The U.S. striker and former Red Bull scored his league-leading eighth goal of the season in a 3-3 tie against RKC Waalwijk on Sunday, and this one was his best yet.
Take a look:
The control, the balance, speed and agility—that might have been the best goal of Altidore’s career.
He also had the assist on AZ’s third goal.
Can he bring his goal-scoring touch to the U.S. in this month’s World Cup qualifiers? He’s due for the Yanks, having scored just one goal in his past 13 U.S. appearances.
U.S. national team striker Jozy Altidore doesn’t look all that much like Laurence Tureaud, the actor known as Mr. T, who played B.A. Baracus on the laughable, lovable mid-1980s TV show The A-Team.
But to the goofy Dutch journalist who did a recent postgame interview with the former MLSer, well, the two are dead ringers. The lame comparison, awkwardly made (though graciously handled by Altidore), has spawned the following A-Team themed clip from YouTube channel Eredivisie Live:
We get it, AZ Alkmaar are an A-team, and Altidore is African-American, just like Mr. T, but … come on. This is weak sauce. (And just for the record, the catchphrase was “I pity the fool,” not “Shut up, fool.”)
But hey, nice goals! Here’s to many more this season.
The burly U.S. international may have had a quiet couple of World Cup qualifiers against Jamaica last week, but Jozy Altidore’s club form remains at an Everest-like peak. This weekend he bagged three goals and an assist in AZ Alkmaar’s 4-0 demolition of Roda JC.
Five games into the season, the former New York Red Bull has seven of his team’s 10 goals, and three more than anyone else in the Eredivisie.
He scored two goals with his left foot, one with his right, and his passing, movement, and finishing were on point. See here:
If he weren’t stranded up top so much with the U.S. national team, we’d be willing to bet he’d start pumping them in at a similar rate for the Stars and Stripes.
U.S. fans take note: Your national team resumes World Cup qualifying in a couple of weeks—taking on Jamaica in a home-and-home set on Sept 7 and 11—and while they may not have in-limbo attacker Clint Dempsey for those matches, they should have striker Jozy Altidore, whose current form suggests he’s more than capable of filling the goal-scoring void left by the disgruntled Fulham star.
Altidore struck two more times this past weekend, leading AZ Alkmaar to a 3-1 win over Heracles and matching his two-goal performance on opening day against Ajax.
All he has to do is keep this up the rest of the way and he’ll bank a record 68 goals.
Highlights here:
Two thoughts on this clip:
1) How good is the Dutch Eredivisie, really? Not to take away from Altidore’s performances—and plenty of players have jumped from the Eredivisie to top leagues in Europe—but is Heracles really that much better than say, Toronto FC? Their defense, especially on Alkmaar’s second goal, is enough to make you wonder.
2) Maybe it’s our long history with Fahrenheit, but does the Celsius temperature scale seem wanting to you? Lacks the descriptive power of Fahrenheit, where a hot day can climb into the 90s or 100s. That 30-degree Celsius pregame reading in Alkmaar? Not very impressive. (And it translates to roughly 88 Fahrenheit, which is not that hot—especially for Altidore, who grew up in humid New Jersey and sizzling Florida, two locations where the heat calls for the more finely calibrated Fahreneit system to accurately reflect just how miserable you are in it.)
U.S. midfielder Jozy Altidore looks like a grown-ass man in these highlights from AZ Alkmaar’s season opener against defending Eredivisie champs Ajax Amsterdam. The 22-year-old New Jersey native scored both of his team’s goals in the 2-2 draw:
Have you ever inadvertently bumped into one of those concrete planters on a city sidewalk? Not a lot of give on those, is there? You tend to get bounced off rudely—kind of like what happened to the defender who challenged Altidore in the box on that first goal.
On the second, Altidore gets it going with a sweet backheel and then finishes high to the near post—a goal-scorer’s, whatever-it-takes kind of finish.
Can’t wait to see this guy back in the U.S. shirt this fall.
AZ Alkmaar’s U.S. striker Jozy Altidore bagged his 14th goal of season, and 18th in all competitions, when he drilled a 25-yard shot into the upper 90 against PSV Eindhoven on Saturday.
Unfortunately for the 22-year-old former Red Bull forward, his side gave up a late goal and lost the game 3-2 to fall six points behind first-place Ajax in the Eredivisie standings.
Here is Altidore’s strike:
PSV’s late winner was the second straight last-gasp goal AZ has conceded in the season’s stretch run. Last week they gave up an 89th-minute equalizer in a 2-2 draw with FC Twente.
