photo by Greg M. Cooper/USA Today Sports
By FRANCO PANIZO
Jozy Altidore was issued a red card while playing for the U.S. Men’s National Team earlier this year for berating an official.
He was sent off again on Saturday. This time with Toronto FC. This time for a different reason.
Altidore was ejected in the 39th minute of Toronto FC’s 3-1 road defeat to the New England Revolution for kicking out at centerback Jose Goncalves. The 25-year-old forward was jostling for position with Goncalves, but appeared displeased with the physical marking and frustratingly kicked out at the Revolution defender before receiving his marching orders from referee Chris Penso.
The red card came four minutes after New England had taken the lead, and severely handicapped Toronto’s chances at pulling off a comeback. TFC fell behind, 3-0, before pulling one back late.
The ejection, which comes a couple weeks after he was dropped from the U.S. during the CONCACAF Gold Cup, is also Altidore’s second this year. He was sent for an early shower back in March when the U.S. played Switzerland in a friendly. That was his first ejection at the international level. Altidore had previously seen red at AZ Alkmaar and Hull City, but not during his two MLS tenures until Saturday.
You can see the play that led to Altidore’s ejection below:
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What do you think about Altidore getting sent off in Toronto FC’s loss to the Revolution? Starting to grow concerned?
Share your thoughts below.
Hamstring injuries will make any player a head case.
Go all out and you risk your career. Fernando Torres was never the same player after a series of hamstring injuries. Do we forget John O’Brien? (Some of you probably don’t). A really good defender at the Chicago Fire had his career end because of persistent hamstring injuries.
Jozy has had 2 in the past year. He probably is a head case.
Seriously this is about soccer not politics. I am a black man but when I play soccer I am with my mates as one of the “boys and if I am cut I also bleed red as one of my guys/ mates boys do..” so please get over it. Furthermore this B/S is simply put out by white liberals who try and make themselves feel good by being ultra sensitive to us backs. guess what we are smarter than that! So when I am on the soccer field I am a boy.. Just as Jozy is a still an immature boy who makes mistakes. Do we not call our US Girls ..Girls..? ENOUGH ALREADY Go back to MSNBC or whatever hole you came from. This is about soccer
Good job Boy! Way to set those liberals in place.
To put everything in perspective, here’s some top scorers in goals / 90 minutes this season so far (minimum 1000 minutes).
Larin – 0.95
Keane – 0.78
Villa – 0.74
Kamara – 0.69
Giovinco – 0.68
Altidore – 0.60
Sapong / Adi / Bruin – 0.57
Dempsey – 0.55
Wondo – 0.53
Which to me says, that he’s not in great form but he’s not in terrible form. If he was in “elite” form, he’d have 9 goals instead of his 7 goals (would be a 0.78 g/90)
He does need to stay on the field though.
+1, i brought up this exact same stat when he was sent home from the GC, people were acting like he was sent home AND having a bad club season when club-wise he’s been solid at the least.
poetic that he has the highest Gls/90 rate of any American in MLS
smh, DOZY ANTISCORE just wanted to get sent off early cause he’s too lazy to play a whole game, imo.
The Jozy discussion is moot actually. He’ll pull another hamstring because he’s too lazy to warm up and stretch and do the work properly to be a success on the pitch. It’s just a matter of time. Klinnsman hung all hopes on this immature lazy kid seemingly forever, and as it showed in the WC, to the MNT’s disadvantage. I’m glad he got sent home from the GC disaster and I don’t root for him in the MLS. I’m just done with this oversized child.
u mad bro?
Davis, Lennon…… Nah, I’m thrilled bro. However it will get easy to get mad if JK continues to feature Jozy again.
here’s what’s comical about the whole Jozy discussion:
If i said an MLS DP Striker will score in half his games while getting one red card would you say he’s a good or bad player? If i added that he was the 2nd best striker on his team with the clear number one being an ex-top-4-league-playing european player? how about if i said he scored in half his games while suffering an injury and easing his minutes from the bench after injury yet still averaging essentially 1 every 2 games in total?
Adu is 26, has 183 club appearances with 27 goals and 17 caps with 2 goals.
His many SBI fans will tell you he still has time to “salvage” his career and lead the US to a World Cup final.
Jozy is 25 has 247 club appearances with 84 goals and 83 caps with 27 goals but his many fans on SBI will write him off because he gets a red card as if no one has ever gotten one.
This says more about Jozy’s many SBI “fans” than it says about Jozy.
“His many SBI fans will tell you he still has time to “salvage” his career and lead the US to a World Cup final.”
