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Altidore heading to England, delay had nothing to do with swine flu concerns

Jozy Altidore 6 (ISIphotos.com) 

                                                                         Photo by ISIphotos.com

U.S. national team striker Jozy Altidore is on his way to England today after a lengthy delay in the process to receive his international clearance, a delay that had nothing to do with the Landon Donovan swine flu case.

According to U.S. Soccer, the claims made by Hull City manager Phil Brown that Altidore's arrival in England was delayed because of a quarantine due to concerns over the swine flu are incorrect. Brown told the Hull Daily Mail that Altidore was being quarantined because of "the American team has a problem with the swine flu".

A U.S. soccer official told SBI that delay in Altidore receiving his international transfer certificate were solely related to the securing of his passport and visa.

Altidore did have to undergo biometric testing as part of the process of having a new passport made, but that process, and the subsequent delay, was not caused by concerns about swine flu.

As for Brown's suggestion of a quarantine, no U.S. national team players have been quarantined in connection with Donovan's positive test for the H1N1 virus. Michael Bradley and Steve Cherundolo were forced to sit out matches with their Bundesliga teams after the German Health Organization insisted they not play, but neither player was quarantined.

Altidore will join Hull City on Friday and could be in uniform for the team's match against Bolton on Saturday.

What do you think of this development? Did you have a feeling Brown didn't know what he was talking about? Think Altidore will get playing time on Saturday after being away so long? Have you already ordered your Altidore Hull jersey?

Share your thoughts below.

Comments

  1. Does Phil Brown realize what a joke he is? Does he not realize that his “man management” tactics are likely a big reason why his team tanked in the second half of last season. “I’m fresh out of ideas, so I think I’ll humiliate my players at halftime.” Tool.

    While I’m glad Jozy is going to get playing time, I worry about the damage that may come from playing for Brown.

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  2. Brown’s a joke. “I didn’t want to fall out with anyone in the US set-up so he flew out to Mexico, sat on the bench on the Wednesday and gets 14 minutes.”
    Oh, so you “chose” to allow an international player go play with his team on an international date. How dare he only get 14 minutes. Twit

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  3. This is not why I had a feeling Brown doesn’t know what he’s talking about. Watching Hull try to play soccer is why I have a feeling Brown doesn’t know what he’s taking about.

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  4. I swear, I don’t get it.

    This thread racks up 33 comments in four hours. Then I post the most important question of the whole thing — “what ESPN commercial for Jozy?” — and the thread just immediately grinds to a halt.

    What the heck?

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  5. @Posted by: Scott | August 20, 2009 at 01:22 PM

    It’s the government. Nothing is run efficiently when it comes to the government (ANY government). NOTHING. I mean you have to wait in the DMV line for an hour to take a damn driver’s license picture for Christ’s sake.

    The fact that they got it resolved in less than a month is a minor miracle.

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  6. “Jozy was shooting an ESPN commercial the other day!”

    I’ve been in and out of the loop the past few days, so pardon me if this is common knowledge, but: What sort of commercial was it, and what else do we know about it?

    Thanks!

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  7. @cfig

    There are some offices where you can get your passport within a week. You simply go pick it up. But the cost is around $500 dollars; so its really only worth it in emergencies.

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  8. Will, I’d love to know where you can get a passport that fast. I recently got my passport done at the post office before it opened (my girlfriend’s parents work there) and I still had to wait 4 weeks to get the actual document.

    Jozy, good luck man, looking forward to seeing you put a few in against Bolton on Saturday!

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  9. @ Will:

    Jozy already had a passport. What he needed was a work permit so he could legally work in the UK. As part of the process you need to go to a US immigration center and have your fingerprints taken (they call it “biometrics”). Then, you have to send all your paperwork (and money) to a British consulate in the US and wait to see if you were granted a work permit. As has been said, this process can take months for an average Joe, so the week Jozy had to wait is certainly super quick for this kind of thing.

    Phil Brown was not “bamboozled” by anyone, and the whole ordeal had nothing to do with H1N1.

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  10. Maybe not a true quarantine but I was told by one of the Rapids staffers that organized the season ticket holders party on Saturday that Casey wasn’t at the party because of concerns over swine flu. The3y didn’t want to risk infecting the fans or (presumably) the other players.

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  11. Sounds fishy to me… Their are passport agencies all across the US where you can get your papers processed and have your new passport in hours…

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  12. @ Danny

    You’re right….for the normal American trying to get a work permit for the UK it’d take weeks (if not months). But, of course, as we all know, soccer players perform a…..um…..vital service to humanity…..[cricket chirps]

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  13. Brown has no credibility. Then again, neither does the Daily Mail. I hope the creep gives Jozy minutes and stays out of his way.

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  14. Scott- Part of the problem is that you need to secure a job officially before applying for the visa. You would be surprised how fast these footballers actually get their paperwork done compared to the average joe.

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  15. if you get a passport before your 18th birthday it’s only valid for 5 years, as opposed to the 10 year passport after you’re 18.

    I imagine Northzax is right in that it was probably set to expire sometime in the next year . . .

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  16. Jason: his passport may well expire in the next year, and since I assume his visa is a one-year autorenew, employer-linked visa, your passport cannot expire before your visa.

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  17. Of course, there were no swine flu concerns or that the “quarantine” was false. Jozy was shooting an ESPN commercial the other day!
    haha

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  18. “A U.S. soccer official told SBI that delay in Altidore receiving his international transfer certificate were solely related to the securing of his passport and visa.

    Altidore did have to undergo biometric testing as part of the process of having a new passport made…”

    Visa, I get, but why did he have to secure a passport? Can someone explain. He HAS to have a passport seeing as he has spent the last year outside of the US.

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  19. This tells me that Brown and Jozy are not communicating, and that’s a problem. Brown stated Jozy is sitting in the US wanting to play but can’t because of quarantine. If he had actually talked to Jozy he would have realized it was a visa problem, as clearly indicated by Jozy’s twitter update. This is a communication problem and implies Brown is not engaged with his new striker. This better change by Saturday. Go Jozy, go Tigers!

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  20. Jozzzyyy! it seems like Hull has a bunch a newbies up front. we all know Jozy works hard in practice so he’ll get playing time for sure! can’t wait to see Jozy. i was gonna get up at 4:30am PST to see him play last weekend. this time it’s 7am PST saturday!

    Jozzyyyy woo hoo!

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  21. It amazes me how many times players are late to join a team because of passport/visa problems. You’d think they could plan ahead a little better. It’s not like the move to Hull came up yesterday….

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  22. Brown is a disaster as a coach. Treating the team like kids at halftime of Man City, then acting like he was God on the final day last year whey stayed up.

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