High Standard

Even the best teams take a night off every now and then, right? Apparently not in Belgium. Oguchi Onyewu's Standard Liege side is still undefeated after 31 league games, including last Sunday's 2-0, championship-clinching win over Anderlecht.

With three games left in the season, Standard has the opportunity to be the first team in 42 years to finish without a mark in the loss column. Let's just hope they didn't celebrate this last victory too hard (see Gooch's interview here).

As the shutout result indicates, a large part (literally) of the team's success is due to the big American's play at center back. He may have faced some adversity in the past, but now Gooch has established himself in Europe as the bulwark US MNT fans always knew he could be, not to mention a hot defensive commodity. Seemed like his name was always popping up during the big clubs' winter transfer window (Chelsea? Lyon?), but he decided to hang tight with the team he started the season with and now has the chance to enjoy a spring at the top of the Jupiler League.

Who knows what will happen this summer, but it's been a remarkable season for Gooch, and he deserves everything that's coming his way.