Onyewu Suitors: Add Genoa To The List

Add another to the list.

Pack Pursuing Onyewu Continues To Grow

In addition to the teams we last mentioned in pursuit of US defender Oguchi Onyewu, a few more have joined the pack. Perennial Dutch power Ajax are said to be interested in Gooch, as well and the French media are now seeing renewed interest from PSG and Marseille. There are also reports out of Belgium that he "is not closing the door on a longer stay at Standard" yet either.

Stay tuned - this one will only get more interesting.

Fiorentina, Palermo Enter The Race For Onyewu

According to press reports from Italy and Belgium, two Italian Serie A clubs are interested in acquiring American central defender Oguchi Onyewu. Fiorentina and Palermo now join Birmingham, Wolverhampton, Fulham, Besiktas, and Fenerbahce for the 6'4" player who is available on a free transfer from Standard Liege in July.

Personally, I'd love to see him go to Fiorentina, a club which always plays with a good attacking style and appears on the verge of regaining a potentcy not seen since the Batistuta era.

The Viola had been aiming to sign Barcelona's Mexican defender Rafa Marquez but since he signed a new deal with the Spanish champions on Thursday, Onyewu has emerged as an option. Their other option is Napoli central defender Fabiano Santacroce - a player also targetted by the deep-pocketed Juventus. This entire scenario also indicates that Juve could end up taking a look at Onyewu if Napoli (a club normally reluctant to sell key talent) decides to keep Santacroce.

The Gooch connection with Palermo looks less likely to result in a a serious bid since the club just made an offer for Sao Paolo central defender Andre Dias and a deal appears to be in the making.

Onyewu has been drawing ever more attention for his dominant play in Belgium's Jupiler League and strong performances at the Confederations Cup, in particular for his heroic defensive efforts alongside Jay DeMerit in the USA's 2-0 win over European champions Spain.

If Gooch can turn in another such performance tomorrow in the final against Brazil, expect the list of interested clubs to grow and don't be surprised to see a few Champion's League trophy contenders on the list.

Still Speechless

USA beats Spain 2-0 to make it to the Confederations Cup Final.

Livorno Crushes Brescia's Serie A Dreams

Livorno crushed Danny Szetela's Brescia side 3-0 in the final leg of their promotion playoff and will return to Serie A next season. Livorno's win capped a 5-2 aggregate win in the Serie B playoffs. Lingering injuries kept Danny Szetela out of the side which will remain in Serie B for at least one more season. Szetela's loan deal to Brescia expires at the end of June and its still not clear whether he'll stay with the club, move back to Racing Santander, or be picked up by another European side.

Francesco Tavano, Alessandro Diamanti and Martin Bergvold were the goal scorers for Livorno, which returns to the top flight after finishing the 2007-08 Serie A campaign bottom of the table.

US Soccer: Which Way Ahead?

In case you're wondering why your loyal vagabond has yet to comment on Team USA's woes at the Confederation's Cup, I'm watching the matches again and trying to put some emotional distance between these events (and see how they respond against a strong Egypt side) before offering my views on where we stand and where to go from here.

In the meantime, what do you think? Do we need a change of direction, leadership, or both?

Are we developing the kinds of players we need or are we churning out players with big hearts but little imagination or technique?

Have your say in our comments section.

Brescia Draws Livorno 2-2 in Promotion Playoff

American midfielder Danny Szetela did not play in Brescia's 2-2 draw with Livorno yesterday, the first leg in a home-and-away series to determine who will play in Serie A next year.

Given that the away goals rule does not apply and the higher seeded team (Livorno) advances if the goal aggregate is tied, Brescia faces a must-win situation on the road next week at Livorno.