Oguchi Onyewu

Oguchi Onyewu

Personal information
Full name	Oguchialu Chijioke Onyewu
Date of birth	May 13, 1982 (1982-05-13) (age 28)
Place of birth	Washington, D.C., United States
Height	6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)
Playing position	Center back
Club information
Current club	Milan
Number	5
Youth career
1996–2000	Sherwood High School
1996–1998	IMG Soccer Academy
2000–2001	Clemson Tigers
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
2002–2004	Metz	3	(0)
2003	→ La Louvière (loan)	24	(2)
2004–2009	Standard Liège	139	(11)
2007	→ Newcastle United (loan)	11	(0)
2009–	A.C. Milan	0	(0)
National team‡
1999	United States U-17	5	(2)
2001	United States U-20	4	(0)
2004–	United States	56	(5)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 17 May 2010. † Appearances (Goals). ‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 18 June 2010

Oguchialu Chijioke "Oguchi" Onyewu (born May 13, 1982, in Washington, D.C.) is an American soccer player who plays as a defender for Milan of Italy's Serie A and the United States national team.

Background

Onyewu's parents are Nigerian, and moved to the United States from Nigeria to attend Howard University in Washington, D.C. Onyewu has two brothers, Uche and Nonye, and two sisters, Chi-Chi and Ogechi. Growing up in Silver Spring and later Olney, Maryland, Onyewu attended St. Andrew Apostle School and Sherwood High School, where he played soccer for two years.^[1] He then enrolled in the U.S. residency program in Bradenton, Florida, before returning to Sherwood to graduate. He also holds Belgian citizenship.^[2] He speaks English and fluent French ^[3] .

At 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) and 210 lb (95 kg), Onyewu is the tallest outfield player in U.S. team history (two goalkeepers have been taller).^[4]

Club career

Onyewu played two years of college soccer at Clemson University, and moved to Europe in 2002, signing with Metz of Ligue 1 in France. In 2003, he was loaned out to La Louvière in Belgium, and to Standard Liège a year later. The move to Liège was made permanent for the 2004–05 season. After the season, he was named to the Belgian league's Best XI as well as Foreign Player of the Year for 2005.

On December 26, 2006, Onyewu was voted U.S. Soccer Athlete of the Year. He was the first defender to earn the award since Alexi Lalas in 1995. Having been the subject of many transfer rumors regarding clubs throughout Europe, Onyewu finally completed a loan deal with Newcastle United on January 30, 2007, covering the remainder of the 2006–07 season. He made his debut for Newcastle against Fulham on February 3, 2007,^[5] and his home debut a week later, alongside Titus Bramble, in a 2–1 victory over Liverpool. The two formed an ill-fated partnership, making a number of costly mistakes which was ultimately to cost Onyewu his place. Following the arrival of new manager Sam Allardyce, Onyewu fell out of favor, and Newcastle decided not to make the loan deal permanent.^[6] He returned to Standard, and his play continued to improve. He made his 100th Belgian First Division appearance for Standard Liège on March 14, 2008, against Germinal Beerschot, and was an intregal part of the club as they went on a 29-match unbeaten streak to win the 2007–08 Belgian First Division. After the season he was named to the Belgian league Best XI for the second time. His strong form continued during the 2008–09 season. He led the Standard defense to a second consecutive Belgian league title. Standard was drawn with Anderlecht at season's end, and Standard won a two-legged playoff for the championship.

Onyewu signed a three-year contract with Milan on July 7, 2009.^[7][8] He made his Milan debut on July 22, coming on as a substitute for Alessandro Nesta in a loss to Club América in the World Football Challenge.^[9] He made his competitive debut on September 30, again relieving Nesta in a Champions League loss to Zürich at San Siro.^[10] Onyewu missed all the 2009–10 season – appearing in only one Champions League match – due a knee injury suffered while on national team duty. At the end of the season, on May 17, 2010, it was announced that Onyewu's contract with Milan was extended by one season, keeping him under contract with the club through the end of the 2012–13 season; upon Onyewu's request, the one-year extension includes no salary.^[11][12]

Racism controversy

Onyewu has dealt with racism during his time in Europe, even having been punched and shouted at by racist fans while playing for Standard.^[13] The most well-publicized incident occurred in the 2008–09 Championship playoff when Anderlecht defender Jelle Van Damme, according to Onyewu, allegedly repeatedly called him a "dirty ape,"^[14] even after Onyewu relayed the information to the referees.^[15] Van Damme denied the accusations following the match and in return said that Onyewu himself taunted him in a racist way by calling him "dirty Flemish."^[14] Approximately two weeks later, on June 2, 2009, it was announced by Onyewu's lawyer that he was suing Van Damme in an effort to end on-field racism in European soccer.^[16]

International career

Onyewu has become a mainstay on the United States national team. Prior to this, he also represented the U.S. at various youth levels, including at the 2001 World Youth Championship. He made his first appearance for the senior national team on October 13, 2004, against Panama.

