Re: Great Onyewu article about his future. Metz had David St. Regis starting for them. That is all you need to know about their intelligence.
Re: Great Onyewu article about his future. Alright Omi, we know you like the guy - a lot. And you've seen him play, and I believe you when you say he's good, even better than good, but... First of all, he plays in Belgium (Hardly one of the superior leagues) and was most happily loaned out by a team that was playing in 2nd division France. Second, you may not recall this, but a team made up of three, IIRC, players who played in Europe at the time stomped Portugal on the world's biggest stage. This squad then went on to the 1/4 finals and DID play toe-to-toe with Germany with a team comprised of 1/2 MLSers. Euros like you keep underestimating us, and we're going to keep beating you when it counts.
Re: Great Onyewu article about his future. when was the last time you're right with any of your comments regarding gooch. so you have credibility at all. As far as comparing other leagues, let's not go there no point in this thread.
Re: Great Onyewu article about his future. Are you referring to the Regis who got us qualified for WC 02?
Re: Great Onyewu article about his future. The other half of the hart stalker chimes in. Great. Now, since you want to bring it up, I never made any claims about Gooch, I just doubted the voracity of OmiKell's claims. He was right, and now he works with me. As for you, when was the last time you were right about anything, or contributed anything but bad form? The caps key is your friend btw.
Re: Great Onyewu article about his future. The general concensus was that DR sucked. Of course the general concensus here is often confused with the loudest concensus. Most people know that Régis was a quality player, great on the ball, who spent over 10 years in Div1 european football. He also made a couple of boneheaded mistakes - one of them being that he was French. Forget about the fact that he and Agoos were anchors of the 15 qualifying matches. They both SUCK!
Re: Great Onyewu article about his future. OK. First off - Regis is unfairly maligned for '98 mainly because of what he represented - Sampson's desperation to plug gaps and rely on possibl dubious foreigners like Wagner and Mason. Actually the whole cheese-eating surrender monkey thing didn;'t really come out full-force until after 2001 However, he was godawful in the leadup to 2002 and deservedly never got a sniff at the US WC roster. Agoos was always viewed as having limited skill and capable of boneheaded plays (see, Jamaica in RFK WCQ 1997). He had one good stretch in the runup to 2002 J/K, then proceeded to be the worst player on the field. However AFAIK, he still plays well for the Quakes. Him and Agoos were not the "anchors" of qualifying anyway. Hell they often fought for the same LB position.
Re: Great Onyewu article about his future. I thought Agoos was playing mostly as a central defender. Regis was one of our better players in WC 98. He performed well enough to get us qualified for WC 02. He did not cost us a single point in WC 02. Instead of gratitude, he got mostly ridicule from many posters on this board. Was there something that he had done that I am not aware of?
Re: Great Onyewu article about his future. Agoos was originally an outside back for the national team. Yes, Regis did fine in WC98... but he got maligned in part because the whole team was lousy, and because he was brought in at the last minute by Sampson. So he got the brunt end of a lot of it.
Re: Great Onyewu article about his future. Numbers 1 and 2 in number of games played in qualifying. 8 out of 10 games in the Hex: Agoos at CB, Regis at LB. Number of times that Agoos played left back (in a 4-4-2) in any qualifying games in 2000-2001 - ZERO You just don't like the word 'anchors'. You'll get over it.
Re: Great Onyewu article about his future. however Regis did take Agoos spot at LB for 1998. I was going a little farther back then you. It was only in 2000 that Agoos was finally switched over to CB. and I'll give you Goose as an anchor of that team (thinking about it after the fact, Pope really needed his leadership - especially after watching Pope flounder with Metro), but Regis was there simply because Bruce had no other options at all.
Re: Great Onyewu article about his future. What Flan said. Regis was a very decent player who was born in the western hemisphere. If only his mom had taken a short cruise to St. Johns or PR before he was born, everyone would remember him much differently. And Omni, I don't understand the "only Gooch and Howard" comment. Much of the team that will go to Germany has already played Germany - in Germany as well as in JK, and in Azteca, and in Costa Rica. You think playing SK in SK is not a higher fan pressure game than anything Gooch is going to face. Bease has just played Red Star in Belgrade. If you're only talking CD's even Gibbs played more times in Germany than Gooch. I'm as "up with Guchi" as the next Moonie but I'm not sure what you're getting at here. The atmosphere in West Benilux??
Re: Great Onyewu article about his future. Maybe you're not aware of his performance against Honduras at RFK. There were many contributors in the last qualifying cycle, including Regis, but he was the only one singled out by Bruce Arena after the US lost at home to Honduras. He made the WC squad, but he was included for his experience more than anything else.
Re: Great Onyewu article about his future. I think Regis was the only field player not to play at the WC. He probably would've played, started even, if we had beaten Germany. Ouch. OK, guys, he admits he's underestimating MLS. Move along. Nothing to see here.
