Jozy Altidore is adjusting just fine to life in the Dutch First Division, earning the start and scoring two goals today in AZ Alkmaar's 4-0 blowout win vs. NEC Nijmegen.
Altidore opened the scoring with a header, then helped draw a penalty, and capped the star performance with his third goal of the season off a perfect run and finish.
Here are Altidore's goals:
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BAa-OCCGdzw] [youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J8W27zetLgU]
His first goal for AZ was as crafty as they come. He is going to develop into a great player.
This.
OMG… if Shea smart he’ll sign in the EPL in 2014. all you folks in such a hurry to see these young players hit a brick wall.
Agudelo Altodore Bradley and Shea all have it in them to make it in the EPL, as long as they arrive there in form and when they are ready.
Not to be a downer, but Eredivise is a league where players score a sh– load of goals.
Eredivise – 3.23 goals per match
Bundesliga 2.92 goals per match
EPL —— 2.8 goals per match
La Liga — 2.74 goals per match
Turkey SuperLig 2.74 goals per match
No Joe Gyau or Kelyn Rowe?
Garza might make that team due to his Left back skills!
Mwanga might be available as well?
If you watch the full highlights on youtube (someone posted above)he’s in the mix all game. Had two other nice shots on goal – a long range strike and a header, and had a nice pass that lead to red card and a converted penalty. Some touches/passes in midfield weren’t the best, but really looked to be dominating around the box, using his superior athleticism and moving with intelligence and purpose. I like
Ehmm… it doesn’t take a genius to see that Chandler is ridiculously talented. I wouldn’t be surprised to see him at Bayern Munich or Werder in a couple of years.
We need to bring the 3 best overage players we can.
We have:
Altidore, Adu, Agudelo, Bunbury
Shea, Gil, Diskeruud, Gatt, Duka, Corona, Gavin, Okugo
Chandler, Williams, White, Valentin, Kitchen
Bill Hamid, Sean Johnson
We should take 3 of: Bradley, Donovan, Dempsey, Howard
And try to win a world title. I didn’t think we were that far off last time.
Actually I am thinking it does since players from Wales and Scotland were having issues with playing for Great Britain and whether or not that would tie them to England, I think FIFA made an exception for them. I think it was over whether or not Bale would be able to play for Great Britain in the Olympics
I have seen Jozy play much since he’s been with New York
This has always been true. Even when he was in a scoring slump.
Not just a good game but MAN OF THE MATCH!!!!!! This is what its all about…
I’m giving you a +1 just for being named biff and using “by golly” in your post.
Bradley’s limbo has absolutely nothing to do with the level of play in the Eredivisie.
lol, unfortunately I was thinking the same thing.
Can we cap-tie in the Olympics? I’m under the impression we can’t b/c it’s mostly used as a U23 event.
Not to hijack the thread, but we need to level our expectations for Chandler. The kid had two good games, both of which were friendlies. I’ve been trying, unsuccessfully so far, to watch him with his club, but let’s not completely sell ourselves on him yet.
Send all our players to Dutch league….
But then again Bradley owned the league a few years back. …now nobone wants him.
Maybe the quality just isn’t there anymore.
Youtube link to nice quality highlights:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fAv5NVFCZO0
Cap him!
…wait.
Unfortunately, it may very well be their best team ever too.
AJ is soo right about that. We should send our young players in the Dutch and Turkey league first before they make the move to EPL or the top 4
Well, I didn’t predict 25 goals, but, by golly, I said after the Gold Cup that his two goals were excellent and that he was playing poised and confident and hungry, that great things will happen if he keeps working hard. I think he went to Turkey a boy and worked his a– off and didn’t give up and came back a man. Cannot wait to see him play Sept. 6 against Belgium under Klinsmann. Exciting to think about Jozy up front supported by Shea, Dempsey and Donovan, and maybe paired with Agudelo and who knows what other surprises Klinsi has in store.
By the way, Silver, not calling out your comment. Just thinking out loud about why he’s looking ready for success.
I think that Jozy has looked lost on the field since the Confed Cup. It is good that he has started turning up in good spots. He is a great athlete and can strike the ball as hard as anyone. I know; at the USMNT training before the WC, he took a shot that missed, but hit the cement wall behind the goal and inches from my head, had it hit me, I would not be typing this.)
Let’s hope the being in good spots was not an accident, but due to the development of his soccer brain.
