Jozy Altidore could be forgiven for feeling a little pleased with his Hull City FC debut on Saturday - his first touch of the ball in the EPL was an effective if perhaps fortuitous assist for the game-winning goal.
Minutes later he saw his shot power over the opposition goalie but wide of the post. Another chance soon followed but again he was unfortunate not to score. And all this in the half an hour he played after coming on just after the hour mark. Talk about an impact substitution.
Despite only having seen 30 minutes of him play, the Hull City fans were more than pleases with his contribution. The message boards were buzzing with compliments (“Looked brilliant going forward for us and linked well"), comparisons (with Carlton Cole, Emile Heskey and Ruud Van Nistelrooy) and chant suggestions (the most amusing of which was - to the tune of ‘Que Sera Sera’ - “Jozy Altidore/He's magic like Dumbledore/You give him the ball he'll score/Jozy Altidore). Already his Wikipedia entry has dedicated as much detail to his 30 minutes with Hull as it has with his spells at Villareal and Xerez which, for Generation.com, is complimentary indeed..
What was especially promising about Jozy’s debut was the immediate partnership forged with striker Kamel Ghilas (and a goal within one minute of the partnership forming on the pitch is certainly immediate). The players gelled at once, exchanging crisp passes during the game, and enjoying after the game. For a team not renowned for being exotic, Hull City appear to have stumbled upon an American-Algerian partnership that shows much promise.
Hull manager Phil Brown (having previously lambasted his team in a humiliating on-pitch team-talk, and enjoyed some impromptu karaoke) is hardly one to shy away from a bit of drama - and his post-match comments reflected this. "I looked into the whites of his eyes and asked him if he was ready to play". It's fair to say that he was. After visa trouble, a swine flu scare, and a frustrating and barren last 14 months of football, it was clear that Jozy was simply relieved to see things finally click on the pitch.
