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A final tribute to Jozy Altidore’s Red Bull career

Jozy_altidore_ap

Red Bulls fans don’t have a lot to smile about these days, not with their team losing badly and struggling to field a competitive team.

Jozy Altidore’s departure to Villarreal didn’t help matters, but looking back on his brief time with the club might help offer some relief for an otherwise awful time for Red Bulls fans.

Here is a video tribute to Altidore’s Red Bulls career, courtesy of SF over at The Offside Rules:

[vimeo http://www.vimeo.com/1187242 w=400&h=267]

Share your thoughts on the highlight reel below.

Comments

  1. Yossarian-

    my point is a goal is a goal, whether it be an amazing goal or a cleanup goal… MB is one of the top scorers for his club (if not the top)… does it really matter if 90% of them were cleanup goals ??? no, b/c a goal is a goal… as ive said before, i’d rather take 10 sloppy goals over 6 amazing goals..

    and you cant compare MB’s goal scoring ability to Jozy’s… its farce… comparing how a midfielder scores against a forward…. honestly… i agree with EJ’s lack of ability against competition… quite frankly you dont get a guy like bradley for his goal scoring ability… you get him to hold the midfield and you’re lucky he can also clean up…. compare Jozy’s scoring ability against other forwards…

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  2. “I continue to be puzzled by the effusive praise given to Altidore by Red Bulls fans. He scored 15 goals for the team. That’s it. 15 goals. John Wolyniec has scored more than 20 goals for the franchise. Wolyniec has been more important for the franchise than Altidore has.”

    For NY/Metro team, here are the numbers.

    Altidore: GP 41 GS 29 MIN 2,754 G 16 A 5

    Wolyniec: GP 112 GS 70 MIN 6,399 G 24 A 13

    So Jozy scored a goal every 172 minutes of play, vs every 266 minutes for Wolyniec. That’s over 50% more goals per minute. In a sport that is as low-scoring, where games are decided frequently by a goal, it’s a huge deal.

    Moreover, Wolyniec’s huge 10 goal season came when he was being set up by Guevara, whereas Jozy and Guevara only played together for seven games, in a season in which Jozy scored four times in nine appearances, two from Guevara. With no playmaker, his numbers were kept low.

    So basically, you’re wrong.

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  3. nickmustgo- that was probably the most worthless post. ever. everyone’s proud of this kid. i’m not a redbulls fan but i’m a fan of the league and it’s always great to see young talent get recognition. especially when the talent takes the form of a humble, hardworking, respectful person like jozy. comments such as yours are fueled by either jealousy or bitterness. either way you sound like a complete joke.

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  4. Exactly: we trade Gaven for Buddle, then deal Buddle for who, Jolley??? Now Buddle and Gaven are both playing well, and we have crap.

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  5. Jozy scored a lot of game-winners for RBNY and played really well for us. I’m glad he’s getting the chance to play in the big time, but he is already sorely missed. I guess we should try stacking our team with journeymen players who don’t get called up to the national team or get sold to other leagues so we can maintain team cohesion, like DC does. Having okay players instead of great ones seems to work out for them. We always get awesome players who are sold or retire before they can accomplish anything for us.

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  6. To “A.S.” (the 9th comment) i hope that doesnt stand for roma because what u just is shameful for being a roma fan…

    Did Woly ever have to be double teamed so he wouldn’t get the ball?? … no.

    Did Woly ever make people come out and watch NY play?? … no.

    wake up…

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  7. Yossarian, what you just mentioned are the more subtle skills our young U.S. forwards are going to need to develop in the future. Jozy and Freddie Adu, despite underachieving a little bit to this point (due at least in part to youth) still represent the type of players the U.S. should be producing both if we want to produce a more consistently higher level USNT and if we want the MLS (and for that matter, even the USL leagues) to become more successful. Soccer fans in this country have been exposed to the timing, touch, pace, balance, ball control, precision and strategy of top international football through cable and other outlets and are starting to become more discerning. Jozy’s talent represents the beginning of the maturation of the American player.