U.S. midfielder Jozy Altidore scored two goals—giving him 13 in the league and 17 across all competitions this season—but AZ Alkmaar surrendered a 90th-minute goal to FC Twente and dropped into a 2-2 tie that left them three points behind league-leaders Ajax, and two ahead of Twente in a crowded stretch run atop the Dutch Eredivisie.
A win would have kept them within a point of Ajax, which routed Herenveen 5-0, and put them five ahead of Twente. The first-place finisher gets a berth in the UEFA Champions League, while the second-place team enters Champions League qualifying, and third and fourth play in the Europa League. There are five games remaining in the Dutch season.
Here are the AZ–FC Twente highlights:
With Altidore’s goal-scoring resurgence, and the recent hot streaks of Clint Dempsey and Herculez Gomez, the U.S. strike force is looking pretty good lately.
And it was a solid Wednesday overall for Yanks Abroad as Fabian Johnson scored for Hoffenheim in their 4-0 win over Hamburg, Timmy Chandler set up a goal in FC Nurnberg’s 4-1 triumph over Jermaine Jones and Schalke 04, and Sacha Kljestan had an assist in RSC Anderlecht’s 4-1 win over Mix Diskerud and KAA Gent.
It was a banner weekend for Americans abroad, with—who else?—Clint Dempsey leading the way. The U.S. attacker scored for Fulham just two minutes into their game against Norwich, then turned provider 10 minutes later, sending Damien Duff in with a perfectly weighted through ball.
Dempsey also hit the post just before halftime, and Fulham held on after the break for a 2-1 win against the Canaries. Click here for the highlights.
Dempsey now has 13 goals in the Premier League—tied for sixth among the top goal-scorers—and 19 in all competitions, a total topped only by Wayne Rooney and Robin van Persie.
Handed his first Premier League start in more than a year, 23-year-old American Eric Lichaj matched Dempsey’s production from his wingback spot for Aston Villa. The Illinois native notched an assist with a long throw-in in the 77th minute, then scored himself three minutes later to lead a comeback for the Villans against Champions League contenders Chelsea. Lichaj’s outburst helped tie the game at 2, but Chelsea answered with two goals in the final 10 minutes to win 4-2.
At the Molineux, former Red Bulls centerback Tim Ream started and went the full 90 as Bolton defeated Wolves 3-2 in a pivotal match between the relegation-threatened sides. Bolton edged one point clear of the drop zone with the win, while Wolves fell six points south of safety with seven games to play.
U.S. keepers Brad Friedel and Tim Howard both backstopped their teams to victories, as Tottenham beat Swansea 3-1 and Everton blanked WBA 2-0.
In the Netherlands, U.S. striker Jozy Altidore buried his 15th goal of the year in all competitions, heading in the opener in AZ Alkmaar’s 2-2 tie with Vitesse Arnhem. The draw left Altidore and Alkmaar in second place in the Dutch Eredivisie, one point behind Ajax. They’re also in the Europa League quarterfinals, where they lead Valencia 2-1 after the first leg.
See Altidore’s goal here:
In Mexico, American winger DaMarcus Beasley set up the only goal of the game in Puebla’s 1-0 win over Queretaro.
In Serie A, U.S. midfielder Michael Bradley started and played 90 minutes in Chievo’s 2-1 win over Fiorentina on Sunday.
U.S. striker Jozy Altidore remains a man on a roll, scoring his seventh goal of the young season in AZ Alkmaar’s 1-1 tie with Norwegian Black Metal band Ukrainian side FC Metalist Kharkiv in Europa League action today.
The 21-year-old New Jersey native settled a pass with a great touch at the top of the box, then buried an expert finish into the far corner. Take a look:
Ever since he left MLS in 2008 for a record $10-million transfer fee, Altidore has been a handful for defenders in Europe, drawing fouls and creating space for teammates. He’s also improved at holding the ball up top as a target forward. But one element—a big one, for a forward—had been missing during his stints with Villareal, Hull City, and Bursaspor, and that was goal scoring.
He’s taking care of that aspect pretty well so far this season, and we might be seeing the realization of all the potential he showed in 2006, when he made his Red Bulls debut as a precociously strong 16-year-old.
U.S. striker Jozy Altidore maintained his red-hot form for his new Dutch club, AZ Alkmaar, bagging his sixth goal of the year, a long-distance golazo against Swedish side Malmo in the Europa league.
Check it out here:
Look for Altidore in a U.S. shirt when the Americans take on Honduras in Miami on Oct 8, and Ecuador at Red Bull Arena on Oct 11.
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