photo courtesy of Ed van de Pol
By FRANCO PANIZO
There is just no stopping Jozy Altidore at the club level right now and Roda JC Kerkrade were the latest team to find that out.
Altidore delivered what is sure to be a prime candidate for top performance of the Americans Abroad season, scoring a hat-trick and assisting on another goal in a dominant performance in AZ Alkmaar's 4-0 thrashing of Roda on Sunday. Altidore's hat-trick was his first at the club level and second in his career (he scored three goals for the U.S. men's national team in a World Cup qualifier against Trinidad and Tobago in 2009), and it gave him seven goals in five league games this season.
While Altidore's finishing may have been on display in the match, so too were his improved combination play and timely runs. The 22-year-old striker linked up with his teammates well, paving the way for a couple of goals, and he also made good runs to put himself into dangerous positions.
Jose Torres also netted this weekend, scoring the winner in Pachuca's 3-2 victory over Morelia on Friday. The goal, which came off a free kick from a narrow angle on the right flank, gave Pachuca just their second win this season and it was Torres' first tally in league play since the 2010 Clausura campaign.
Clint Dempsey did not find the back of the net, but he did make his Tottenham Hotspur debut on Sunday. Dempsey came off the bench to replace Gareth Bale and he played 12 minutes en route to helping the Spurs close out their 3-1 win against Reading.
Here's how the Americans Abroad did this weekend:
ENGLAND
Premiership
- Tim Howard and Everton play Newcastle United on Monday.
- Brad Friedel started, played 90 minutes and made one save in Tottenham Hotspur's 3-1 win vs. Reading on Sunday.
- Clint Dempsey came off the bench and played 12 minutes for Tottenham Hotspur.
- Brad Guzan started, played 90 minutes and made three saves in Aston Villa's 2-0 win vs. Swansea City on Saturday.
- Eric Lichaj started, played 90 minutes and received a yellow card for Aston Villa.
- Geoff Cameron came off the bench and played five minutes in Stoke City's 1-1 draw vs. Manchester City on Saturday.
- Maurice Edu did not dress for Stoke City.
Championship
- Tim Ream did not dress in Bolton Wanderers' 2-1 win vs. Watford on Saturday.
- Stuart Holden did not dress for Bolton Wanderers. He is recovering from a knee injury.
- Jonathan Spector started and played 90 minutes in Birmingham City's 2-2 draw vs. Nottingham Forest on Saturday.
- Will Packwood did not dress for Birmingham City.
- Conor Doyle started and played 64 minutes in Derby County's 1-0 loss vs. Huddersfield Town on Saturday.
- Robbie Findley did not dress in Nottingham Forest's 2-2 draw vs. Birmingham City on Saturday.
- Zak Whitbread did not dress in Leicester City's 2-1 loss vs. Wolverhampton Wanderers on Sunday.
League One
- Frank Simek started and played 90 minutes in Carlisle United's 2-2 draw vs. Swindon Town on Saturday.
- Robbie Rogers did not dress in Stevenage's 2-2 draw vs. Crewe Alexandra on Saturday.
- Mike Grella dressed but did not play in Scunthorpe United's 1-0 win vs. Shrewsbury Town on Saturday.
SPAIN
La Liga
- Oguchi Onyewu did not dress in Malaga CF's 3-1 win vs. Levante on Saturday.
Segunda Division
- Carlos Bocanega dressed but did not play in Racing Santander's 3-0 win vs. Recreativo Huelva on Saturday.
ITALY
- Michael Bradley did not dress in AS Roma's 3-2 loss vs. Bologna on Sunday. He is recovering from a thigh injury.
GERMANY
Bundesliga
- Steve Cherundolo started and played 90 minutes in Hannover 96's 3-2 win vs. Werder Bremen on Saturday.
- Jermaine Jones started and played 90 minutes in Schalke 04's 2-0 win vs. SpVgg Greuther Furth on Saturday.
- Fabian Johnson started, played 90 minutes and had an ASSIST in TSG 1899 Hoffenheim's 5-3 loss vs. SC Freiburg on Sunday.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I-H7qjKf3Lo?feature=player_detailpage]
- Danny Williams started and played 90 minutes for TSG 1899 Hoffenheim.
- Timmy Chandler started and played 90 minutes in FC Nurnberg's 3-2 win vs. Borussia Moenchengladbach on Saturday.
- David Yelldell did not dress in Bayer Leverkusen's 3-0 loss vs. Borussia Dortmund on Saturday.