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  8. There’s nothing mediocre about the the largest transfer fee ever (more than double the previous MLS best for Dempsey) for a U.S. player. And that for an 18 year-old!!!

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  9. Brett,

    Whenever you’re attempting to project a young player’s future performance onto a bigger stage, you have to not only look at their statistics, but at HOW they played. Your point of view is akin to drafting an NFL linebacker simply based on how many tackles he had in college. You have to look at his tools: size, speed, strength, athleticism. You must gauge his mental toughness and football I.Q., you must look at his statistics, and you MUST look at as much tape as you can get your hands on in order to judge whether all of these other things are, indeed, accurate reflections of his true ability as a player.

    This is the mistake everyone made and some continue to make with Eddie Johnson. He scores goals against low level of competition, yes, but is helpless when the competition is ratcheted up. His goals, like many of Bradley’s are mainly making a run and kicking or heading the ball into an open net demonstrating only a certain few skills whereas Jozy’s goals show him blasting long distance goals, creating space in traffic with excellent first touches, performing excellent turns with his back to the goal, turning the defender with several deft touches, running at defenders with stepover moves at high speeds, pulling the ball back against the flow and slotting the shot into a small area, and many more. There’s a tremendous difference between a player who can create their own goals and one who needs near perfect service.

    It’s not that difficult to see if you pay attention. This is not just me or some RB fans saying this, it’s 10 million transfer dollars.

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  10. Yeah he scored 15 goals in 37 matches, and only 25 starts, thats pretty good? How many goals was he gonna score in 25 starts????

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  11. Jozy scored some real wonder goals in his short stay. It’s enough. He’s called to bigger things than trying beat out Woly on the RB goals list. I’m happy for him and can say I saw him play when the world didn’t know his name.

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  12. He doesn’t need to be loaned anywhere, he can surely compete for first team time at Villareal. God, that New England run and resulting goal was sick.

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  13. Yossarian- ‘Very few were simply making a clever run and kicking it into a half-open goalmouth. That’s a bit of my concern w/ Bradley the Younger and his goals. ”

    goals are goals, whether they are amazing dribbling through an entire team (ie. Messi) or simply being in the right spot at the right time to clean up (ie. Bradley)… either way it counts towards your team’s score…. you dont get points on flair….. i’ll take 10 clean up lack luster goals over 6 amazing going down in history goals….

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  14. I continue to be puzzled by the effusive praise given to Altidore by Red Bulls fans. He scored 15 goals for the team. That’s it. 15 goals. John Wolyniec has scored more than 20 goals for the franchise. Wolyniec has been more important for the franchise than Altidore has.

    Sure, Altidore may become something big one day. But for Red Bulls fans – who cares? He’s going to do big things for some other team, not for us. Montreal Expos fans didn’t give Randy Johnson a big, loving sendoff when he was traded to Seattle. Mets fans didn’t give Nolan Ryan a big, loving sendoff when he was traded to the Angels. Sure, the fans knew they had potential to become hall of famers – but the fans also knew that if they were to become hall of famers, it would be for other teams.

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  15. compared to the highlight-reel of goals scored by mcbride in the e.p.l., jozy’s goals were much more difficult and many of them were created on his own. he already has some doubters, but this kid is the real deal. he can be a world class striker if he has the will power.

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  16. Jozy if you get the chance, kick Rossi in balls, by accident of course.

    Just kidding. Go get em Jozy!

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  17. Great clip, Ives. I was amazed at the difficulty level of many of those goals. Very few were simply making a clever run and kicking it into a half-open goalmouth. That’s a bit of my concern w/ Bradley the Younger and his goals.

    Interesting article about possible Adu loaner to Genoa in Serie A here: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/soccer/06/17/adu.genoa/index.html That would be so awesome for Freddie’s development, IMO. Two of the more creative leagues in football in two years? Genoa is a pretty decent squad as well. Interest by them offers objective evidence of Freddie’s talent and growth.

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