By FRANCO PANIZO
When the U.S. Men’s National Team takes on Mexico next Wednesday, it will do so without its top striker.
Jozy Altidore will miss the Americans’ upcoming friendly against Mexico at the Alamodome because of a one-match ban resulting from his ejection in last month’s 1-1 draw with Switzerland, according to a report from Goal.com. Altidore was officially sent off with two yellow cards, not a straight red card, in that match in Zurich because of a foul and foul language directed at the referee, but could have played in the game against El Tri had the U.S. wanted him to.
U.S. Soccer could have, however, faced a fine and forfeited the result if Altidore played, especially if Mexico objected to the forward’s participation.
With the 25-year-old Altidore set to miss the game, Klinsmann will need to find someone else to lead the front line. Captain Clint Dempsey is an option, and so too is the up-and-coming Gyasi Zardes. Other potential candidates to get a look are Chris Wondolowski and Juan Agudelo.
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What do you think of Altidore missing out on the friendly versus Mexico? Who would you like to see start in his place? Think Klinsmann will go with Dempsey up top or someone like Zardes?
Share your thoughts below.
Too bad Terrance Boyd is injured. Live to see him get a start
No big deal. Nice chance for somebody to step up and show they deserve to be in the conversation at a position where we aren’t exactly “spoiled for choice”
The problem is the forwards that need to step up and make the best of their chances are either injured or playing in Europe.
Joz es un cero
Si Joz es un cero Chicharon es un cule..!
“Chicharon es un cule”
so he is a Barcelona supporter?
Maybe Madrid found out and they decided to bench him for the rest of the season.
Anyone know why Jozy was so angry at the ref for so much of the game, and then especially when he got his red card? I couldn’t quite see what was happening around him.
Common opinion is that he was frustrated with the physical play of Swiss defenders and the unwillingness of the ref to call fouls. Essentially, he thought the ref was being a homer.
I wrote this last week on another article, so forgive me is you haveread this already. Jozy was fed up with the inconsistent officiating. Shakira would go down when touched by a blade of grass and get the call. A couple of time sJozy got hit pretty good within a minute of a Shakira act, and get no call. This happened again the the second half. No call, Jozy got up angry pursued the ball like an angry child, purposely clipped the opponent with the ball from behind, and then vented. No other way to say it,but just immaturity. He had reached his boiling point. But all that happened because of inconsistency. Both the Ref and Jozy were incredibly wrong. But only one of them had been kicked, and shoved all game long. Just the opinion of a guy who has acted like an angry child a time or two in his life. I think Jozy was embarassed and said as much after the game. He will probably be grow to be a better player through this.
slowleftarm clearly does not allow people to post similar comments on different articles… so watch out. he might…… comment at you…..
I’m absolutely OK with this!!!!!
with selections like Clint Dempsey, Gyasi Zardes, Juan Agudelo (forwards)
or Joe Corona, Mix Diskerud, Miguel Ibarra, Wil Trapp (Midfielders)
at least we’ll have an attack
Zardes at his natural position.
Done.
+1
yup. although is that his ‘natural’ spot. i see him on the wing for LA a lot too. certainly looks like a striker; but what would his best spot/formation be?
Striker. He gets moved to the wing in the second half, while another striker comes in up top, if LA is trailing.
Except he has not looked international quality either in the Euro games. I think JK just likes players with blond Mohawks… even if they’re not that special
He’s looked rather like what he is to me: A player with plenty of promise/tools just getting his feet wet at the international level with a new system team mates etc. Big part of the whole team looked out of sync during that stretch, yeah? A friendly against a team that sometimes struggles with players of his type…. seems a great opportunity in a game with little real meaning but plenty of atmosphere to gain some needed experience and growth for a guy with a high ceiling in potential/talen.
Or I suppose we could write him off after a brief glimpse because our program is absolutely littered with proven International quality strikers. Sorry, perhaps a bit over the top w/ the sarcasm. Just seems we love to set’em up and knock’em down over night ’round here.
“Or I suppose we could write him off after a brief glimpse because our program is absolutely littered with proven International quality strikers. Sorry, perhaps a bit over the top w/ the sarcasm. Just seems we love to set’em up and knock’em down over night ’round here.”
lol +1
I prefer me some Agudelo.
He’s looked fantastic as of late. Superb technical quality on that goal against Colorado where he trapped the ball in the air with his left and flicked it with his right. That is world class stuff!
Wondo? Why is he even being considered at this point when we need to look for new blood?
Lemme guess, he speaks better German than other US forwards?
For this season — Yes
Last season he mostly played as a LW
i really am not sure what all the confusion is about, at least regarding jozy’s availability for this game.
i thought at first that suspensions don’t carry over in friendlies, but after about 10 (taxpayer-funded) minutes of research, it’s pretty clear that, if it’s a double-yellow, then he’s out for the next friendly; if it’s a direct red, he’s out for (at least) the next 4 friendlies. either way, no mexico for jozy.
I, for one, think that taxpayer money was well-spent!
better than spending it on the hundreds of death row inmates waiting for their last day….
Four games for a straight red? Yikes.
that’s the minimum specifically for misconduct directed at a referee, not just any straight red.
JK should call in Charlie Davies. He is a great striker and is physically fit again.
Wishful thinking. He’s an average MLS striker at this point…simply doesn’t have the elite speed any more that made him good. Impressive that he made it back to this point, but i don’t seem him ever getting back to the MNT.
