June 1, 2007 7:37 PM
U.S. men face China on Saturday
By Josh Dubow
AP Sports Writer
SAN JOSE, Calif. — Oguchi Onyewu has a little more at stake this summer than just the fate of the U.S. national soccer team.
Released from Newcastle last month, Onyewu is looking for a new European club to play for next season. He knows that a productive summer with the national team could increase his options.
“I think with my status right now, of course, every match is an important match,” Onyewu said. “But I’m not going to focus too much on that. I don’t think this summer is a make-or-break summer but it definitely could help.”
Onyewu gets his first shot Saturday, when the U.S. national team plays China in an exhibition game at Spartan Stadium in San Jose.
There are other Americans looking for new teams. Midfielder DaMarcus Beasley was let go by Manchester City, and goalkeeper Kasey Keller was dropped by Borussia Moenchengladbach.
Onyewu, who was on loan from Belgian club Standard Liege, started seven games and appeared as a substitute in four more last season for Newcastle, which finished 13th in the Premier League.
Onyewu has until the end of August to find a team, meaning his summer performance with the national team could be an important factor. The physical defender said his preference is to remain in England, where he said the high level of play has helped improve his game.
“You know you’ll be challenged the whole game every game,” he said. “There are certain leagues that you know you can breeze through a couple of matches because the level of play is not the same as your team. In the Premiership, you can’t be relaxed any game because every team is capable.”
Saturday’s game against China also marks the first for the United States since coach Bob Bradley was given a contract through the 2010 World Cup. Bradley was hired as the interim coach in December and went 3-0-1 in exhibition games to earn the long-term commitment.
“He knows he can maybe relax a little bit knowing the title is safe for a while,” Onyewu said. “I think it’s important for the national team to have stability. Now that he’s been given that job he can shape and build the team the way he wants to now that he has some security.”
Bradley gets his first real competition after the China match.
The U.S. opens play next Thursday in the CONCACAF Gold Cup, the championship of North and Central America and the Caribbean. After that tournament, the United States plays as an invited guest at the Copa America, South America’s championship.
Bradley took over from Bruce Arena, who coached the national team for eight years, leading the United States to the quarterfinals of the 2002 World Cup before last summer’s disappointing first-round exit in Germany.
“Last summer is last summer. I don’t think any of us are really dwelling on it,” Onyewu said. “Everybody knew it would be a difficult World Cup. We drew a difficult group. Unfortunately the results were not there for us. This is a completely different national team. We can’t try to compare this team to the team of last summer because it’s not the same team.”
Beasley spent last season on loan from PSV Eindhoven with Manchester City. He scored four goals in 22 games across all competitions with City before being returned to the Dutch team.
Beasley is hoping to hook on with another Premiership team this summer instead of returning to Eindhoven.
Keller, 37, was let go from Borussia Moenchengladbach after the club was relegated to the second division. He offered to stay with the team, but manager Christian Ziege decided to go with a younger goalie.
China will be without regular captain Zheng Zhi for the match. He stayed in Asia to play for his club team Shandong in the East Asian Champions Cup.
After losing 1-0 to Thailand last month, China slipped to No. 73 in the FIFA rankings, leading to criticism of coach Zhu Guanghu.
In the Mountain time zone, the game will be telecast live at 6 p.m. Saturday on ESPN2.
The game Saturday and upcoming exhibitions against the Galaxy on Tuesday and the Rapids on June 10 are part China’s tuneup for next month’s Asian Cup. China plays its group games in Malaysia and is pooled with Iran, Uzbekistan and Malaysia.
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