IMAGE, EMPICS

by JAKE NUTTING

The New York Cosmos had a familiar face to fans of U.S. Soccer out at training in preparation of their upcoming two-game road trip. Veteran U.S. national team center back Oguchi Oneywu was a guest of the NASL side at Wednesday’s training session.

Oneywu was spotted on social media by an eagle-eyed Cosmos supporter, who took note of a picture Cosmos rookie defender Kyle McTurk posted with the former national team regular on Instagram.

FUEL UP THE RUMOR MILL EVERYONE, ONYEWU TRAINED WITH THE COSMOS pic.twitter.com/HPbrqORBY1 — Eagle Eye Steve (@stevehamlin19) October 5, 2016

A Cosmos spokesperson confirmed to EoS that Oneywu was indeed at training, but that he was merely a guest and was not on trial with the team. The NASL roster freeze went into effect late last week ahead of the final month of the regular season.

The 34-year-old center back has been out of contract since his deal at Charlton Athletic expired at the end of the 2014-2015 season after only making several appearances. He was given an opportunity to trial with New York City FC last year in May of last year, but the MLS side did not sign him to a deal.

Oneywu has not appeared for the U.S. national team since a 2014 friendly with Ukraine. The Washington D.C native has had stints at numerous European clubs over the course of his career, including FC Twente, AC Milian, Sporting Lisbon, Queens Park Rangers and Malaga and Sheffield Wednesday. He has never been under contract with a team based in America.