During AC Milan's preseason tour of America, newly signed defender Oguchi Onyewu sat down with the New York Times' Jeffrey Marcus for an interview. Onyewu speaks candidly about handling the pressure of the big stage, his new team, and his identity as a person and player. He emphasizes his hunger to learn from this new experience, to take advantage of the opportunity and rely on his adaptability to succeed. Onyewu says the "first thing on his mind" is "to break into that starting lineup." He says his new teammates are "really cool. I appreciate them a lot because they're making this transition unbelievably easy."Onyewu on dealing with pressure: I don’t feel pressure from either of them, to be honest. I think I’ve been somewhat of a trendsetter ever since I came to Europe. I think when I went to France, I was one of two Americans in the French league. Greg Vanney was there, then he left. When I came to Belgium, I was one of two, then he left and I was the only one for a while. When I signed here, I didn’t even think twice about being the only American. I didn’t even see nationality as an issue, because it shouldn’t be. People should just judge you based on your quality in the sport.
In joining a big club, it’s the same as any other club. I think if you don’t perform then you’re not going to get the results you want. It was the same in any other club I was in. If I wasn’t performing week in and week out, then the result wouldn’t have been this transfer now. I think I just have to put everything behind me and keep focused and grounded and keep doing everything I’ve been doing the past eight years.
No comments:
Post a Comment