Oguchi Onyewu makes Dutch league debut for FC Twente in big victory over Heracles
In his first official match with Dutch club Twente, American World Cup defender Oguchi Onyewu played 90 minutes on the back line, with left-side responsibilities, during a 5-0 victory over visiting Heracles.
Onyewu, who is from the Washington area, joined the reigning league champions this month on loan from AC Milan, where he had been unable to crack the game-day lineup this season. Austrian forward Marc Janko had four goals and an assist for Twente, which is second behind PSV Eindhoven.
By
Steve Goff
| January 19, 2011; 2:33 PM ET
Categories:
Americans Abroad, Netherlands, U.S. men's national team
| Tags:
Oguchi Onyewu
Save & Share:
Previous: D.C. United news & notes
Next: Video: In Copa del Rey, Real Betis ends Barcelona's unbeaten streak at 28
Gooch is a great player and I am glad to see him getting playing time. I still think Eddie Pope is, by far, the best defender the US has ever produced. In his prime Pope was better in every facet of the game than Gooch is.
Posted by: Ron16 | January 19, 2011 2:45 PM | Report abuse
Sweet. Great sign for us being able to cobble together a decent back line in time for the Gold Cup. Sure hope so: I have 2K pesos riding on us finishing ahead of Mexico.
Posted by: BooThisMan | January 19, 2011 3:14 PM | Report abuse
Pope didn't have the contemptuous sneer that Gooch does.
Posted by: I-270Exit1 | January 19, 2011 3:30 PM | Report abuse
We have a solution to our left-back woes...
Posted by: Reignking | January 19, 2011 3:34 PM | Report abuse
Damm Marc Janko!!!...That is quite a performance!
Posted by: alan19 | January 19, 2011 3:42 PM | Report abuse
I-270: True. Pope would just mark the best strikers in the world out of the match while maintaining a countenance of complete serenity.
Posted by: Ron16 | January 19, 2011 3:58 PM | Report abuse
He looked about as good as a right footed CB coming back from injury can look at LB.
He actually looked decent but in all honesty, I think Twente's two starting CBs are better than Gooch. Douglas certainly is. Gooch may struggle to crack the starting lineup consistently. Hoping I am wrong though.
Posted by: grubbsbl | January 19, 2011 5:14 PM | Report abuse
In some ways Gooch's size works against him. He's not slow, but it takes some time to get those long legs into motion, and quick players can wrong-foot him. No reflection on the man, as it's a problem for almost all tall guys. But in other respects his size works FOR him.
Posted by: b18bolo | January 19, 2011 5:38 PM | Report abuse
Good to see Gooch getting some action. I didn't know Twente was that highly placed in the Dutch League (defending champ, currently a point out of 1st place).
This is news to me:
Juan Pablo Angel signed a DP contract with the Galaxy joining Donovan and Beckham as DPs on the same roster:
http://www.mlssoccer.com/news/article/%C3%A1ngel-signs-multi-year-dp-contract-la
Posted by: Joel_M_Lane | January 19, 2011 5:54 PM | Report abuse
Gooch as in outside back? Wow. Either he's changed his game, or his coach was fairly confident in the outcome.
Posted by: delantero | January 19, 2011 5:56 PM | Report abuse
Yeah, sure, but let's see how he does against Hisacles.
Posted by: Rand-al-Thor | January 19, 2011 8:08 PM | Report abuse
The huge guy from the Czech Republic made Eddie Pope look like a little kid in the 2006 World Cup.
Posted by: GeneWells | January 20, 2011 4:34 PM | Report abuse
We encourage users to analyze, comment on and even challenge washingtonpost.com's articles, blogs, reviews and multimedia features.
User reviews and comments that include profanity or personal attacks or other inappropriate comments or material will be removed from the site. Additionally, entries that are unsigned or contain "signatures" by someone other than the actual author will be removed. Finally, we will take steps to block users who violate any of our posting standards, terms of use or privacy policies or any other policies governing this site. Please review the full rules governing commentaries and discussions.