Veteran defender Onyewu anchoring Union’s resurgence
CHESTER, PA. » When Oguchi Onyewu fielded the question Sunday, he asked for clarification. Was it referring to him or more generally to the Union?
With a little alteration in wording, either could’ve applied. Was the veteran defender surprised to see the progress of the last few weeks — for him, becoming an unflinching starter, or from the team, from lifeless on the slab at the foot of the Eastern Conference to within a result of playoff position?
Onyewu’s answer hewed to the former query after a 3-0 win over New England. But the point had broader implications.
“People kind of acted like they don’t know who I am or the player I was and they’re acting surprised when they see performances that I’ve put in this season,” Onyewu said, his good-natured mood peeled back to reveal a hint of defiance. “I know what I’m capable of, and luckily for me the Union knew what I was capable of. The Onyewu that you guys said was in the past is obviously in the present as well. To the critics, I’m just doing the job I’ve always been doing for the last 16 years.”
That transformation — the “old, but gold” mantra Onyewu shared later — has helped the Union climb out of the basement of the East and into playoff relevance.
Manager Jim Curtin is fond of pointing out that over a lengthy season, numbers don’t lie. To his chagrin, the numbers divulged that through the first seven games of 2017, the Union were an atrocious defensive outfit, capitulating 14 goals and finding no wins. But that trend has reversed, and the club hits the halfway point among the league’s stingiest sides.
Sunday’s blanking of the diminished Revs marks the Union’s seventh shutout, trailing only Thursday’s opponent Sporting Kansas City and Chicago (both with nine). Only four teams have allowed fewer goals than the 20 surrendered by the Union.
A quick calculation reveals just six goals conceded in 10 outings, a stretch that includes more shutouts (six) than games allowing a goal (four). Two of the six goals came a man down against the Red Bulls June 18, and in two of the four games — against the Red Bulls and New York City FC — the Union kept the opposition off the board for 80 minutes.
The perception of the team, though, hasn’t adapted quite so swiftly. In 2016, for instance, the Union laid the foundation for a playoff run with stinginess by allowing just 16 goals through the first 14 games. But through 17 games, that supposedly strong defensive squad allowed 25 goals, five more than this year’s allegedly leaky side.
Onyewu, who was without a team before the Union took a flyer on him, knows well the gulf between perception and reality. After a well-traveled European career, Onyewu trialed with several teams in the U.S., without catching on (one was the Revs, which didn’t escape his grasp Sunday). His introduction to the Union was originally billed as a training stint, but he earned a job, presumably as a veteran mentor and occasional backup.
But Onyewu has started 14 games already, including 10 straight in the league. He’s coaxed his body through daunting scheduling for any player on the wrong side of 30, much less one with his litany of injuries, and relegated once-unquestioned starter Richie Marquez to oblivion while leaving healthy-again Josh Yaro as primarily a backup.
“The Revs took a pass on me, too,” Onyewu said. “They might be going back on that decision now. It wasn’t just them; it was a few other teams. I think it had to do with my age and my past injuries, but like I said there’s not a lot of players that have sustained a lengthy career like I have that haven’t had injuries to their names. Kaka had multiple injuries, yet people still rate him highly.
“It’s a testament to who I am and I don’t let adversity get in the way, I push through it. I’m just going to continue to do that with this team behind me and I hope to continue to do that the rest of the season.”
Even more unlikely, which returns to the perception issue, is the prosperous pairing he’s formed with Jack Elliott, the rookie fourth-round SuperDraft pick. The numbers they’ve posted are staggering:
They’ve played nine games in which the Union have conceded six goals.
In 731 minutes on the field together (excluding two goals surrendered to NYC after Onyewu exited with a concussion), the Union have allowed four goals.
Two of the goals came with the Union down to 10 men after Derrick Jones’ sending off against the Red Bulls. So the final tally for the 11-v-11 goals allowed by the pair is just two in 694 minutes.
“I guess we’re both on the same page and together we know what we’re going to do, we know what each other’s going to do,” Elliott said. “It also helps when you have the entire team chipping in defensively. It’s not just the back four and the goalkeeper that keeps clean sheets; it’s the whole 11 of us, and I feel like we’ve all battened down defensively and managed to do that as a team.”
“Jack is gaining confidence game by game,” Onyewu said. “He’s playing with a lot of confidence and that shows in his performance and that helps overall the team’s stability and defensive structure. Our partnership is solid.”
Thanks to that partnership, the Union’s playoff candidacy is also on more solid ground. And whether or not that comes as a surprise to the larger MLS audience isn’t of much concern to Onyewu.