The concerns over whether Oguchi Onyewu would be recovered from knee surgery in time for the World Cup have long been eased as he has trained on several occasions with the U.S. national team, but a lingering issue has cast a cloud over his eventual return to AC Milan.
Will he find playing time?
Onyewu has been cleared to resume training with AC Milan but another development may be even more significant toward his playing time. Veteran AC Milan defender Alessandro Nesta could be forced to miss the rest of the season if surgery is needed to repair a knee tendon. Surgery has been recommended and Nesta will ultimately have to decide whether to go through with it.
Nesta has paired with Thiago Silva to anchor the AC Milan central defense for most of the season, but with Nesta out of the picture, Onyewu would move a step closer to seeing playing time. Of course, he still has to actually train fully and be cleared to play. That should take place in the coming weeks, which will mean somewhere in the range of six weeks of the Serie A season for Onyewu to battle for minutes and regain fitness ahead of the U.S. national team's World Cup training camp in May.
only thing to make me laugh all day. thanks.
We all have pride for our national team. I recently spent 90 minutes in the cold rain cheering on our non-star studded B team until I was hoarse.
I should have toned my retort down to avoid a meaningless net fight. Please understand though, you may be well intentioned and just having fun, but it does contribute to the image of US fans as cocky asshats. whether you meant to or not, you came across as an egotistical juvenile. Which is exactly the type of attitude that pisses people off.
Anyway, I’m glad you have pride for the team. I’ll be watching the same game as you and cheering just as loudly. Enjoy the weekend.
Touche.
I’ve never understood how pride could only be retained at the expense of all reason and objectivity. I think the U.S. have their work cut out for them in the World Cup, and a win or even a draw against England (a world class team when on form) would be a major coup. If the U.S. crash out of the group stages, I will still be a loyal supporter. There’s no need to be boorish about it.
Ives,
He played 31 minutes in that game (the only 31 minutes he played all season before being hurt). And much of that time was spent upfield…
Clearly his #1 and only position is CB, but my point is that he’s so far buried on that bench (even after Nesta’s injury, he’s what 4th, 5th choice CB?) he’s got as much of a shot playing target forward as CB- meaning unelss the other 4 guys in front of him get hurt, he won’t get much of run until the USMNT beings training. Hope that clarifies my point.
isnt Bonera and Kaladze still there?
Wow, I’m a bit surprised at the Gooch hate being thrown about. I’m not saying he’s the best CB in the world, but he’s the best one the US has and I’d put him up against several guys that are “top drawer” CB’s. I don’t remember him having a bad game for the national team in the last year or two.
I hope he gets back in shape and proves to be a valuable commodity for Milan. He’s a good guy and the US needs him fit for the WC.
I agree. I find Nesta really impressive for Milan. And playing cb for Milan is no easy feat and totally different from playing for the NATS because they rely on skill and possession. When they lose possession, the slow, old mid-field provides little cover, and the cb’s have to be positioned perfectly or cover a lot of space. Very different challenge for gooch, and I hope he can figure it out.
Have you never seen this:
http://www.soccer-training-info.com/images/easy.jpg
I’m just trying to show pride for my national team and I’m getting attacked for it. I’m writing on a blog, not the cover of USA Today. I’m just having fun. Now go slap your mother for raising you to take everything so seriously. Asshat.
Not allowing goals would be Gooch’s style. Not playing kickball and having skilled backs that handle the ball rather than punting it would be Milan’s. I think that things could work out, but the adjustment that is needed is a big one.
Bonera and Kaladze are both not very good options, and Gooch absolutely has a chance to prove himself and get moved up in the depth chart. Ambro stays in the midfield.
No one said they didnt have a chance. Youre the one who came in declaring we would win the group. Asshat.
Are you kidding? Nesta is absolutely amazing. I have been amazed all season by his performances. Silva and Nesta have paired up to form quite an impressive duo for Milan. It’s just that their outside backs are average at best and they have no depth whatsoever so anytime there is an injury their backline is exposed. Nesta is world class.
