Top Stories

Must-See Goal: Jozy Altidore

  JozyAltidoreWhite (Getty)

Jozy Altidore continued his torrid goal-scoring pace for AZ Alkmaar today, scoring on a long-range blast in AZ Alkmaar's Europa league match vs. Swedish side Malmo (the same Malmo squad that eliminated Glasgow Rangers from the Champions League in earlier qualifying rounds). The game is still in progress, so we'll update with a final score (and any other Altidore goals he decides to deliver).

For those keeping track, today's goal makes it six goals for Altidore in all competitions for AZ, and this is probably the best of the bunch.

Enjoy:

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DYWIVLDaP6U]

Comments

  1. Drogoba scored (from roughly age 20-24) 12 goals in 64 appearances in Ligue 2. I don’t sneeze at Ligue 2, but c’mon, he wasn’t a superhero until later.

    Reply
  2. he has all the tools??!!..he’s 21 and his technical ability is dreadful…my 15 year old has a better first touch! When Spain walks on the pitch in the WC they have several world class players, when the US walks on we have ZERO. That should be the goal, develop world class talent. We have the resources and the talent pool, we just need to pick the RIGHT players and improve the coaching. Klinsi is the step in the right direction.

    Reply
  3. Well, let’s be careful there, Holden has also not played in some time and is just coming back from injury to play in reserve games.

    Prior to the Gold Cup against Argentina, Bradley had a fantastic game where he was the single player most responsible for limiting Messi’s chances (except maybe Messi himself). He showed vs Spain why he was important to the US effort. A single bad half in several games is hardly a reason to drop him. Most of his “bad passes” come as a result of either 1) simply being made while in the act of winning the ball or 2) when he has too much time and tries to be too clever. When he plays simply, he does quite well.

    Jones seems to have put himself on the outs with yet another coach. He is a talented guy, but it seems he has found a self-destruct button lately.

    Reply
  4. lots of Bradley JR hate on this. I think he was perhaps the US’s MVP at the World Cup last summer, and I expect him to return to form and be a key player

    Reply
  5. Well then the USMNT should stop playing soccer bc we have 1 “world class” player and he’s a gk. World Class players help, but having a team of 11 players who work well together is better.

    Reply
  6. The only correction I would make to Jozy’s game is that he doesn’t circle back more to get himself involved when he isn’t getting service. This is probably because he’s been coached to stay in the box given his size and strength, but he’s actually more dangerous when he’s running around. Jozy has an adequate first touch, but he’s a good passer, has a cannon shot from distance, and gets fouled a lot when he’s running at people. He’s not fast or skilled enough to play like Neymar, who injects himself through the midfield, but Jozy should roam along the edge of the area and 5-10 yards out more than he does. He will create more chances for himself and others.

    Reply
  7. The game plan at Hull was to bunker down, hope for a counter, and hope like He’ll that they didn’t get relegated. Jozy played a lot, but not in a system that was best suited to his abilities.

    Reply
  8. Well if we could get a Delorean to work like in Back 2 the Future I suppose it would work.

    Good for him he scored a goal in the final vs Mexico, too bad after the US scored another one he gave up 2 balls in midfield to lead to the next 2 goals but from Mexico.

    I am looking at the body of work and you can’t tell me Bradley is the same player, he had a bad Gold Cup, and I can understand why, he barely played at Aston Villa, as for the Spain game btw, you mean where he managed to get himself ejected for being the hot head moron he always was? He’s grown up a lot but tends to do or say dumb things from time to time. Right now he is NOT better than Jones or Edu who is in form. For sure he’s not better than Torres, considering the type of line up and style Klinsmann is looking to play.

    Sure as hell is not better than Holden I will tell you that. Holden is maybe a week or two from starting in his EPL club, you think Bradley will start in 2 weeks?

    Reply
  9. Why the !@#$ would you even type that 2nd paragraph? You’re a tool. This isn’t “Critique Jozy’s Career” This is “Look at This Amazing Goal”

    Tool.

    Reply
  10. Not everybody dribbles like Messi, y’know. Other than Messi, most Barca players are loath to take a defender 1v1, preferring to break their opposition down with tiki-taka.

