Oguchi Onyewu Named to United States World Cup Team

May 2, 2006

CLEMSON, SC–Former Clemson men’s soccer player Oguchi Onyewu has been named to the 23-member roster of the United States World Cup Soccer team announced Tuesday by the United States Soccer Federation. Onyewu is the first former Tiger to be chosen to the United States World Cup Team since Bruce Murray in 1990. Murray was the only United States player to score a goal and record an assist in the 1990 World Cup. He is now an assistant soccer coach at Harvard. Onyewu played for Clemson in the 2000 and 2001 seasons During his career, he was named to the Soccer America MVP team in 2001 and was named a NSCAA All-American in 2001. Onyewu was a Hermann Award Finalist in 2001.

During his career at Clemson, he was named first-team All-ACC in 2000 and 2001 and signed a professional contract with F.C. Metz of France in the spring of 2002. Onyewu scored the game-winning goal in the ACC Championship match vs. North Carolina (11-3-01) and two goals in the closing minutes of the NCAA Tournament match vs. Alabama-Birmingham (12-2-01). He was also named to the ACC’s 50-Year Anniversary Team. Onyewu cuurently plays for Standard Liege of the Belgium first division. He is one of 12 players on the United States team based overseas. The other 11 US players are currently playing in the MLS.

“For him to have gone the full cycle with the various national teams, play at Clemson and now make it with the US World Cup team is a great honor for Oguchi,” said Clemson Head Coach Trevor Adair. “We are very pleased he has made the transition and has played at the highest level and has done well. He now has the opportunity to show his skills on the world stage. We are so happy he is associated with our program and stills calls Clemson home.”

The US Men’s National team will play a three-game send-off series May 23-28. The team will play Morocco in Nashville, TN on the 23rd, then face Venezuela at Cleveland Browns Stadium in Cleveland, OH on the 26th of May. The three-game exhibition set will conclude when the US team meets Latvia at Rentschler Field in East Hartford, CT on May 28. All three matches will start at 7:00 PM and will be televised on ESPN2.

The US was drawn into Group E for the 2006 FIFA World Cup along with the Czech Republic, Italy and Ghana. The US will play its opening match against Czech Republic on June 12 in Gelsenkirchen before meeting Italy in Kaiserslautern on June 17. They will finish the Group play June 22 against Ghana in Nuremberg.