After a tumultuous 18 months with club and country, US National Team star Oguchi Onyewu is busy enjoying the now.

The hulking center back arrived in Chicago last week to begin training for a (Gooch, please forgive the term) friendly against superbad Brazil with Belgian employers Standard Liège topping the table off a perfect league start.

A year ago, Onyewu was still smarting from an early World Cup exit and caught up in a protracted rumor mill ride that saw him linked with the likes of Chelsea, Lyon and Real Madrid. Of course, he eventually worked a less than triumphant six-month loan stint with Newcastle that caused his doubters to raise the volume - not that he is prone to listening to such chatter.

"I think playing in Belgium is not necessarily a bad thing, but I think a lot of people feel as though - aww, he's not playing in England, he failed - but I let the critics talk," Onyewu told American Soccer Daily after Thursday USMNT training. "It's easy to criticize somebody, it's not easy to put themselves in this situation. I think I'm in a good situation."

One won't even catch the defender feeling down over the US performance in Germany. When the man known affectionately as Gooch begins talking about perceived letdowns, it's hard to tell where international talk ends and club talk begins.

"I don't think anything's a disappointment," asserted Onyewu. "I think everything happened for a reason. Sometimes you need to back up a little in order to jump higher next time... I'm concentrating on being at the top of my game for the next step."

For many, that next step will come in the form of a glamour move away from Standard, one that has been projected, promised, and proffered for a couple of seasons. Though a stint with the Toon Army didn't wow observers, Onyewu considers his time with Newcastle an eye-opener that will pay long term dividends.

"I think it was a great experience," he offered. "I think if the circumstances were different, then maybe it would have played out differently, but I really don't think about it much anymore because so many people like to talk."

"I don't focus on the past, I just like to concentrate on the present, the future, and what I'm going to do better and making myself better as a professional."

With Standard having charged full steam out of the Jupiler League gate, Onyewu will suit up Sunday at Soldier Field as confident as any defender can be when the Samba Kings are on the dance card.

"Whenever you're playing well with your club - that's your main support group and source of training - ultimately it's going to carry over to the National Team and I think generally that's the reason we get picked for these camps," he reasoned.

"I think that if you weren't performing well for your club, you wouldn't be called into a camp. I think it does give you an extra boost of confidence, when you know you're playing well and are in good form, to come out to the National Team camps and perform well."

A gentle giant off the field, Onyewu made it clear that he will not suit up against Brazil to exchange pleasantries. The USMNT is on a four-game losing streak for the first time in over a decade, and that familiar term for a non-competitive match doesn't hold water for a guy charged with containing the vaunted Brazil attack.

"I don't know what a friendly match is, because for me, there's no such thing as a "friendly" match," he snorted. "The fact that it doesn't count towards qualification, I don't think that lessens the importance of the game any more than if it were against Mexico or Guatemala or Jamaica."

What he does see the game as is a chance for the 'Nats to put their skills and mettle to the highest possible test. While some may shine the light on his backline, Onyewu claims the entire squad needs to be on their collective toes.

"I think it's a good game for everybody, not just the back or the midfielders, but for our team as a whole," he rated. "I don't think we get a lot of opportunities to play teams like this. We're usually scheduled against teams on CONCACAF, and so I guess we get used to those kinds of teams."

"Last month when we played Sweden, it was a different style game and I think that was a little reality check as well. I think coming off that loss in Sweden to play on Sunday against the #1 team in the world, I think to say it's going to be a test is an understatement."

"It's going to be a lot more than that. It's going to be a judge of character for our team. We're anticipating a good performance, and hopefully we can make everybody proud."

A good performance against Brazil will go a long way toward silencing his critics. With opposite wing terrors Kaká and Ronaldinho in the Seleçao for Sunday, Onyewu knows his head will need to be on an effective swivel.

"There's no question that they're world class players - probably the best in the world, those two," he said. "This game, if I get the opportunity to play, it's going to be a definite game of concentration for the whole 90 minutes."

"I haven't played against them thus far, but watching them on TV, you can't have a mental lapse because they'll punish you for it."

No stranger to top shelf attackers after World Cup 2006, he claims he is always ready to face the stars of the world.

"I love new challenges," declared Onyewu. "I love playing against world class strikers. When we played against Italy, I think that was great. It was a good match for myself, individually."

"I think playing against a big striker like (the Czech Republic’s Jan) Koller in the World Cup was fun. Last month, when we played against (Inter Milan's Zlatan) Ibrahimovic in Sweden - I think me being a defender, that's what I thrive on, that's why I'm in the game: to play against those kinds of players, to make myself a better defender."

"I'm relishing the opportunity to play against players of that caliber and see how I match up against them."

Naturally, defense is only half of the game, and Onyewu figures that the US attack he sees everyday in practice is primed for a solid showing as well.

"Eddie Johnson has been scoring a lot of goals in MLS, so I think he's in good form right now," he reports. "Josh Wolff has been over in Germany and I think he's always a threat. Clint Dempsey is playing very well at Fulham, and I think he's been showing as well with the National Team playing in the striker role."

"Then you have Landon (Donovan), who you don't really need to say much about his qualities. Everybody knows Landon's qualities and that any given day he can step on the field and make that difference."

With so much confidence in his teammates, Onyewu is expecting an exciting match. Of course, it's possible that he also doesn't consider training sessions to be "friendly" and will count on the elusiveness of US forwards before Sunday arrives.

"I think we have players who can surprise them," he insisted. "Hopefully, everybody will be 100% in order to do so."