Hyperbole much? I haven’t seen many Adu fans around these parts, much less claiming he’s gonna lead the USMNT to glory in a pretty long time. Most of the posts are people (including you) hammering the Adu for being a bust.
“I haven’t seen many Adu fans around these parts, much less claiming he’s gonna lead the USMNT to glory in a pretty long time”
Then you aren’t paying attention. I don’t hammer Adu. I criticize the fans who place their delusional expectations on him.
“Then you aren’t paying attention.”
I did a quick search for “Adu” on SBI. I looked at the last five articles on him. The Adu fans wished him well hoping he could find success at the NASL level. Approximately two comment mentioned wanting Adu to find his way back to the national team by 2018, and both times the OP was attacked for thinking that. But I guess I’m not paying attention.
GW, +1, but even on a smaller scale of just this season where he has 8 goals in 16 games yet one red card and it’s a bad season?. on pace for 16 goals and 2 red cards and that’s a throw away season? lol people can be funny.
Or just IGNIRANT! LOL
I was at the game last night and got to see the whole thing first hand. I will also say I am not a Joze fan at all.
He deserved the straight red. He tried to kick a player that was on the ground… end of story. He may not liked the fact that he was being played physically by Gonzales but taking the matter into his own hands never works as we saw. Getting by that, I watched Joze carefully while he was still in the game and have to say, he didnt do very much. It seemed as the game went on, he kept drifting wider and deeper and basically took himself out of the game. When he did get the ball… one touch …two touches…pass off. No shots, no going at the defense, really zero impact on the game. Charlie Davies totally outplayed Jozy in every aspect of the game. I don’t for the life of me understand what Klinsmann sees in Jozy? Maybe sending him home from the Gold Cup is the beginning of the end of Jozy’s NAT career.
“I don’t for the life of me understand what Klinsmann sees in Jozy?”
not entirely sure, but it’s probably the 27 goals in 83 games, and being one of our top-scorers (and top assisters) ever at the age of 25. maybe. i don’t know.
He can’t live his paper stats forever. He’s a garbage goal player, has always been a poacher and will only be worse going forward. Davies is twice the player Jozy is but im beginning to think he’s been black balled by US Soccer
“he’s been black balled by US Soccer”
Why?
because he went on a drunken bender back in October 2009 the ended with one person dead and another person in jail.
Or it could be that he did not represent the crest well in a moment when he should’ve been an absolute professional at the end of a World Cup qualifying campaign.
Or because he “allegedly “had a pissy attitude when you came back to play for DC United
any of those things will be decent enough reasons… Not that I think any of them should keep him from the US national team. I was actually disappointed that you’re in class but did not call him in for the gold cup.
Davies has 12 goals in 41 MLS appearances.
Be interesting to see where this goes. Jozy can be very good when he’s on, but he can also be a bit of a hothouse flower and wilt when he’s struggling, and he appears to be extremely hot-and-cold, still.
Making that jump from Talented Youngster to Consistent Professional Who Brings It Every Game is tough and it definitely appears he’s struggling with it. At 25, with the kind of investment TFC and both the USMNT, he still has time…a little. But he’d better start getting on with it if he’s going to.
Is he going to be another Clint Dempsey, or another Eddie Johnson?
Dunno. Guess we’ll see.
I guess getting a red card means his career is over.
Time to retire right?
haha right? people act like one red card negates his 8 goals in 16 games (a quarter of games as a sub after injury).
not to mention, in at least half of any week’s games there is a play where a player acts unprofessionally with a ‘sly’ cheap shot. some times the ref sees it, some times he doesn’t. it doesn’t mean said player is the worst player alive… except for Blas Perez, he plays ‘fifa street’
Not at all.
He’s always been hot-and-cold, and when he’s cold, he’s ice-cold. You can deal with that in a younger guy but you’d like to see increasing maturity and consistency and I haven’t seen that from him yet.
He’s 25, which means he still has a little time, but he’s also nearing that stage where he’d better start getting consistency or his career could take a major downward trajectory. When you start hitting 26 or 27 and you’re still up and down and all over, owners, coaches, and teammates stop having patience for it.
All I was saying. I still hope he comes good on all his promise, and I’m still rooting for him.
Never expected his form to dip lower than his ell days after returning to mls.
Kicking out while he was wearing the armband makes it feel even more embarrassing.