Defenders generally seem to take longer to develop the smarts that are so important to good defending (maybe because, it is more difficult to learn the nuance required to read a variety of attackers). The young guys who have seen some time on the USMNT all need to continue the development of their soccer brains before they will be ready and before any of us will be very comfortable with them.
The key, in my opinion anyways, isn’t so much that he’s just scoring, it’s that he’s filling the holes in his game. That includes his finishing ( check ), touch, passing, use of his body, work rate, stamina, and, possibly above all, his movement. I’d say those things are really growing, and I was impressed with his movement on his goal against PSV. That’s really what it’s all about as a young player – growing and filling in the holes in your game. Hopefully Jozy is finally doing that.
+1
espn3 does 2 games a week.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eredivisie#Media_coverage
I’m going to obnxiously remind everyone after every Jozy goal that my preseason rediction was 25 goals, from all competitions.
22 to go. 🙂
(And yes, I’m well aware that no one cares.)
Yes, he’ll go to the Olympics without taking up a senior spot, as will other exciting prospects like Timothy Chandler, Freddy Adu, Mikkel Diskerud.
The Olympics could really be the USA’s time to shine 🙂
People over estimate what a coach can dowith technical ability, especially in a short time. I think it’s more of instilling confidence and giving him tactical assignments that suit his abilities. (This was in particular NOT the case at Hull, and very often with the Nats.)
Yeah, part of the problem is MLS’s reluctance (and rightfully so) to sell budding stars which means the right developmental fit isn’t usually the team that is willing to shell out big money.
Supposedly sold somewhere between 10-12k for that game. Hard to tell how many actually showed up in spite of the heat since everyone is clustered in the shady areas.
This is great. Jozy has always had the skill, now he’s getting the time and the coaching. I know you’re reading this Jozy – keep it up! Hey, does anyone know what network if any carry the Dutch league games.
Great to see him score both a high effort goal and on a cold finish. Should do wonders for his confidence.
Ask yourself — would you like your team to have to play against him? For me, the answer is (and has been) a clear no. He’s too much of a handful. And that’s about all the assessment you need.
Finally. He’s getting playing time, playing well, and scoring goals.
Now, with our Yank Abroad luck next week should be when he f^^^^s his ACL, yeah?
Now think of how Altidore would have developed if he had went there in the beginning.
Honestly, unless you’re a bit more mature (like Brek Shea’s age) you should head directly to the Dutch to develop your skills for Europe.
I just popped on to the MLS website and saw that Portland is doing a live webstream of their reserve league game vs. Vancouver today. I started watching and it looks like there’s at least 5000 people at Jeld-Wen to watch the game. Impressive!
One 3rd of the way there to get to the elusive double digit scoring in 1 season.
I was hoping for and predicted 12 goals, but he’s one 4th of the way there for that goal.
If he could score 15 or 16-18 goals, it would be GREAT for his confidence heading into early stages of WC qualifying next Summer and even the Olympics? He will be eligible as he’s 22 right now so he’ll fall under the 23 and under category without taking up one of the 3 senior player spots?
I hope Adu gets it together in Philly, Nowak needs to start Adu on the wing instead of Keon Daniel or Mapp if you ask me, actually I don’t get why Roger Torres doesn’t get more time at Left mid, wondering if he was suspended for yesterday’s game vs CLB?
The coach at Alkmaar has done wonders with Jozy’s finishing ability. I haven’t seen Jozy finish like that since he played for New York. Hopefully Jozy can continue to mature and improve as a striker.
Great stuff Jozy, keep up the good work.
You know what you have in Donovan and Dempsey. Klinsmann is going to have quite a chore in sorting out the crowded MF.
The back line is a whole nother issue in and of itself. Although I am optimistic with Lichaj and Chandler.
I think the people that were/are going nuts about Mexico’s rise are going to be suprised. The 2014 team we field could/should be our best team ever.
+1.. Those guys will definitely be critical going forward
I will add Adu and Bradley to this comment. IMO … three of the four most important players in 2014. My fourth is Brek Shea. Whom looks like a stud (and probably will be playing in the Prem shortly).
Lost in a sea of fog and NATS hypermanic delusion.
Where are the “out-the-door” commenters now?
I have been saying this for a long time … Altidore is one of our most important players and his progress will be critical to our success in Brazil in 2014.
I think he is going to surprise a lot of people …
Great for Altidore! It would be hard not to start him in the next game after this performance.
very nice
3 goals 3 games no?