Ugo Ihemelu

Ugochukwu "Ugo" Ihemelu (born 3 April 1983 in Enugu) is a retired Nigerian-born American football player.

Ugo Ihemelu
Personal information
Full name Ugochukwu Ihemelu
Date of birth (1983-04-03) 3 April 1983
Place of birth Enugu, Nigeria
Height 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)
Position(s) Defender
Youth career
2001–2004 SMU Mustangs
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2004 Legends FC
2005–2006 Los Angeles Galaxy 54 (0)
2007–2009 Colorado Rapids 63 (1)
2009–2013 FC Dallas 68 (5)
Total 185 (6)
National team‡
2006–2009 United States 2 (0)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 16 October 2012
‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 24 January 2009

Career

College

Ihemelu grew up in the United States, attended Cedar Hill High School in Cedar Hill, Texas (a suburb of Dallas), and played college soccer at Southern Methodist University, where he was named All-Missouri Valley Conference his junior and senior seasons.

During his collegiate off-season, Ihemelu played with the Texas-based USASA team Legends FC, who he helped qualify for the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup in 2004.[1]

Professional

The Los Angeles Galaxy drafted him with the fifth overall pick of the 2005 MLS SuperDraft. He helped the Galaxy to the US Open Cup and MLS Cup double in his rookie season. After his second season in LA, on 1 December 2006, Ihemelu was traded to the Colorado Rapids. After 3 years with Colorado, Ihemelu was traded to FC Dallas in exchange for Drew Moor, a 2010 MLS SuperDraft pick, and allocation money.

Ihemelu was named to the MLS Team of the Week in weeks 8 and 11 in the 2011 MLS season for his play against D.C. United, Seattle Sounders, and Houston Dynamo.[2][3] On 30 June 2011, he signed a contract extension with FC Dallas through the 2015 MLS season.[4] Prior to the 2012 MLS season, Ihemelu was named FC Dallas captain.[5] During the 2012 season, he suffered a concussion that eventually led to his retirement.[6]

International

Ihemelu made his debut for the United States on 29 January 2006, against Norway.[7]

Unusually, he was then called up by Canada in June 2008 and traveled with the team for their match against St. Vincent and the Grenadines. While the Canadian Soccer Association has Ihemelu's hometown listed as Winnipeg, Manitoba, Ihemelu's eligibility to play for Canada was in doubt, due to his appearing for the United States in the aforementioned Norway game, and to questions over his Canadian citizenship.[8] For these reasons, the Canadians did not field Ihemelu in the Saint Vincent game.

In January 2009 Ihemelu was called into the US's training camp. He joined San Jose (MLS) defender Jason Hernandez as replacements for Clarence Goodson and Cory Gibbs who left camp early. He then appeared in the match following the camp against Sweden, clearing a guaranteed goal off the line.[9]

Honours

Los Angeles Galaxy

FC Dallas

See also

References
  1. "First Round". lhusoc.tripod.com.
  2. "MLSsoccer.com Team of the Week: Week 8". 10 May 2011.
  3. "MLSsoccer.com Team of the Week: Week 11". 1 June 2011.
  4. "FC Dallas inks deal to keep Ugo Ihemelu through 2015 season". 30 June 2011.
  5. "Ihemelu new FC Dallas captain". 2 March 2012.
  6. "Ugo Ihemelu talks FC Dallas and his career-ending injury".
  7. "2006 Men's National Team Stats". U.S. Soccer. Archived from the original on 13 October 2007. Retrieved 2008-06-17.
  8. "Canada returns to training in Florida".
  9. "Ugo Ihemelu Makes it 25". 6 January 2009.
Sporting positions
Preceded by
Daniel Hernández (soccer)		 FC Dallas captain
2012–2012		 Succeeded by
David Ferreira
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