Charlie is :
1. Lucky to be alive
2. Amazing for having the dedication to make it back this far.
But he’s not really international level at this point.
Hes no Wondo.
Its amazing that people are ignoring the fact that no club has to let any player go to this friendly. since it is not in a FIFA window. Why would a club let their best player(s) go to this game? Nothing in it for them except maybe getting back damaged goods.
JK may end up fielding players from the younger teams to even get a team
For the same reasons Mexican clubs are letting their players go…Their federation asked them to.
This is as clear as mud. Either he “could’ve played in the game vs. El Tri had the U.S. wanted him to”
or the US could have “faced a fine and forfeited the result if Altidore played, especially if Mexico [had] objected to the forward’s participation.” Both statements can’t be true, unless the writer is trying to make the rather silly poinht that Altidore could, in a physical sense, play despite the one-match ban and expose his team to sanctions. Is he banned or not?
i think that is indeed the point: klinsmann could decide that having altidore play in this game is worth both the fine and forfeiture of the game’s result.
i just don’t understand–as i said below–where the initial confusion on all this came from. it’s clearly laid out in fifa regulations for anyone who takes a few minutes to look it up.
yeah the language is really strange. the Goal.com article states:
“FIFA bylaws state that any player receiving a red card in a friendly must sit out his team’s next friendly, with a straight red card in a friendly carrying a four-match suspension.”
so how could the US have let him play? do the bylaws state you can ignore the bylaw but would then be subject to a fine and forfeit if Mexico complained? that seems ridiculous, if true. but it’s FIFA…
Perhaps the point is, by FIfa regs he is suspended but the USA could have played him if they were willing to absorb the fine because who cares if you forfeit a friendly “result” if mexico bothers to object.
for sure…it’s just silly to me. but it’s FIFA.
Also, my guess is that 99% of teams playing friendlies don’t bother to object if their opponent plays someone who got a red card in the last friendly. It’s a glorified training exercise anyway.
4-match ban for a straight-red?! That’s harsh. In friendly terms, that could end up being anywhere from two to six months away from your national team depending on when it happens.
true, but I’m guessing the rationale is that it’s a friendly so no player should be doing things worthy of a straight red.
4 matches is the minimum specifically for misconduct directed at a referee.
but i like DLOA’s idea too: “straight red in a friendly? f–k you, you’re getting 4 matches!”
I am 100% okay with this
Color me surprised. I didn’t think double yellows from friendly matches mattered at all in terms of eligibility for the next game. #learntsomtintoday
TGIF–Thank God it’s a friendly with Mexico.
A friendly game with Mexico is an oxymoron.
Specially when JK has never lost to Mexico.
I guess that’s as good as leaving out Hernandez/Gio/Jimenez/Vela for Mexico…. Take that back… I still would take any of those strikers over Jozy.
I agree. Still, I know I’m in the minority, but I just don’t like Hernandez’ game. He’s scrappy and a good finisher, but I don’t think he has the quality for United or Madrid (especially Madrid).
Totally agree. Not sure why he went to Madrid he could have been starting for any other mid-table club in EPL, La Liga, or Serie A. I think he finally noticed this though, and he’ll move this summer.
He went cause he thought he was good enough. Every Mexican fan would have killed him if he not gone. Just look at the Video game FIFA 2015 he never makes the actual team yet you can tell when you play a Mexican because he always starts. Very laughable!!!!
@ EFX22 Your response is totally irrelevant to the rest of the people who commented. It’s obvious you hate Mexico/Mexicans.
As long as it’s obvious!!
You should read my comment again. Which part was wrong?
He went to Madrid for the same reason Jozy went to Sunderland. To see if he’s good enough
The situations were different though. Jozy was coming off a great season with AZ, while Chicharito was getting sporadic time and was unlikely to beat Van Persie and others for the starting job at ManUtd.
I think you’re right. But in a recent interview he expressed discouragement by his lack of playing time at Madrid, which gave me the impression he hasn’t been eating his humble pie of late. 😉
“Humble pie.”
Easy to say, harder to do.
Humble pie indicates that you give absolute power over to your bosses…who may or may not – probably aren’t, actually – be convinced at how good you are. Keep in mind, with these so-called “elite” teams, any time some bump in the road happens, they are compelled to throw somebody off the sacrificial altar. Which may include some poor sod who hasn’t been starting, hasn’t been playing, hasn’t featured so much as a single minute…but can still be their goat because you weren’t “good” enough. So the answer, obviously, is to replace you with some 40-million-euro player is the flavor of the month.
Get to that level of pressure, and ask me how rational managers, the press, and the public are.
Chicharito has always very much impressed me, every time I’ve seen him featured. Is he Ronaldo? No. Is he Messi? No. He’s not even Suarez, though he is similar. But he is a really durn good player…and if I was, say, LAFC’s manager or GM, I’d be recruiting him. Because he’s one of Mexico’s biggest difference-makers. And call me a non-Eurosnob yokel, that is good enough for me.
Jeremy,
I’m sure you would but are those guys as important to Mexico as Jozy is to the US?
Jozy scores and gives assists consistently with the USMNT.
If he could just become a ball-winner who can possess the ball, hold it up, and distribute…he’d dominate every game he was in.
The hold-up play is what Jozy lacks. Winning 50/50 balls, holding up play, and releasing the wings.
That is funny because when Jozy was at Sunderland he never really scored but when he did play well he was a very good at hold up play.
The reality is there are very few forwards who consistently do it all well,, score and provide the hold up play. Suarez and Lewandoski come to mind.