No Gooch For You

Another week has gone by, and with it so has another game for Oguchi Onyewu as an unused substitute for his new club AC Milan. The Rossoneri took on newly-promoted Bari at the San Siro, just four days after a road loss to Udinese. All season (however brief it has been), Milan have looked pedestrian at best, and their midtable position is a fair one. Today was no different, as a scrappy Bari side caused a number of problems for the Milan defense. Were it not for the wonderful display of goalkeeping by keeper Marco Storari, i Galletti could have very well stolen a road win.

For a team that is accustomed to challenging for the Serie A title every year and making a run in the Champions League, AC Milan hardly look threatening this season. They've struggled against teams lower down in the table and have gotten handled by the likes of Inter and Udinese. With the hopes of a Serie A title seemingly slipping away already, one has to wonder whether Leonardo will make some changes to the lineup in hopes of shaking things up a bit.

That brings us to Oguchi Onyewu, who has still yet to play in a meaningful match for AC Milan since joining this past summer. Onyewu was able to parlay his strong play in the Confederations Cup into a contract with the Italian giants, but he has so far been unable to crack the lineup. With critical qualifiers coming up in two weeks, it is a very real possibility that Gooch will enter the final round of qualifying without having played a meaningful match for a month.

There are some who might argue that club playing time isn't absolutely essential to playing well with the Nats, as shown by Jozy Altidore (who was riding the pine with Xerez) last spring with his hat trick against Trinidad & Tobago. Nevertheless, it's definitely preferable to have all of your players getting regular minutes, particularly leading up to such a crucial pair of games.

Onyewu will have just one more chance (two more if you count Milan's Wednesday Champions League match against FC Zurich, but it's unlikely Leonardo would experiment then) to get in some playing time before leaving for international duty, as Milan travel to Atalanta next Sunday. Atalanta sit in 19th place and have only scored twice in six games. With Thiago Silva injured and Kakha Kaladze hardly looking spectacular, could this be the time that Onyewu finally gets put into the lineup? Leonardo and his staff seem to favor the Georgian centerback over Onyewu (and what Italian wouldn't favor Kaladze after he scored TWO own goals for the Azzurri in a World Cup qualifier last month?), but with pressure mounting from the fans after a string of lackluster performances, the manager may decide to switch things up and give the American international his chance. A very winnable game against a fairly impotent offense would be the perfect conditions under which to integrate Onyewu into the lineup.

Of particular concern for USMNT fans is that Onyewu's lack of playing time is coupled with an eye injury for Jay DeMerit that will almost certainly keep him out of the last two qualifiers. So the US will have to rely on a pairing of Carlos Bocanegra (who's spent the last month playing at left back) and Oguchi Onyewu (who's spent the last month riding the bench). While Bocanegra has proven serviceable as a centerback, no one would deny that this is hardly the desired set of circumstances.

The last time Onyewu had a significant break from playing was after the Confederations Cup. After joining the Rossoneri for their American tour, Onyewu looked solid but had some mental lapses and moments of rust. This time around, Onyewu has at least been training regularly and will be in game shape. So, though he hasn't been in game situations for a little bit, expect Onyewu to get right back into the swing of things against Honduras and Costa Rica. With American fans and coaches keeping an eye on Onyewu for signs of rust, the big defender will be looking to turn in the type of performance that earned him a contract with AC Milan in the first place.

The defense will be critical in the last two qualifiers, with Onyewu obviously playing a huge role in that. Everyone pulling for the USMNT to make to South Africa next summer will be hoping that a month without playing time won't get in Gooch's way of shutting down our Central American rivals.