Gooch Warns His Mates "Don't Fall For The Ploy!"

Waregem have struggled to maintain the standards of last season, when they won the Belgian Cup and finished seventh in the Eerste Klaase.


Last weekend's 3-1 victory over Standard Liãge was their first of 2007.

Oguchi Onyewu: “This is a team who have built their reputation on upsets. They only came up into the Belgian first division a couple of years ago and they are not one of the big sides, but they seem to thrive on causing upsets and shocks.

“They are capable of playing badly, but at the drop of a dime, they can suddenly turn it on and cause an upset. They will be relishing the chance to knock out a big English side.”

 

GOOCH MISSES OUT ON EUROPEAN GLORY
 
Newcastle United's new defender Oguchi Onyewu misses out on Newcastle's UEFA Cup tie against Zulte-Waregem in Belgium on Thursday.

The United States international regards Belgium as his second home after he spent three years playing for Standard Liege. Be he played for Standard in the competition against Celta Vigo in the first round, so will play no part in the Magpie's quest for 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."