Jozy Takes Another Small Step

Monday, February 08, 2010 | View Comments
Hull City vs Manchester City

Finally, Jozy Altidore has scored in the English Premier League. After eighteen matches with Hull City, the young American striker put his name on the score sheet for the first time in Saturday's win over Manchester City.


More than the goal itself, what should be encouraging for USMNT fans only five months ahead of the World Cup is Altidore's overall improvement; his size and strength give him an advantage over almost any defender he faces, but it's more subtle things like Altidore's movement to the right place at the right time (which he did on the goal) that indicate that his time in England has been fruitful.


To state the obvious, a striker's job is to score goals. Altidore hadn't done that in the Premiership to this point (he did have a cup tally), making many fans a little nervous. The last thing the United States can afford in South Africa is an attacking player with no confidence. If Altidore can turn his first into several more, it will quickly eliminate questions over his move to England.


Altidore is still very young, very raw, and only beginning to tap his potential. Barring a catastrophic injury or poor attitude, there's no reason to believe that he won't only get better. Phil Brown's confidence in him is also heartening; with Hull fighting for every point to avoid dropping down, Brown could easily go with a more proven player in Jozy's spot.


As I wrote after Altidore's first appearance for Hull, there's a real possibility that he could be the player American kids come to idolize. Nothing is easy, and rarely, at least for Americans, does development and the fulfillment of potential follow a straight line; Altidore may very well find himself on the bench in a month, causing the same kind of grief and writing off that has followed the original superstar-in-waiting, Freddy Adu.


But while Freddy stagnated on benches across Europe, Altidore was clearly getting better. At this point, that's just about all we could ask for.


A thought that just occurred to me, that maybe someone can help with: Jozy has to be the youngest American ever to score in the Prem, right? There have to be some other firsts with his goal as well...
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