belge comittee. Therefore, he will be suspended starting as of next week for 4 consecutive matches.