Where is onyewu oguchi

Oguchi Onyewu Defender. Player Details. Name Oguchi Onyewu. Height 6' 4". Weight lbs. Date of Birth 5. Birthplace Washington, D. Position Defender. Latest News. Look at me now, Onyewu tells Union's rivals: "I know what I'm capable of".

Sure, European stalwarts like Tim Howard, DaMarcus Beasley and Carlos Bocanegra were still doing their thang overseas, but this was a club with deep history. In a sense, Onyewu was attempting to fill the legendary boots of Paolo Maldini, who had just retired after 25 seasons in Milan.

Oguchi Onyewu played for 11 clubs in eight countries over a year professional career. Some of this was due to injuries, but not all of it. Onyewu made his first official appearance for Milan on Sept.

He had appeared in a few preseason friendlies but Gooch finally made it into a match, in the biggest club competition in the world. Onyewu came on as a sub replacing future Montreal Impact defender Alessandro Nesta at the hour mark as the home side suffered an embarrassing defeat. Milan would still advance to the knockout rounds, where it was thrashed by Manchester United in the Round of 16 and be forced to watch rival Inter Milan win the whole tourney.

The injury kept Onyewu out of the Milan lineup for the rest of the season. The Rossoneri finished third, 12 points back of champion Inter, and coach Leonardo was replaced by Massimiliano Allegri in June of Disappointed by his season spent on the sidelines injured, Onyewu requested a one-year extension with the Rossoneri , with the stipulation that he not be paid by the club for this additional season.

With respect to that year, as was his wish, which has been appreciated by the club, Onyewu has asked not to receive any type of wages. This is an exemplary gesture that deserves our sincere congratulations.

The start of the season in Milan was an abject failure for Onyewu. During an afternoon practice session, Onyewu took offense to a challenge from Zlatan.

The American — one of the few footballers able to size up to Ibrahimovic — grabbed the Swede by the neck and the two started going at it, fighting physically and verbally.

Given the size of the players involved, it took 10 teammates to pull the two apart. But if you want to play against the best competition you have to go to Europe.

I had to learn French fairly quickly to communicate well enough with my teammates. The football is just a different football — it's hard to explain. The easiest way to say it is that you're one of the 'top youth elites' in the country. And then you go to Europe and you're a small fish in a big pond because there's a million of you in Europe. SA: You were in the first Bradenton Residency group — can you compare that experience to the level of training kids in your position now can get in ?

Things have changed a lot in 22 years. They didn't know how it was going to work. It worked so well with our group — we went to the semifinals of the world championship and we had a number of players who went on to be professionals. So they thought, 'this must be a winning formula. Let's keep on doing this.

Unfortunately in terms of the progression, it just never really translated to another team. For us at that time in the late 90s, there was no place where you could get top-tier training everyday with the top talent everyday. We were either playing high school or club and then coming into national team camps. SA: Playing high school soccer and then going to a national team camp.

Now we're living together, training together, going to school together, so we're kind of forged this brotherhood.

Even today we're all close, we're all friends, we had a very unique group of personalities and characters that I don't think you could replicate 10 times around. Oguchi's favorite socc er movies:. The Dream Begins!

Like protagonist Santiago Munoz , Onyewu was at one point in his career an American playing for Newcastle United Eleven appearances games in while on loan from Standard Liege. Bend it like Beckham "For my former teammate.

Ladybugs Starring Rodney Dangerfield. SA: How do you gauge the balance of experience of this current roster of the U. I believe that sports in general have progressed to a more youthful look in every aspect. I think even basketball looks younger than it used to — or maybe I'm just getting older. I would say that when I was a pro at 19 and in the locker room there were maybe four or five other players from The rest of them were years old. Now it's the complete opposite — you have teams overrun by the youth side.

And it's like, once you hit 28 you're over the hill. To say that we need [age and experience] you would be fighting the evolution of the sport, in a sense. Regardless of their age, our young players are the best players we have in the country. Maybe it's not a question of age, but more of talent. I have no qualms with their age because for me football has no age.

If you're good enough you're old enough. SA: What are some things that the mainstream U. Soccer fan might not appreciate or understand about World Cup Qualifying that you can speak to given your playing experience? I don't think you can actually understand it unless you're in it. What do you do when chicken heads are thrown at you on the field? Or you're getting spit? In reality, people can't put themselves in that situation because it's different.

The majority of fans haven't played in altitude like at the Azteca [altitude: 7, feet]. The toll that puts on your lungs and on your body and how after five minutes, you're gassed.

I'm sure watching on TV people go, 'Wow, these people are out of shape. So there's all these different factors you have to fight through. Nowhere are there excuses because every generation prior had to do the same. These are just things to highlight and to take into consideration when watching a game to get the full scope of what actually is going on outside of just the soccer ball. SA: The U. Soccer community has a right to know: What really went down when you allegedly had a fight with Zlatan Ibrahimovic?

I would tell you but it would stretch out this interview for another hour, so I'm going to have to decline responding to that. Talk about that a little bit? I've been punched in the face by fans, I've been attacked in my car by fans, I've been called racial slurs by fans and opposing players.