It’s a question that’s often refreshed every year: what’s the next positive step for American soccer?

Well, there’s been plenty to celebrate in 2009 for the American footballer. The tidy little run in the Confederations Cup helped matters. And the Americans can firmly slice the final thread of Mexican continental dominance that they’ve slowly been hacking at these past fifteen years with a win at Azteca on August 12. But ask anyone who really knows their international soccer and they’ll probably tell you that one of the biggest steps that stateside footy has taken besides the 1994 World Cup — which proved that soccer here was financially lucrative — and the 2002 World Cup and this year — when America proved that it could compete with the world’s elite — was the recent transfer of defender Oguchi Onyewu from Standard Liege to A.C. Milan.

Onyewu, who was born in D.C., is now one of but a handful of Americans who can say that they’ve played for a Serie A side, let alone Milan, one of the most revered clubs in the world. The big defender, whose Nigerian name means “God fights for me” (now there’s a moniker to live up to), entered last night’s game against Chelsea in the World Football Challenge to an incredibly rousing ovation — a near-capacity 71,203 people at Baltimore’s M&T Bank Stadium chanting his name and applauding his entrance. Not too shabby for a guy with humble local roots in Silver Spring and Olney, Maryland.

“I think you look at Gooch…he’s of African origin, has played in Belgium, and is an American,” said Milan manager Leonardo after the game. “It’s not so much that he’s American or European, it’s that he’s a good player, and he shows something different…a different style.”

Foreign managers looking at Americans through an indiscriminate eye? Now that’s a positive step.