Oguchi Onyewu

U.S. National Team – 2011: Made four appearances for the U.S., including the 1-0 win against Honduras on Oct. 8, the U.S.’s first win under Jurgen Klinsmann … A member of of the team that reached the Gold Cup final … 2010: Started the opening group matches of the World Cup against England and Slovenia … Appeared in five straight matches, beginning with the May 25 match against Czech Republic in the Send-Off Series … Scored the second goal in the 2-2 draw on Oct. 9 against Poland, increasing his career tally to six goals … Wore the captain’s armband three days later in the 0-0 draw against Colombia in Chester, Pa. … 2009: Started a career-high 13 games to take his total above the half century mark for his career … Underlined his importance to the team by playing in eight final round World Cup qualifying games and all five Confederations Cup games in South Africa … Nominated for the 2009 U.S. Soccer Male Athlete of the Year award … Went down injured in the final 2010 FIFA World Cup qualifier with a torn patellar tendon set to keep him out for the first few months of 2010 … 2008: Started all 10 games he featured in during 2008 … Earned Man of the Match honors after scoring against Mexico in February and earned similar plaudits for his performances in the away matches against Spain and Cuba … Scored in the comprehensive 3-0 win against Poland on March 26 in Krakow … Tallied his first goal in World Cup qualifying in the 6-1 win against Cuba on Oct. 11 at RFK Stadium, in front of friends and family from Maryland … All three of his goals came from headers … Consistently forced to mark some of the toughest players in the world, he came up against Wayne Rooney and Fernando Torres … 2007: A member of the 2007 CONCACAF Gold Cup championship squad, he featured in five of the six games for the team … Scored his second career goal for the U.S. when he headed home a DaMarcus Beasley free kick as part of a 4-1 victory against China in June … Earned Man of the Match honors in the 1-0 win against South Africa in the Nelson Mandela Challenge on Nov. 17 in Johannesburg … Also appeared in the 2-0 victory against Mexico in Phoenix in February … 2006: Onyewu entered the 2006 FIFA World Cup having cemented his position as first choice center back, alongside Eddie Pope … He appeared in all three group games … Controversially called for a foul in the box in the Ghana game, a decision that led to the game-winning penalty … Finished the season with six appearances for the USA, all of them starts in central defense … 2005: Made quite an impression as a newcomer, winning nine caps … Scored his first-ever goal with the U.S. in dramatic fashion, heading home a Landon Donovan free kick in added time to beat Honduras and put the U.S. into the Gold Cup final … Recognized for his play by being voted to the tournament’s best XI … Named Man of the Match in opening round against Canada … Started in four of six Gold Cup matches, including the final … His other five starts were all in World Cup qualifying … On Sept. 3, in his strongest performance of the year, helped the U.S. stifle the Mexican attack and maintain a clean sheet while taking Man of the Match honors as the United States beat Mexico 2-0 to advance to World Cup finals … Took home the award for Best Performance: Player in ussoccer.com’s ‘Best Of’ series with his impressive defensive effort against Jared Borgetti in that Mexico match … 2004: Earned his first cap with the MNT, coming on as a reserve in the 86th minute against Panama at RFK Stadium on Oct. 13 in a 2006 FIFA World Cup semifinal round qualifier … In that game, he came close to getting his first goal when he went up for a corner kick and got a shoulder on the ball, knocking it goal-bound where a Panama defender deflected it into his own net for an own goal … Made his first start in the team’s next qualifier against Jamaica at Columbus Crew Stadium on Nov. 17 … Under-20s: Totaled one goal and three assists in 15 international appearances for the U-20s … Started in all four matches during the 2001 FIFA World Youth Championship, playing every minute of every match … Notched an assist during the World Youth Championship … Played all 270 minutes at the CONCACAF qualifying tournament, notching an assist against Guatemala … Under-17s: Started all five matches he appeared in at the 1999 FIFA U-17 World Championship, playing every minute of every match … Tallied two goals and two assists for the U.S. in New Zealand, including scoring the equalizer in their 2-2 draw with Australia in the semifinals … The USA’s leading goal scorer in the home-and-away series with El Salvador that the U.S. won 10-1 to advance to New Zealand … First Appearance: Oct. 13, 2004, vs. Panama … First Goal: July 21, 2005, vs. Honduras.