Re: Great Onyewu article about his future. Steve Cherundolo was on the roster in Korea and DNP in any of the five games. Regis, Stevie, Kasey and Meola were the only DNPs. Agoos, Beasley, Berhalter, Donovan, Friedel, Hejduk, Lewis, Jones, Llamosa, Mastroeni, Mathis, McBride, Moore, O'Brien, Pope, Reyna, Sanneh, Stewart and Wolff all saw the field for at least part of one game in WC 02. Regis' tenure with the nats fizzled out, no doubt, but it also ended on the bench of a quarterfinal in a World Cup. Not a bad place to end. He also played very well in WC 98 and played well in many US qualifers for WC 02. And, he also played in the UEFA Cup several times and a couple of Champions' League games. All told, it was a pretty good career for someone who is been so often maligned on these boards.
Re: Great Onyewu article about his future. Should 4 years of positive contribution by Regis be ignored due to one (or a small number of) poor outing(s)? Which of your favorite MNT players play well in all their outings?
Re: Great Onyewu article about his future. Yeah, all the hondo goals came screaming down the left side. Dolo was a back in the game as well and his stock seemed to slip a tad (adding in the WC injury - he was never able to play and actually I think Hannover reportedly got kind of grouchy that he stayed over despite not being fit, if memory serves.) He overlapped as much if not more than Regis. And, of course, Arena forgot to single himself out for a stupid-ass 4-3-3 formation that thought it could out run and gun the only team was possibly faster than us overall in the hex. Regis was also (along with Dolo and current fav whipping boys Stewart, Sanneh and Mathis) at the crucial Hondo away win - which we held our own in very nicely in a defensive, boring, but effective 4-4-2 box. Anyway, the Regis-bash will never go away becuase he is seen, rightly or wrongly, of playing a passport of convenience. Not much the facts of his play can do about that.
Re: Great Onyewu article about his future. ??? No, he wasn't on the 23 man roster, he was injured. Hannover were pretty mad that he went to SoKo instead of training camp for rehab. EDIT: freisland beat me to it.
Re: Great Onyewu article about his future. It won't go away because occasionally people wade in to defend his play. His play was terrible. Nice give away against Italy, Dave. Way to let Palencia turn you in the Columbus WCQ. Good of you to just lunge instead of making a strong recovery run. Way to let the ball bounce in the area against Barbados. He was terrible. He played on a passport of convenience. And the sanctimonious and high-minded lectures about how all of a sudden he's as American as anyone because he's committed to our principles is enough to make me vomit. I almost expected to see Sam Waterston and James Earl Jones appearing in TV ads in his defense, quoting Walt Whitman and all that. Nike gave his old lady a temporary gig so that Regis' attorneys (and those of the USSF) could invoke some obscure immigration law. If he was so good, he would not have been the only player on the team not to have played a minute in the World Cup 2002.
Re: Great Onyewu article about his future. Do you know that Regis came over in 1998? He was good in 1998, better than any other option at left back/LCB. Or would you have prefered Agoos? Regis wasn't good in 2001/2002, but you know what, all players loose their skills over time. So you wanna say Regis was never good? You're just bitter about the citizenship deal, and obviously can't just evaluate the guy as a player.
Re: Great Onyewu article about his future. Yet he played more than anyone except Agoos in qualifying. He must have been reaaaal terrible. Is that his fault, or the USSF? If you said his, you're as much of a tool as this post makes you seem. You know dezamn well you'd jump at the opportunity to play in the WorldCup. Have never seen this anywhere, but you don't let facts get in the way do you: WRONG. She worked for the US Government, with the Embassy in Paris, IIRC, which did allow some circumvention. But once again, totally legal and undertaken by USSF And if he were so bad he sure as hell wouldn't have had such a prominent role in qualifying. BTW, Regis played CB everywhere in his career except for the Nats. This guy screw your girlfriend or what?
Re: Great Onyewu article about his future. Cherundolo was technically on the 23-man roster, with the #14 shirt. Armas was orginally supposed to be on the roster, and Cherundolo replaced him when he tore his ACL. Cherundolo was injured in the pre-WC training camp (possibly even after the team arrived in South Korea), but by that time the final roster deadline had passed, so he was not replaced.
Re: Great Onyewu article about his future. caltech guy has it although i seem to recall it occuring over there... though i don't remember it well enough to back it up with any sort of confidence
Re: Great Onyewu article about his future. To be precise, Cherundolo actually replaced the injured Greg Vanney, who had stepped in when Armas was hurt and reportedly overtaken Regis at left back. Since there's been some discussion about our lack of left back alternatives, it's probably worth mentioning Vanney. Even now that he's been a full-time left back at the club level for a couple of years, does anyone think he looks like an upgrade over the pre-2002 Regis?
Re: Great Onyewu article about his future. I can remember specific incidents of his terrible play and now I can't remember that he played in 1998? I'm right on this one, gang. Fim do papo.