An Unlikely Star: Bo Oshoniyi
By Michael Lewis
November 11—A goalkeeper who was lucky to play several games a year has led the Kansas City Wizards to the Major League Soccer Cup.
Meet Bo Oshoniyi, a native of Poughkeepsie, New York, who had performed in only 39 games and won only 11 in five major-league soccer seasons before this year.
But he kept working, and on Sunday, he will be the starting goalkeeper against D.C. United in the major-league soccer championship game.
"Playing regularly is like a pep in my step," he said. "I'm just really excited to be in the MLS Cup final and have an opportunity to show my wares to the rest of the country."
It hasn't been easy sitting the bench for most of his career.
"I'll be honest. It's been the hardest run of my life just not having been able to play on a consistent basis," he said. "Just always never give up," said Oshoniyi, quoting his mother's advice. "Just fight, fight, and fight to get where you want to go."
Regular goalkeeper Tony Meola, who backstopped the Wizards to the 2000 MLS Cup crown, has been bothered by an injured right Achilles tendon. Oshoniyi has stepped in and hasn't missed a beat. He was 5-2-2 in the league and 0.89 goals-against average and 2-1 and a 0.67 GAA in the playoffs.
When Meola went down, coach Bob Gansler said, "You gulped a little bit, but you said, 'Bo will do it.' And Bo has done it. And the guys knew it right away. They didn't feel that they had to alter their way of playing in any way in order to protect Bo. One pillar went down, and another went up and held his end of the bargain up."
The Long Road to the Big League
Oshoniyi has been around and then some since turning pro in 1995. He played a season with the New York Centaurs (A-League) before joining the Columbus Crew in 1996. He dropped back down to the A-League, playing with the Connecticut Wolves, Charleston Battery, and Atlanta Silverbacks before the New England Revolution selected him in the fourth round of the 2000 MLS SuperDraft. He was claimed off waivers by Kansas City, where he has called home since.
No one would have blamed Oshoniyi if he quit. "Being able to play for an MLS club is incredible," he said. "You live only once. You don't want to go back and say, 'What if?'"
During spring training for the 1997 season, he learned he was cut by the Columbus Crew at a Florida airport. He thought he was heading for the team's next destination. Instead, he got a ticket back home.
"It was a crazy time, really," he said. "Very quickly you learn about the business. You learn and live and you realize that's how it is. You learn what things not to do the next time."
Next up: the MLS Cup.
|
