By now you’ve probably heard the terrible news regarding the U.S. national squad. One week after losing one player indefinitely to a terrible single car accident, this week things didn’t exactly get better for the U.S. injury report. Oguchi Onyewu will be out for around six months making his presence in the World Cup this summer questionable thanks to a horrific knee injury in the final qualifier match against Costa Rica.
The giant of a defender went down to the ground in the second half of the competition and very quickly you could tell it was one of those injuries that would take some time to recover from. Gooch did not try to put any pressure on the knee that slightly buckled when it awkwardly hit the playing surface as Gooch flew through the air attempting to stop an attacker from scoring.
The injury is perhaps the greatest setback the U.S. team could have endured. Although their are other players that are often considered more valuable (like Donovan, Altidore, and Howard) Onyewu played one of the most critical positions on the pitch and his loss could really destroy any hope the U.S. has of making past the preliminary group stages of the tournament.
Onyewu plays center back on defense and this area of the U.S. depth chart is by far and away the weakest. The entire defensive unit would have to be considered the U.S. weakness and not having the AC Milan reserve on the pitch means that many of the world’s greatest strikers will now be matched up with a potential backup.
This mismatch could create nightmares for the U.S. defense. So in other words:
Please Get Well Soon Gooch!