2. Bundesliga
- Alfredo Morales did not dress in Hertha Berlin's 2-0 win vs. VfR Aalen on Sunday.
- John Anthony Brooks dressed but did not play for Hertha Berlin.
- Andrew Wooten dressed but did not play in SV Sandhausen's 1-1 draw vs. Dynamo Dresden on Saturday.
- Joe Gyau and St Pauli play FC Cologne on Monday.
NETHERLANDS
- Jozy Altidore started, played 90 minutes and scored THREE GOALS and had an ASSIST in AZ Alkmaar's 4-0 win vs. Roda JC Kerkrade on Sunday.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XjL1POnIVEE?feature=player_detailpage]
PORTUGAL
- Tony Taylor and G.D. Estoril Praia did not play this weekend.
- Caleb Patterson-Sewell and Vitoria Setubal FC did not play this weekend.
BELGIUM
- Sacha Kljestan started and played 90 minutes in RSC Anderlecht's 1-1 draw vs. Lierse on Saturday.
RUSSIA
- Eugene Starikov did not dress in FC Rostov's 1-0 win vs. Dinamo Moscow on Sunday.
AUSTRIA
- Terrence Boyd started and played 67 minutes in Rapid Vienna's 0-0 draw vs. FC Trenkwalder Admira on Saturday.
DENMARK
- Michael Parkhurst started, played 90 minutes and helped create an own goal in FC Nordsjaelland's 2-1 loss vs. FC Copenhagen on Saturday.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RymUNIhmNPo?feature=player_embedded]
- Clarence Goodson started and played 90 minutes in Brondby IF's 2-2 draw vs. AC Horsens on Sunday.
- Conor O'Brien started and played 90 minutes in SonderjyskE's 2-0 loss vs. Silkeborg IF on Saturday.
- Charlie Davies came off the bench and played 31 minutes in Randers FC's 4-0 loss vs. Aalborg BK on Sunday.
SWEDEN
- Alejandro Bedoya did not dress in Helsingborgs IF's 4-0 win vs. GIF Sundsvall on Saturday.
- Brian Span dressed but did not play in Djurgardens IF's 3-0 loss vs. AIK on Sunday.
NORWAY
- Josh Gatt did not dress in Molde FK's 1-0 win vs. Haugesund on Saturday. He is recovering from a hamstring injury.
- Steve Clark started and played 90 minutes in Honefoss BK's 2-2 draw vs. Viking on Sunday.
- Mix Diskerud started and played 90 minutes in Rosenborg BK's 3-0 win vs. Valerenga on Sunday.
- Sean Cunningham did not dress in Stabaek IF's 2-1 win vs. Odd Grenland on Sunday.
- Chad Barrett started and played 56 mintues in Valerenga's 3-0 loss vs. Rosenborg BK on Sunday.
MEXICO
- Jose Torres started, played 71 minutes and scored a GOAL in Pachuca's 3-2 win vs. Morelia on Friday.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FndPfcwSg4o?feature=player_embedded]
- Herculez Gomez came off the bench and played 22 minutes in Santos Laguna's 2-0 loss vs. Club America on Saturday.
- Hector Joya dressed but did not play for Santos Laguna.
- DaMarcus Beasley started and played 90 minutes in Puebla's 3-2 loss vs. Monterrey on Sunday.
- Jonathan Bornstein did not dress in Tigres UANL's 2-0 win vs. Cruz Azul on Saturday.
- Michael Orozco Fiscal dressed but did not play in San Luis' 1-0 win vs. Pumas UNAM on Sunday.
- Edgar Castillo started and played 90 minutes in Club Tijuana's 2-1 win vs. Atlante on Sunday.
- Joe Corona came off the bench and played 25 minutes for Club Tijuana.
- Greg Garza dressed but did not play for Club Tijuana.
- Ventura Alvarado did not dress in Club America's 2-0 win vs. Santos Laguna on Saturday.
——-
What do you think of these performances? Think Altidore will be bought by a bigger club next summer if he keeps this up? Impressed with Torres' free kick finish? Do you see Dempsey breaking into the Spurs' starting lineup next week?
Share your thoughts below.
Most of the guys mentioned have not been bad for their national teams, they just haven’t played up to the incredible expectations.
Fans don’t get that Manchester United is a better team than England, Real Madrid is better than Portugal and Barcelona is is much better than Argentina. It’s a team game.
