Gooch Misses Out On European Glory
Onyewu: "It would have been good to play in European competition but unfortunately I played for Standard at the start of the season. Zulte-Waregem are obviously one of the teams I came across in Belgium."I found life in Belgium very good. I think it is a good league and I played alongside some good players. Standard are one of the top teams in Belgium and I had a good two-and-half seasons there and I left them in third place.
"I enjoyed it and worked with some good coaching staff. Unfortunately, at this point in my career I had to depart Standard Liege."
"I left the States when I was 19 to join Metz. After that I moved to Belgium, which is not a big transition. But I felt that to benefit my career I had to opt for European football as opposed to the MLS.
"It is where you want to be as a professional athlete in this game. Playing in the World Cup for my country has also helped me - it was fantastic.
"The experience was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity - hopefully for me it will be more than a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
"It was by far the best experience of my career so far and I hope it can help me play at the Premiership level with Newcastle."