Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
Union roll for second straight
WASHINGTON » Oguchi Onyewu alighted on the ground and knew. And then he ran.
Ran through the 35 years that he’d completed Saturday. Ran through the teams that rebuffed his attempts at a comeback. Ran through the injuries, the ruptures and the tears. Ran through his hometown stadium “like a little boy” toward a family section screaming his name.
Onyewu’s goal off a corner kick in the 64th minute was just onequarter of the damage in a 4-0 thrashing meted out by the Philadelphia Union on a hapless D.C. United. But its emotional resonance was unmatched — on his 35th birthday, in front of 50-plus relatives, Onyewu announced that his career is decidedly not over
just yet.
“When I connected — when I jumped actually — I knew I was going to win that ball, I just needed to connect well, and just emotions took over me,” Onyewu said. “At first I was calm, and then it hit me and I was like, ‘Let me just run around like a little boy, like I was back to being 23.’”
“I think that was probably the loudest the building got,” Union manager Jim Curtin said. “He must’ve had a lot of people here for sure because it got loud when he scored.”
Onyewu was one of three first-time goalscorers for the Union, joining Haris Medunjanin and Fafa Picault in notching their first career MLS goals. Fabian Herbers capped the outburst with his first tally of the season, off Alejandro Bedoya’s first MLS assist, in the 88th minute.
But Onyewu’s tally had that storybook quality. It was the D.C. native’s first goal since 2014, in the FA Cup for English second-division side Sheffield Wednesday. His last league goal dates to 2012 with Sporting Lisbon in Portugal. It came at the special palace of soccer in his hometown that is always close to his heart, even if it hosted one of the most devastating nights of his career — a ruptured patellar tendon in a World Cup qualifier in 2009.
“It only feels so long because it has been so long,” Onyewu said. “It’s no secret that in recent years I’ve struggled with injuries and such. … My hometown, on my birthday, turning 35 and kind of put it in the faces of a lot of people in the league who thought I was too old, too injured to play and too old to compete. I think they’re opening their eyes and realizing otherwise now.”
For a man without a club for the better part of two years, any chance to end his career on his terms was welcomed, through fruitless trial stints with near a halfdozen clubs. Onyewu’s goal accentuates his value to the Union, which kept a third consecutive clean sheet.
“He’s been a real leader in our locker room,” Curtin said. “Again, an acquisition that Earnie (Stewart) made and obviously he has more than overachieved. He’s really done a great job in giving a ton of leadership for our young guys. … He’s been through the battles, he’s been through the wars, and for him to get a goal was extra special.”
The Union’s onslaught was paved by a 55th-minute red card to Luciano Acosta for a dangerous foul on Ilsinho. The visitors outshot D.C., 19-7, and owned a 9-1 edge in shots on target. Saturday matches the Union’s largest margin of victory in MLS (four occasions, the last Aug. 13, 2016 against New England). The win moves the Union (2-4-4, 10 points) out of the basement in the East on goal differential, which has reversed to plus-one. Philly is on a four-match unbeaten streak (0-2-2) after its first road win since Aug. 24, 2016.
The two-way excellence started with Medunjanin, who set up Picault and Onyewu on their goals and keyed the muting of Acosta. The more attention-grabbing action was the 39th-minute goal, a howitzer from 30 yards that left a vapor trail as D.C. goalie Bill Hamid meekly attempted to punch at mostly air.
“Haris was excellent,” Curtin said. “Obviously the goal is special. The goal that he takes from distance is a great goal. It takes a lot to beat Bill Hamid, and obviously to beat him from that distance is a special effort. The goals that he set up were excellent as well. … But again, you can talk about all of Haris’ attacking plays, but I thought on the night he was excellent defensively against Acosta, who is one of the most dangerous guys in our league.”
The game pivoted on Acosta’s dismissal. Coach Ben Olsen had attempted to augment his team’s attack, but it did little for a D.C. side (3-5-2, 11 points) that has won just two of six home games and has been shut out in 10 of 12 halves at RFK Stadium.
A rush of blood to Acosta’s head undermined that. After being pushed off the ball by Onyewu, the diminutive Argentine swung rashly with both feet at Ilsinho, eliciting a decisive move to the back pocket by referee Chris Penso. Just six minutes earlier, Penso had waved away what looked to be a legitimate penalty shout from Lloyd Sam, who was wiped out from behind by Fabinho.
Picault rounded out the hat trick of first-timers with a curling delivery into the far corner in the 78th, and Herbers’ capper was as sublime, a firsttime shot off the far post and in from atop the box.
But Onyewu’s marker, for its poignancy and the obstacles he’s overcome to get there, rose above the lot on a night he’ll never forget.
“To have a homecoming like this, have about 50 tickets, rooting for me, saying happy birthday and to cap that off with a goal, there’s no better feeling than that,” he said.
“I think that was probably the loudest the building got. He must’ve had a lot of people here for sure because it got loud when he scored.” — Union manager Jim Curtin