Over the course of his career Jozy has been good to outstanding for the US.
Most of those who refer to him as lazy are too lazy to look up his record.
He had a great Confederations Cup, played very well in the World Cup and had he not been injured in this last Gold Cup, maybe Mexico does not beat us in the final.
With JK coming in and changing stuff up he has yet to make the transition but that will happen sooner or later; Jozy is way too talented. JK just needs to figure out how best to use him.
It’s interesting that when he was not playing that much for his clubs he did well for the US but now that he is much more successful at the club level it is almost as if his club committments have risen dramatically and interfere a bit with his USMNT committments.
Certainly Verbeek hates JK’s guts, which never helps.
His game does seem to translate better at club level. Of course he always played better when you he was on the field with LD, bradley and Deuce. I do agree that sucks and lazy no longer apply to Jozy.
Podolski scored something like 32 goals for a bad Cologne team the last two seasons before his transfer to Arsenal.
This notion that he plays badly for his club while playing well for Germany is BS.
Seriously?
Defense is something that can be coached into a team. Attacking instinct is a lot harder to develop. You can always find someone to defend, finding someone who knows how to attack is another story.
The Eredvisie produces many outstanding soccer players period.
Great attacking players like Sneijder, Van De Vaart, Van Persie, Van Nistelrooy, Huntelaar, Suarez, Rondaldo, Romario, Staap, Robben, all guys who, when they were in the Eredivisie would have started for the USMNT in a hearbeat.
Holland’s best players, attackers and defenders, mostly all graduate and play abroad. And there are enough of them to get Holland to the World Cup final in 2010 and keep Holland a regular contender.
So regardless of your perception that a lack of defensive orientation is a flaw, the Eredivise has a proven record of teaching prospects how to be outstanding soccer players. Jozy has improve dramatically in Holland because of that and any US player defender, or attacker or otherwise would benefit from playing in Holland with a team like AZ that stresses developing the soccer instinct of their players.
If you think the Dutch do not know how to defend or how to teach their players to defend you are sadly misinformed.
Jozy makes me happy.
he is not a spring chicken and does not play the way that would attract a long line of suitors
why isn’t guido listed?
+1
trolling level: pedestrian
2/10
He’ll definitely be in the mix for minutes once he returns. De Rossi has one of three midfield slots on lock, and Pjanic is usually a starter as well. Competition is a young Florenzi (who has started very well), Tachtsidis (who IMO has great potential is more defensively oriented and still needs a little polish), and Marquinho, who seems to be more of a utility guy. Bradley will be fine once he’s healthy.
” I always felt that Damien Duff could score so many more goals if Clint would just look up.”
Well, we shall see this year, right?
Something tells me Fulham was better off last year with Clint going nuts scoring goals last year than Damien Duff “finding his goals”.
I really don’t and never have seen Clint as a playmaker that distributes. He’s a poacher, a striker, a forward that’s been placed in the midfield.
What’s the goal conversion rate from the Eredivsie goals to leagues that actually play defense?
I’m kidding…
…but seriously.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GixhRG5PK_Y
Yea this kid is awful for the nats
Name a better 22 year old American ever. If you can’t then saying he sucks is meaningless because you have nothing compare him with. Honestly what in the world are you looking for? Dempsey played pretty bad that game too, but you dont want him benched. Altidore has a proven record for the nats.
The thing that impresses you about Jozy this year is that these are bunches of “real” goals–good forward thinking runs, playing off his teammates, quick passing, good control, good placement decisions, not the kind of opportunistic mop up stuff or lucky low percentage makes that you see from some strikers or goal scoring mids. You can really see, maybe for the first time, how complete and polished a player he will turn out to be with chemsitry and quality around him.
Jozy will be the first world class American forward.
The lack of creativity and quality service from our MF is the problem. Let alone the insanity of starting three defensive mids.
Actually all of those players play well at the international level. Every game they are clearly the best or one of the best players on the field, creating the most chances. But people who only know how to count goals and not see anything else think that they’re bad
watching that AZ highlight video… man Dutch is one funny sounding language. That broadcaster sounds like that Chef muppet character
Agreed. Just look at his career assist totals: between Fulham and the US, he scored 72 goals over the past 4 years, and produced only 18 assists. Primarily as a midfielder. It’s a weakness in his game.
Exactly. The problem in the Jamaica match was the midfield was so atrocious that every time Jozy tried to lay off, no one would risk coming forward with him. Coupled with the fact Clint was dead on his feet from 30mins on.
