(05-27-2011, 07:42 PM)russo-neri Wrote: I'm American and I watched Oguchi play in MLS. He was never good - even by MLS standards. But then somehow he was the best CB in the confederations cup in 2009 and that brought him to Milan. Sometimes I have a good week at my job, but they don't promote me to CEO because of it.
You must be confusing him with someone else. Gooch never played in MLS. He played two years at Clemson and then went to France to join Metz in 2002. And actually he was quite a good player for Standard Liege in Belgium. He was the league's Foreign Player of the Year in 2005 and he was a mainstay for the U.S. team during the 2006 World Cup and qualifiers. Gooch actually might have developed into a decent squad player for Milan had he had time to work with Nesta and others to develop his skills, but then he lost a year to a serious injury and now finds himself facing his 30th birthday in another year, so his time has probably passed.
Milan will probably sell him or release him at this point. If they get any money at all, it will have been a good investment since he was a Bosman. From what I understand, Standard Liege would be happy to see him return.
(05-27-2011, 07:10 PM)LebRN Wrote: i'm not so sure
the guy is really awful...i mean one would argue that Bonera is better for god's sake!!!
I'm not sure what you could possibly be basing that on since he never suited up for Milan except for a couple of friendlies in which he actually showed some things of promise and some things that needed work. At the time Milan signed him he had been a standout for several years for Standard Liege and was a rock on defense for both club and country. Once he came back from his serious injury he wasn't nearly up to par for the USMNT last summer and maybe will never be the same again. But when Milan signed him he had some promise and might have developed into a player who could have helped the squad. We'll never know how helpful he might have been, but I don't think it's fair to say he was awful. He wasn't anything, really, since he was seriously injured before he had a chance to play.
