U.S. fans love Oguchi Onyewu. They fell in love when he stared down Mexico’s Jared Borgetti in Columbus way back in 2005, en route to South Africa. As I’ve written before, he had that “I’m a bad man!” thing going, and we were smitten.
But his roster of really unsettling performances is growing faster than his list of good ones.
Onyewu just wasn’t up for the job at South Africa, losing his starting spot in the middle of the tournament. Some people might forget that the big fellow was seriously top of things last October as he got back in the lineup against Ecuador. Here’s what I wrote about him that nigh in the SI.com’s ratings.
His timing has never been better, as he was unimpeachable in the tackle and in aerial challenges. And Onyewu demonstrated a steady and heady sense of just how to employ all that muscle in his first start under Jurgen Klinsmann. One nitpick: he did get drawn out of position a time or two in the first half, which has always been an Onyewu bugaboo. But his overall body of defensive work and steely determination to get forward late (above and beyond in a friendly) more than made amends. All things considered, his impressive and memorable 90 minutes at Red Bull Arena might be the most significant take-away from Tuesday’s loss. Michael Orozco Fiscal, we barely knew ya.
Well, that looks like “one in a row” as I like to say. Because he’s having an absolute awful time of it tonight, his first start since then.
The handball for Brazil’s early spot shot? It’s a tough call, but a center back has to have a little better body control there. Period.
The second goal had his paw prints all over it. His botched clearance led to the corner kick. And it’s tough to say whether it was Onyewu or Jermaine Jones who lost his mark on the goal, but my best guess is that it’s Onyweu.
In the 40th minute, his water bottle of confidence looking completely drained, he handed Brazil a completely needless corner kick.
Overall, Onyewu’s passing is labored and, generally, just not good enough. It almost looks like the Brazilians are pressuring in a way that funnels the ball to Onyewu, and then stepping up to pressure. Either way, the Americans aren’t getting much going forward once the ball arrives into Onyewu.
By the way, this 2-1 deficit certainly isn’t all Onyewu’s fault; he’s just the one most culpable so far. If we’re being honest, Landon Donovan is having an absolute stinker, too.
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- term3186 - May 31, 2012 at 12:48 AM
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Yeah. It was pretty bad. I’m sad because Ive been a big gooch fan in the past… But he was atleast partly at fault for at least 3 of the goals tonight. I’ll cut him a bit of a break on the penalty because that was simply an awful call. He does his damnedest to get his arm out of the way, he just didn’t have time before the ball struck it. It’s not like he can lop it off. I’m betting the only reason it got called was because he was sticking it out moments earlier…. And if it hits his arm then, fine it’s a fair call, but when the ball hit him his arm was against his side, and he was turning it out of the way as fast as he could. Terrible decision. But he leaves Dolo 2v1 then breaks to help way too late, leaving marcelo unmarked in the middle of the area. Granted, boca should’ve come over to support (and for some reason he runs to stand in empty space rather than picking up an open opposing player), but Gooch hesitated and was lost. And then he keeps Brazil onside for the last goal. I’m surprised (and disappointed) that Cameron didn’t at least dress
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- berlintexas - May 31, 2012 at 12:09 PM
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Bad game for Gooch but the criticism has been over the top. His poor performance in South Africa and his bad game tonight have both come after injuries.
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- chadmoon1 - May 31, 2012 at 1:17 PM
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I think he will be okay, he needs more time. Another game against Canada, hopefully he will have confidence back. Then onto Tampa where he can solify that spot. I’m not one to say that he is the answer, but I think he and Clarence are good to battle it out for that spot. And I think he would be the best agains Guatemala on the road.
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- chadmoon1 - May 31, 2012 at 1:19 PM
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BTW, while I didn’t think so at first, the penalty was spot on. When they showed the replay that showed the referee looking right into what happened, Gooch had his arm out in an unnatural position and used if for the block. No matter what Ian Dark and (damn, what’s the other guys name?) say, it was a penalty.