Never said Lloris isn’t. But I think their plan is to be patient bringing him into the 1st team.
The pass across on the 2nd goal from him was sharp as well. Don’t know if he got an assist on that, but should’ve.
Of course, you listen to Balboa and Schoen, and those ‘one-touch’ layoffs are bad plays. *facepalm*
Brad is the starter for the time being, but I expect Lloris to win the job by December. He really is good.
Jozy is excelling when the midfield comes up in numbers to play off of him. if we have our full strength squad out jozy will find goals. bradley sweeping behind will free up our guys to move forward. demps can play like Elm, i presume.
They said it would be 2-3 weeks.
Actually, I think TH has it right.
Play Friedel this season and let Lloris settle into the EPL and play in Cup competitions. Then let Brad retire and start Lloris next season.
Or maybe the issue is the general lack of service when he’s played as a lone striker. Nah. Easier to just say it’s his fault.
Wrong. But easier.
I love Clint Dempsey, but I’m going to say it…he stifles the offense. I watch almost all of Clint’s games and I will agree he is tenacious in the box and very technically sound on the ball; however, he sometimes gets so selfish that he misses out on opportunities to make those around him better.
Again, I’m one of the largest Clint Dempsey fans, but I rarely see him returning the ball to a forward when it is dropped back to him (e.g. Jozy’s first goal). I understand a scorer has to have confidence and always want to score, but too many times I saw his Fulham teammates look disgusted when he didn’t pick out the simple, open, goal imminent pass. I always felt that Damien Duff could score so many more goals if Clint would just look up.
I’m truly hoping as he ages that he maintains his killer instinct in the box but develops into an even more impressive playmaker. I really think that is what the US needs going into this next World Cup (if we make it ofcourse).
Thoughts
the game is on ESPN3 replay so those who missed it can see the entire 90 minutes. The second goal was a shot across the goal that one of his team mates scored. The fact that Jozy shot for the far post shows understanding of the game. Herc would have aimed for the near post.(LOL)
Why do people think he plays badly at the international level?
All of the games in May-June and the first Jamaica game he was either not fit because of AZ’s Curacao excursion or getting zero service, sure he didn’t play well but it was 15 minutes when we were already winning and he was asked to Conner Casey it. That makes him a bad international player?
What about his incredible interchange with Clint against Italy?
Or the fact that he single handily prevented us from being embarrassed against Guadalupe last summer with an absolute blast?
Or the fact that he jerked around not just Joan Capdevilla but also Iker Casillas?
Or that he’s already the 10th leading scorer in USMNT history despite having a bad club situation until last year at age 22?
Somebody mentioned this somewhere else, when Bradley and he both start (e.g. there is service) he has a goal and an assist.
Jozy looked a little like Thierry Henry out there. If he can develop that kind of understanding with his USMNT mates, we might really have something there.
Cristiano Ronaldo, messi, lukas podolski does the reverse
To bad he sucks at National team level.
So Jozy belongs in the list of great club players who underachieve at the international level. With Wayne Rooney as company, that’s not necessarily a bad group to hang with. Who else is in that group?
Actually, Friedel is helping them.
If Lloris is such a baby that he can’t take a little competition from an old , washed up keeper like Brad then maybe he isn’t that tough. Surely, the finest that France has to offer can beat out a man old enough to be his dad?
If not then what is he doing starting for a World Cup contender?
Lloris is France’s starting GK.
What’s the connection?
Jozy with two niiice left footers in his hat-trick. Looks like he’s having fun out there!
23 to go….
So thankful Ernie Stewart got him to AZ. Wish he could have got him right from Red Bulls.
aron johansson for aab in denmark. leading the league in goals so far. same as jozy.
Anyon know when bradley will be fit to play for roma? When he’s healthy does he figure to get significant minutes?
Is it time for Gomez to move to another club?
Brad Friedel may play a part in hurting the French chances in qualifying for the WC
Id like him to stay another season at Alkmaar but with more performances like that some big EL clubs will come for hin. Like a Stuttgart or Werder Bremen or a Bordeaux
Too bad the US midfield blows
Boardwalk Empire new episodes start. New eps of Community and The Walking Dead start in a month
Top scorer in Eredivisie. 3rd Man of the Match performance in 5games
Look what Jozy does when you have a midfield that works for/with him.
Wow, great job by Jozy. Where can I see the goals?