Milan doesn’t really suck…beyond their starting 11 that is. They have a world class starting line up but absolutely no depth.
…and you can kiss my asshat. Only a poorly educated, cocky, asshat like yourself thinks that we don’t have a chance to beat England. The world would be a better place had your mother never given birth to you.
what style is that? To not allow goals?
Bravo. I agree, he’s physical but is too big of a liability to become and elite defender. That said, Milan does suck so…
Nesta is made out of glass. He’s aging and unfortunately for him hasn’t made it through a full season in awhile, although this opens the door for Gooch. The season is over the first week of May, I will be cautiously optimstic Gooch sees 1st team football.
I made a point to see all of the limited minutes that Gooch got before his injury, and it was clear that his style was not meshing with how Milan likes to play out of the back. He’s a defensive destroyer with limited ball skills. They could really use what he brings on defense, but they like to handle the ball in there much more than he’s accustomed to. If they let him clear it out of the back I think he’d be just fine. It seemed like he was trying to play out of the back like the other guys and it created some tense moments.
No kidding. That Burnley/Wolves fixture this weekend should be flat out sick!
How else will he make his mark? In this type of competitive football, players have to impress when they are given a chance.
I totally agree. IMO his main weaknesses are his distribution and he is not fleet of foot. I thought his distribution was already improving in his short stint with AC. As far as footwork is concerned there is only so much a man his size can do and you have to accept that as a limitation of Gooch.
A wise manager pairs up CBs with differing styles that compliment each other. Very few CB’s possess every skill in great amounts.
Oh the “asshat”. Worst possible thing to wear to work on “hat day”.
This looks simple to me, LA Galaxy needs to get on the phone and say, “Hey, we need Onyewu for a short loan before the World Cup” to get him back in shape if he isn’t getting any time with Milan.
Gooch sucks up a lot of space in the box. His long legs enable him to intercept passes when the ball gets down low. His height makes him something the opposition must plan around on corner kicks. He did great work for Standard Liege and is the only reason why the Bunker Bob strategy worked against Spain and almost worked against Brazil. He does get caught out of place from time to time, but if he is fit he will be a standout in the W Cup. ACM would be fools to not start incorporating him in at least as a substitute when he returns to fitness. To answer some of the questions above, I think there is a clear preference for Italians to fill starting jobs in Serie A (racism? nationalism? just plain old pride?). Until the evidence is overwhelmingly in favor of Gooch, he will not get the benefit of the doubt and subbing in is where he will have to make his mark.
I have to disagree. He has not had an opportunity to fit in with AC. He hasn’t been with the club long enough. All defenders have there strengths and weaknesses.
Moving Ambrosini to D harms AC in the midfield which in turn puts more pressure on the defense ironically putting more pressure on Ambrosini and the defense to perform.
I’m a huge fan of the USMNT, but please forfeit your degree from Bull Sh1t University and quit making Americans look like poorly educated, cocky, asshats.
bonera, kaladze, moving ambrosini to D, are all options ahead of Onyewu. Think he should’ve stayed in Belgium. He would’ve played gotten CL action
Milan’s central defense is rather porous, so Gooch could hardly be or do worse at this point. Gooch has his faults, but I also don’t think Rooney scores either header in CL play v. Milan if Gooch is in the middle.
word.
i think the most suprising thing is that Nesta didn’t get injured earlier in the season…
Too much extrapolating!
Gooch was only with AC Milan about 2 months before his injury in mid-October. It’s hard to put too much importance into his playing time in that period. He was still new to the team and learning their system.
Now that he is recovering the main thing for him is to get some solid training time in with the team and let Leonardo see what he can do. With or without an injured Nesta, AC Milan may put him out on the field.
And no, it won’t be on offense, they have highly paid attackers to fill that role (doesn’t mean Gooch couldn’t move up on a set play).