Compared to young Jozy, it seems like his attitude has gotten worse as he’s gotten older.
not saying i totally disagree with your point but scoring 8 in 16 is worse than his ell days? how so?
he was frustrated from gonclaves hanging on his back so he lashed out; unprofessional for sure but that doesn’t negate the quietly solid season he’s had so far in MLS. basically this bad mark doesn’t make it “more embarrassing” rather it just puts a small blemish on his season (he’s not the only player to get a red card… lol)
i do miss ‘young Jozy’ thought, lol. i feel like he matured into a ‘less is more’ striker role rather than the ambitious youth that he was. he still has BY FAR the strongest shot on the team but its like he’s trying to emulate ‘current form dempsey’ with the patient minimal running. it may have had something to do with moving to a clear central role while adding upper body mass. as a youth he was great as a LW/wide-LS.
though* not ‘thought’
hmmmm
one starts to wonder
at a certain point it becomes about attitude and drive
klinsmnn obviously had it. people like gerrard and keane and dempsey and costa and aguero have it.
what bout jozy? remember his hull city coach saying “its up to him but he’ll hve every opportunity”.
“remember his hull city coach saying “its up to him but he’ll hve every opportunity”.”
that is stock response from a coach about most all players
Hull also sucked a$$ through a coffee straw that year, and it’s hard when you’re a striker and your team sucks… not much opportunity as one would think. In all seriousness though, I’m concerned about Jozy and hopefully he can turn it around. I think people come down on him too hard, tbh. When he’s on his game and confident he can score goals and be a good player for the USMNT, but when he’s not he is pretty terrible.
Can we trade Jozy to Canada for Kyle Larin ?
you sure sound educated….. (its “Cyle” by the way…)
Jozy is**
Nail coffin.
I’ve kept the faith as long as possible, and tried to rationalize his failures but it’s becoming apparent Jozy a headcase and not a viable option for the USMNT
“Diving and theatrics will eventually catch up with you”….it’s called Karma
This boy needs to slim down.
I don’t know about your intentions, but what you wrote sure sounds racist.
Maybe I’m ignorant to the world, but I don’t get it? Was there a racial undertone there? If so, please let me know what it was.
I am guessing it’s due to using the term “boy”
I don’t know what I hate more – people that are overly sensitive about racism or racists.
Racists.
yeah, that was an easy one.
also, i guess this needs to be explained for the kids out there:
“boy” was a common denigrating term that white people would call black men (even men older than themselves!) as a way of asserting superiority over them.
although “boy” isn’t a bad word per se, even when applied to black kids (based on context and tone, of course), it’s good to avoid calling black men “boy”, as it is racially loaded due to its historic use.
Nate Dollars,
On the other hand it is good to remember that players from Europe often refer to their teamates as “the boys” as in “it is good to get back with my boys” or “the boys”.
Jermaine Jones frequently refers to his USMNT teammates this way and Gerrard also speaks that way about his teammates.
I don’t think there is evidence that either player is a racist.
GW,
as i was saying (vaguely), it depends on the speaker and the subject. if the subject is a group of men that are not exclusively black (which applies to the vast majority of soccer teams), then you’d have a hard time claiming racism. and even if the entire group is black: if the speaker is black, then again, proooobably not racist.
Nate,
“if the speaker is black, then again, proooobably not racist.”
When it comes to defining racism, there are some who believe that the only definition of a racist is someone who is prejudiced against black people.
However, look at the definition of racist:
“Noun 1. racist – a person with a prejudiced belief that one race is superior to others
bigot – a prejudiced person who is intolerant of any opinions differing from his own
Adj. 1. racist – based on racial intolerance; “racist remarks”
racial – of or characteristic of race or races or arising from differences among groups; “racial differences”; “racial discrimination”
2. racist – discriminatory especially on the basis of race or religionracist – discriminatory especially on the basis of race or religion
Black people or anyone else , brown, yellow, white, purple,green, blue, technicolor, etc.,etc. are all perfectly capable of engaging in racist behavior or being racist.
yes GW, i’m one who believes that black people can be racist as well as white people. notice that i avoided any absolutes in my last comment: sure, it’s *possible* that a black person referring to a group of black men as “boys” could be racist, but i’d argue it’s much less likely, and certainly doesn’t have the negative connotation, as a white person referring to a group of black men as “boys”.
Nate,
“ sure, it’s *possible* that a black person referring to a group of black men as “boys” could be racist, but i’d argue it’s much less likely, and certainly doesn’t have the negative connotation,”
You are arguing that black people are less likely to be racist. Slippery slope there.
GW,
no, i am not arguing that “black people are less likely to be racist”. i’m saying that it’s less likely for a black person to be racist to other black people than it is for a white person to be racist to black people.
it kind of feels like you’re just trying to wind me up now; if so, well played.
jozy Antigoal is a disgrace…
we the racist spew towards Jozy?