He was also named best foreign player in Belgium twice. That night in DC against Costa Rica (and later than night with Charlie Davies) is always going to be our what if moment. two starters in key positions went down. I tip my hat to Gooch for his contributions,
Maybe the US coaching hierarchy will find a good place for someone who can help turn big, strong athletes who play soccer into big strong soccer players. Gooch for USMNT manager!!!
I think Abe Thompson is #13, with his arm around Donovan. I can't figure out who the player on Gooch's back is. Not red-headed, so not Cutler. Not Cila. It might be Seth Trembly. Dunno.
Yes. That was the final qualifier, the one against Costa Rica that ended in a draw when Bornstein headed in a late equalizer. Charlie Davies had his accident just before the game.
I'm quite impressed how he bossed the Portuguese league. Went there and was a relative success. Back when the league was like 5th with France being 6th
On a different note, he joined Tim Howard in doing Champions League commentary on TNT. I thought he was decent. Maybe that's where his next career move will be.
For anyone who knows, is a ruptured patella usually an injury that leads to this type of career dereailment? Did he specifically have complications from healing that led to problems with rehab? From his public persona, one would not imagine that he slacked in any way during the rehab process. I know that a severe knee injury certainly has the potential to derail careers, but this one seemed to be particularly detrimental to his career. With modern therapy and rehab techniques, it seemed like it affected him more than it should have, but that is why I'm asking those who might know more than me.
Retired? Retired? He had his moments, but he wasn't on the radar for a long time. Just shows how fleeting a pro career can be... I always appreciated his effort and reading the game, but he was a liability on the ground and his passing out of the back. Well, he fit in with majority of our center backs in that respect.
Congrats on a good career, Oguchi, and on being such a key starter for us from 2005 - 2009. Onyewu was a beast physically and a good defender, and an automatic selection in our starting XI when he was healthy. In many ways, Onyewu was your classical CB from the era in which he played -- it's interesting to look at that through the lens of how the modern game has evolved during the past 10 years, with more emphasis these days on mobile CBs and guys who can pass well out of the back.
Beasley, Beckerman, Thompson (behind LD), Donovan, Gooch & Convey on his back. This must be from 2-1 win over the Kiwis, they had been trailing 1-0 until Thompson came in around the hour mark, and scored one. A bit after Donovan scored another and turned the game. This is that one, Beasley assisted it I think. Also, I remember Gooch got a red card near the end of the game (the Kiwis got one a few minutes before Thompson came in).
Among American center backs recently, Matt Besler, Geoff Cameron, John Brooks, Ike Opara and Tim Parker are/were all more mobile than Onyewu was.
Just heard Gooch call the Wake-Virginia ACC semifinal. Did a good job. Charlie Davies on the call for the second semi between Clemson and Pitt currently airing on ACC Network.
Gooch had injuries later in his career but when with the U17's at Dallas Cup he was playing right back (Nelson Akwari and Alex Yi were the centerbacks) and marauding up the side. He was so aggressive I wondered if he could stay out of foul trouble long enough to have a career. He answered with a loud yes. We could use his toughness. I hope the players start bringing that back as they get older and hopefully stronger.
That particular U17 group was a golden generation. Donovan, Beasley, Onyewu, Beckerman, Convey all had callups to the full team. Lots of others became pros but didn't get callups - Akwari, Yi, Thompson.
I seem to recall reading something that mentioned Yi was the first Asian-American in the youth team or maybe MLS or something.
This is very cool One of the all-time great American soccer players is now an official graduate of Clemson University!Congratulations, Oguchi, on earning your degree today!#ClemsonUnited 🧡💜 pic.twitter.com/dMxYmIdHgO— Clemson Men's Soccer (@ClemsonMSoccer) December 17, 2020
The Gooch and Beaz have an absolutely phenomenal podcast: https://thecrackpodcast.com/ They have amazing interviews; Cameron, Little Aaronson, The Reggie Cannon one is amazing, etc. They are very candid with their opinions, had really insightful commentary about BLM, etc and they are definitely not partisan towards the USSF good ol' boy network and they absolutely love this youth renaissance we are having and are very insightful about what it is like to go to Europe. So, yeah... I like this podcast a little bit, the end.
From the Italian press today, a recap of his famous brawl with Ibrahimovic: https://www.bigsoccer.com/threads/i...lling-each-other.1847218/page-2#post-39975263
Oh what might have been, do folks believe a healthy Gooch could have seen some PT during that 09-10 season for Milan?