Milan is in 2nd place which is higher than most folks expected as this was supposed to be a rebuilding year. They will do whatever they feel helps them stay high in the Serie A table.
you never want to be happy about a guy getting injured. But this could be a miracle for a guy that really needs playing time, or just can’t be trusted to anchor our defense
I also tend to think this is true to some extent. It doesn’t explain things completely–a lot of our boys just aren’t quite good enough. But the fact that just three clubs have employed like 7/10s of the Americans to play in the UK in recent memory is very telling. The same is true to (though to a much lesser extent) for the lesser northern leagues.
The problem is, Gooch is just not that good and prone to some horrible defensive lapses. I hope he gets playing time of course but I have little hope that he actually succeeds as a centerback for Milan.
I hope Onyewu gets the opportunity to play and I think if he is given a fair opportunity, he’ll make the most of it.
I pretty much agree with Kpugs’ assessment and I get that feeling with a number of our Yanks abroad. I have made the observation that our players have to prove themselves that much harder in Europe and are given a shorter leash to succeed or not.
Gooch should get playing time. Ambrosini was dropped back at CB in a 3 back formation for the 2nd half of the Man U game. T
The only way Gooch will get playing time for AC Milan is if they need a target forward. After that terrible debut in Atlanta on that pre-season tour, in the 2 or 3 games Gooch has played Leonardo seemes to only play him playing froward at the end of the game to get his head on the ball versus actually anchoring the defense… not a good sign if you’re a defender that the coach doesn’t trust to play D and thinks you add more value elsewhere….
(SBI-That’s such a poor way to look at his appearances. You act as if he didn’t play defense in his appearances. He did, and in the Champions League group stage match he played in I thought he did well for himself as a CB. Has he moved up in the final five minutes of some appearances to be a target striker because Milan has no quality attacking targets for set pieces? Yes. Does that mean Leonardo only sees him as that? Not at all. It was far too early in Onyewu’s time with Milan to make declarative statements about what Leonardo had planned for him.)
Its good news. As long as he is practicing and getting minutes here and there in matches. I mean practicing against beckham, pirlo, gattuso, ronaldihno, pato, etc.. is better than most mls players will have in games if they dont strike
big opportunity for onyewu! i hope during this injury he has better prepared himself to take the field with this team. he looked terribly shaky in the few appearances already with ACM. we need him to dominate like he did in SA last summer… time to get in form.
I really hope he gets some PT. It sucks that Milan is out of all tournaments this year, so only the weekly league games are open. Still pumped that he’s back, and I think we’ll see him get a couple minutes toward the end of the season against some lesser opponents.
Well, to be fair, this is Wayne Rooney you’re talking about . . . .
“If all of our guys are healthy . . .”
This never happens for any team.
Gooch can do this. With all of these boys coming back from injuries a month and a half from camp, it looks like they will all be rested and hungry….
Part of the problem in Milan is that Leonardo just signed on as manager, having never run a club before. In that situation, you tend to rely on the old guard as a safe move, which meant Nesta instead of Onyewu. If he stayed healthy, maybe he plays his way in, but at the first of the year it was just caution from the coach. I still think he can be a long term success there, pairing with Thiago Silva.
Hoping next season Gooch ends up in the EPL. No offense to serie a fans but that league bores me to tears.
Bonera was the other centerback. He looked really poor against Man Utd, although it could be that Rooney is a man on fire. Bonera and Silva were a poor partnership all match IMO, as Rooney constantly found space in between them.
If all of our guys are healthy, then we will beat England and win the group. End. Of. Story.
When he first signed for Milan I actually thought it was a good move. After all they have a leaky (to be kind) defense full of old men.
Unfortunately, it became all too clear that they viewed him as a scrub. He should have signed somewhere else…when you are better than at least 2-3 first team center backs in your squad and yet somehow still behind all of them in the pecking order it’s never a good sign.
I’ve seen Nesta play this season…he’s awful. I don’t get how he kept his job at Milan (not to mention being mind boggled that people want him to come back for Italy).
Ives is Gooch next in line to fill in for Nesta ? For some reason I thought there was any player ahead of Gooch in the pecking order.