    Jozy certainly wouldn’t make the bench at Barca, but then again, neither would most of the stars on most CL clubs. But it sure would be nice if Jozy had midfielders on the USMNT who could get him the ball in dangerous positions instead of booting it upfield and leaving him stranded to run at a double-team all by himself.

    Reply
  11. And “wow” is an understatement! His body and his momentum are turned the wrong way, and Jozy just uncorks one!

    Jozy still has a tendency to dribble into double-teams, and he’s not always as good in the air as someone with a target-man’s body ought to be, but make absolutely no mistake: the dude has a howitzer for a right leg.

    Reply
  12. To me, besides the technical aspects of his game which have been discussed at length, Jozy’s primary problem when not up to form is his seeming lack of confidence. He just doesn’t perform well until he’s got that confidence streak in him–then he pulls off goals like this and strings several together.

    Reply
  13. Hull City was just plain horrible…Rooney would have had trouble scoring for them…it matters what the talent around you is….of course you already knew that….right?

    Reply
  14. Dude I’m all for everyone being able to express their opinion and all, BUT YOU ARE CRAZY! You’ve probably posted 10 comments that are the same critique of Jozy on this thread alone. Some of your points make sense, but give it a rest man. Seriouslyyy

    Reply
  15. This is a nice thought but a bit too simplistic. You are placing the blame squarely on the players around Altidore. Altidore is incredibly inconsistent and often lacks the ability to make chances for himself. Sure, he may not be surrounded with technically gifted players all the time, particularly with the USMNT, but that is not the only team that he has struggled to score with. A truly excellent striker makes everyone around him better, not the other way around.

    Reply
  16. No he never will be but you can bet that Klinsi will be mining for talent all over the US. He has to play some politics now and will continue to call up the current garbage ( with a few exceptions) while he slowly builds for 2018. The future looks promising.

    Reply
  17. Where did i say Jozy was technical? I dont watch Barcelona because i cant stomach the diving and b!tching. The fact that you even try to compare him to any Barca player shows how dumb you really are but i would expect that from most bandwagoning fans

    Reply
  18. I can understand the Altidore critics. I really can. At times, he can be a frustrating player to watch. There are certainly parts of his game that need improvement and parts of his game that may never get to where some would like them to be.

    However, its just plain hating to post negative comments on a goal like that, his 6th in 7 games in a very good league (can’t believe the know nothings acting like scoring in the Eredivisie isn’t a big deal).

    Reply
  19. So you would discard Jozy in favor of who?

    Agudelo looks good but hasn’t proven a thing under real pressure yet. His performance at the Gold Cup showed you that he still has a lot to learn.

    At 21, Jozy is just beginnng to get to where he might start turning into a good striker.

    He has all the tools he needs.

    What he has mostly been missing is between his ears. And if he can have a good breakout season then that will come and it tends to build on itself.

    The best thing for striker to do for himself is score goals. Do that and the rest takes care of itself.

    “We need world class to win a WC, that should be the goal!”

    World Class what? Are you saying you need a World class striker (whatever that means) to win a World Cup? France won a World Cup with Guivarich and Dugarry (???) as their main strikers in the latter stages. Henry and Trezueget were there but played behind the other two.

    Winning the Cup requires a deep,solid team that performs solidly and when it needs it, has to be able to get a “world class ” performance, whatever that means, from one or two players. It doesn’t have to be the same ones though it ususally is.

    And it doesn’t have to be the striker.

    Reply
  20. Jozy isn’t world class and probably never will be but he is far and away the best striker we have right now. I am really excited about agudelo he has a lot of potential. Jozy is finally capitalizing on his potential. 6 goals in 7 games in europe is worthy of a little excitement even if its in holland. He should be scoring in that league and he is.

    Reply
  21. i disagree with both of you and think you’re giving him too much credit. agudelo is better positionally than jozy. he looks confused and lost. knew where the 2nd ball would fall? look out for this one we got a comedian on our hands.

    Reply
  22. Yes, from the standpoint of “world class”. He’ll never achieve that status because the foundation isn’t there. We need world class to win a WC, that should be the goal!

    Reply
  23. Reading that old thread, I predicted a dozen goals for Jozy, which I think was a reasonable and healthy number given he was new to the league and club, had not played regularly in a while and coming off a Gold Cup injury, and could once again end up buried on the bench as he had in the past.

    Obviously now I would take the over on that.

    Reply

Leave a Comment