Onyewu scored his first international goal in the 2005 Gold Cup, nodding home the extra time winner in the semifinal against Honduras, and was later named to the tournament Best XI.

Oguchi played for the U.S. in the 2006 World Cup, and started in all three United States games. Just before halftime of the third and final group stage match against Ghana, Onyewu conceded a penalty from which Ghana scored, and the U.S. were eliminated with the resultant 2–1 defeat.^[17][18]

During the 2009 Confederations Cup, Onyewu was paired with Jay DeMerit due to the injury of his normal partner, Carlos Bocanegra, who was unable to play in the group stage. Onyewu played well against Egypt, helping lead the U.S. to a 3–0 win that earned them a berth in the semifinals. He also had a standout performance in the 2–0 semifinal victory over Spain.

In a World Cup qualifier draw against Costa Rica on October 14, 2009, Onyewu suffered a patellar tendon rupture, and is expected to miss three to four months.^[19]. As of mid-April Onyewu was set to return to play for Milan about a month before the beginning of the World Cup in South Africa.

During the 2010 World Cup, Onyewu started and played the full 90 minutes in the USA's first group match versus England on June 12. During the USA's second group match versus Slovenia on June 18, he got his second start but was subbed out in the 80th minute. He did not play in the USA's third group match against Algeria on June 23, nor did he play during their second round meeting against Ghana on June 26.

International goals

#	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1.	July 21, 2005	Giants Stadium, East Rutherford, USA	Honduras	2 – 1	2 – 1	2005 CONCACAF Gold Cup
2.	June 2, 2007	Spartan Stadium, San Jose, USA	China PR	4 – 1	4 – 1	Friendly
3.	February 6, 2008	Reliant Stadium, Houston, USA	Mexico	1 – 0	2 – 2	Friendly
4.	March 26, 2008	Wisla Stadium, Krakow, Poland	Poland	2 – 0	3 – 0	Friendly
5.	October 11, 2008	RFK Stadium, Washington, D.C., USA	Cuba	6 – 1	6 – 1	Q 2010 World Cup

Honors

See also

• List of United States soccer players playing abroad

Notes

External links

• Oguchi Onyewu career stats at Soccerbase
• ESPN Profile
• National Football teams
• Onyewu articles on Yanks Abroad
• How to pronounce Oguchi Onyewu

United States squads United States squad – 2005 CONCACAF Gold Cup Champions (3rd title) 1 Hahnemann • 2 Hejduk • 3 Vanney • 4 Onyewu • 5 O'Brien • 6 Cherundolo • 7 Beasley • 8 Dempsey • 9 Quaranta • 10 Donovan • 11 Casey • 12 Conrad • 13 Noonan • 14 Armas • 15 Olsen • 16 Wolff • 18 Keller • 19 Ralston • 21 Davis • 22 Sanneh • 23 Pope • 24 Reis • 25 Mastroeni • Coach: Arena United States squad – 2006 FIFA World Cup 1 Howard • 2 Albright • 3 Bocanegra • 4 Mastroeni • 5 O'Brien • 6 Cherundolo • 7 Lewis • 8 Dempsey • 9 Johnson • 10 Reyna (c) • 11 Ching • 12 Berhalter • 13 Conrad • 14 Olsen • 15 Convey • 16 Wolff • 17 Beasley • 18 Keller • 19 Hahnemann • 20 McBride • 21 Donovan • 22 Onyewu • 23 Pope • Coach: Arena United States squad – 2007 CONCACAF Gold Cup Champions (4th Title) 1 Howard • 2 Hejduk • 3 Bocanegra • 4 Mastroeni • 5 Feilhaber • 6 M. Bradley • 7 Beasley • 8 Dempsey • 9 Johnson • 10 Donovan • 11 Ching • 12 DeMerit • 13 Bornstein • 14 Ralston • 15 Simek • 16 Parkhurst • 17 Spector • 18 Keller • 19 Clark • 20 Twellman • 21 Mapp • 22 Onyewu • 23 Guzan • Coach: B. Bradley United States squad – 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup Runners-Up 1 Howard • 2 Bornstein • 3 Bocanegra • 4 Casey • 5 Onyewu • 6 Pearce • 7 Beasley • 8 Dempsey • 9 Davies • 10 Donovan • 11 Wynne • 12 M. Bradley • 13 Clark • 14 Califf • 15 DeMerit • 16 Kljestan • 17 Altidore • 18 Guzan • 19 Adu • 20 Torres • 21 Spector • 22 Feilhaber • 23 Robles • Coach: B. Bradley United States squad – 2010 FIFA World Cup 1 Howard • 2 Spector • 3 Bocanegra (c) • 4 M. Bradley • 5 Onyewu • 6 Cherundolo • 7 Beasley • 8 Dempsey • 9 Gomez • 10 Donovan • 11 Holden • 12 Bornstein • 13 Clark • 14 Buddle • 15 DeMerit • 16 Torres • 17 Altidore • 18 Guzan • 19 Edu • 20 Findley • 21 Goodson • 22 Feilhaber • 23 Hahnemann • Coach: B. Bradley