Professional – 2011: Played the full 90 minutes in every Portuguese Superliga and Europa League match in which he featured in the first half of the season … Headed home the game-winning goal in the 1-0 win against Nacional on Dec. 11 … Scored a goal in the 3-2 win against Rio Ave on Sept. 19 … Joined Sporting Lisbon on a three-year deal … 2010-11: Did not appear in a competitive match for AC Milan in the first half of 2010-11 season … Went on loan to Dutch side FC Twente, where he made eight appearances, including two 90-minute performances as a left back in his first two Eredivisie matches … 2009-10: Recovery from the patellar tendon injury kept him sidelined for the second half of the 2009-10 campaign … Signed for AC Milan on July 7, 2009, putting pen to paper on a three year contract … Made his competitive debut for Milan coming on as a second half sub during a Sept. 30 UEFA Champions League game against FC Zurich … 2008-09: In a title race that led to a playoff after the teams tied on points and goals scored, Standard and Anderlecht faced off for the league title, with Gooch’s side coming out victorious following a 2-1 aggregate victory … Narrowly missed out on qualification for the Champions League group stage after a heartbreaking 1-0 loss to Liverpool in extra time … Eliminated Tim Howard and Everton from European play when they dispatched the English side in the first round of the UEFA Cup … Scored against Sampdoria in group play as Liege qualified easily for the final 32 of the competition in 2009 … Ended his Liege career with 139 league appearances and 11 goals … 2007-08: Despite much speculation about where his club soccer would be played, he started the season again at Standard de Liege … The Belgian club enjoyed a blistering start to the season where they went unbeaten through 14 games and finished the season on a similar tear, losing only one game in 34 during the domestic campaign … They also took part in the UEFA Cup for the second year in a row … Hoisted the league trophy at the end of the season, the first Liege title in 25 years and Onyewu’s first trophy in his club career … 2006-07: After half a season at Standard Liege, he was loaned to Newcastle United of the English Premier League … Made his debut against Fulham on Feb. 3 … Went on to feature throughout the second half of the season, making 11 total appearances for Newcastle … New manager Sam Allardyce elected to not make the loan move permanent … He returned to Standard Liege at the beginning of the summer … 2005-06: Helped Standard Liege to an impressive second-place finish, their highest position in 11 seasons … Remained a fixture in the first XI, appearing in the vast majority of matches for which he was available … Anchored a defense that had kept nine clean sheets by the winter break … 2004-05: Narrowly missed qualifying for the 2005-06 UEFA Cup, losing 4-3 on aggregate to Racing Genk on the last match day of the year … An impressive showing forced Liege to exercise their option on the defender in October … He then claimed the starting role and was named one of the best defenders in the country … 2003-04: Was sent back to Metz, but once again the club loaned him to a Belgium club, this time to Standard Liege … Started 24 matches and scored one goal during the season as he impressed from his central defensive position … Was named player of the week in February … 2002-03: Suited up for his first match in a 1-0 victory against Bordeaux in a French League Cup match in January … After a coaching change, he was sent to Belgian side Louviere on loan after the season.

College – Played two seasons at Clemson … Was named an All-American and nominated for the 2001 Hermann Trophy, college soccer’s highest individual honor … Helped Clemson reach the elite eight of the NCAA soccer tournament.

Personal – His given name, Oguchialu, means “God fights for me” … Called “Gooch” by his teammates … Featured in ESPN The Magazine’s Body Issue in 2009 … Father, Pete, played soccer in Nigeria before moving to the U.S. and attending Howard University … Has two brothers (Uche and Nonye) and two sisters (Chi-Chi and Ogechi).