Jozy Altidore: Patience, paticence, patience...

[BoostedE55AMG]

Altidore: I’ve been lucky enough to sit back and see how fans react, which is why I say that I set my own bar high. Fans might have set their expectations for me — whether it’s playing for the national team or going to a club in Europe — but those expectations are tough for me to fill because they are not mine. I want to bring myself along gradually and to compare myself to other players would be a mistake.

[lurking]

I think you got the wrong article there.

That said, there really isnt a hurry with Altidore. Real games are far away, and there is no reason to put unnescessary pressure on the kid to perform.

Call him up latee this year, early next year, use him as a 60th minute sub. Keep using him as a sub for his first 7 caps or so, no matter how well he does, and go from there.

[FirstStar]

Start him in the next match. If he doesn't score a hat trick in each of his first 5 national team appeareances, discard him as useless and move on to the next flavor of the month.

[Sakatei]

Start him in the next match. If he doesn't score a hat trick in each of his first 5 national team appeareances, discard him as useless and move on to the next flavor of the month.

You have your hand on the pulse of BS.:)

[Namdynamo]

Here is the right link to the article:

http://goal.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/09/14/jozy-altidore-patience-patience/

Altidore's quote: "Finally, my message to American soccer fans is that it’s coming, be patient. There are players who you are soon going to see at 17 who are better technically and mentally stronger than the players we have been producing.

It’s coming. Soccer is growing more and more in the U.S. There are many growing ethnic groups in this country, they are going to bring their different styles to the table and they’re all going to combine into one American style.

People have to be patient. The time will come when the United States is a world power, but that time is not right now.

So let’s stick together. We’ll get there. I’m a believer."

[RalleeMonkey]

Is this guy the next Dalai Lama? What 17/18 year old has that sense of perspective and eloquence. Amazing.

[WraithXx]

Is this guy the next Dalai Lama? What 17/18 year old has that sense of perspective and eloquence. Amazing.

lmao

[scheck]

Is this guy the next Dalai Lama? What 17/18 year old has that sense of perspective and eloquence. Amazing.

Plenty of people do, you just don't bother to be around them.

[Tonerl]

Plenty of people do, you just don't bother to be around them.

Translation: "I'm 17 and I do."

[OWN(yewu)ED]

Patience Hell!!!! Ive seen enough of Eddie Johnson, Taylor Twellman, and Brian Ching to last three lifetimes!!! enough is enooouuughhh When you have something better you put them in!!! :mad:

Oh, Jozy seems like a very well rounded individual too :D

[DaPrince84]

the funny thing about this is that he is talking to the many posters on this board... especially with the Adu comments

[matador11]

Excellent comments from Jozy. Leave it to a 17 year old to show the type of perspective and insight some us twice his age often lack. Go figure.

Of course, given that type of mental fortitude, even more reason to get him on the senior team asap. :D

[Bolo]

I guess it’s just a bit of impatience. I was watching the Brazil-Mexico game last Wednesday and Mexico brought in a couple of young players — (Giovani) Dos Santos (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giovanni_dos_Santos) and (Carlos) Vela (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carlos_Vela)for about 20 minutes. They are young kids who didn’t show signs of being brilliant or of being the type of players I know they can be. If that was two young Americans on the pitch I think the feedback would have been negative.


To me, Freddy Adu is the perfect example. He’s only 18 and people have already written him off. The kid has 10 years until he hits his prime and plays his really best soccer. To say he should be a great player at 18 is ridiculous. A lot of us, myself included, have a lot to learn. To Americans, Freddy has already been written off as a failure. But obviously Benfica sees something in him or else it wouldn’t have signed him. In other countries they realize that young players have their youth and a ways to go to develop as quality professionals. But here, because he’s had some rough times, he’s done. Could the same thing happen to me? That’s a good question. I’ve been lucky enough to sit back and see how fans react, which is why I say that I set my own bar high. Fans might have set their expectations for me — whether it’s playing for the national team or going to a club in Europe — but those expectations are tough for me to fill because they are not mine. I want to bring myself along gradually and to compare myself to other players would be a mistake.



I don’t know what it is, but it seems to me that fans in other countries stand by their players. Here, if you have a bad game fans let you hear it, instead of being more loyal, as fans are across the world.



Says the 17 year old, many could learn from him.

[Chicago1871]

I don’t know what it is, but it seems to me that fans in other countries stand by their players. Here, if you have a bad game fans let you hear it, instead of being more loyal, as fans are across the world.
Methinks Jozy has visited the US News and Analysis forum of BigSoccer.

[Chicago1871]

Here is the right link to the article:

http://goal.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/09/14/jozy-altidore-patience-patience/

For the record, those are the words of a guy who could be captaining the US team someday. His skill aside, his is displaying maturity beyond his years as well as leadership qualities that will serve him well. The kid impresses me every time I watch him play, but his words and sentiment have taken him to a whole new level.

[KALM]

Methinks Jozy has visited the US News and Analysis forum of BigSoccer.
He has to have, since he certainly can not be viewing/reading that much critical response towards the National Team from the media, at least nowhere near the amount he'd find in most other countries.

[TimB4Last]

Methinks Jozy has visited the US News and Analysis forum of BigSoccer.

Methinks he has not spent a lot of time reading the forums of other national teams, which can be highly, even hyper-critical.

I took 30 seconds and flipped to the Italy forum, where I immediately found what I was looking for, on the last page of the Euro 2008 qualifying game v. Ukraine, and sampled the following {starting with Post 521} ...

**********

1) Needless to say our attack in general has been pretty pathetic throughout this qualifying campaign. ...

2) I agree with you. They have been bad and hopefully Toni will not come up with another injury. Now if they could just find somebody to support him. ...

3) Our attack has not been great but to say it has been pretty pathetic is an understatement {sic, I think}. Only France have held us to a clean sheet. I am always confident in our ability to score. Toni would have more goals if he actually started some more matches. ...

4) Wasn't Fabio Quagliarella supposed to be our answer on offense?

Why isn't Donadoni giving this guy a shot. He played great against Lithuania and the numerous times on the U-21 squad.

5) I'm not sure what Rosina has to do to convince Donadoni and other naysayers. The kid is sick. He isn't one dimensional like so many players we have, and its not like there are too many dynamic attackers in our squad. I knew the offense was going to have trouble when we called Inzaghi back. He's the only guy I can think of in any pro sport who strikes me as perpetually lucky and not that talented, he sucks.

***********

I'll stop there - no need to oversell the point, which is that every MNT forum on BS by its nature will have many posts critical of players and coaches, who - being human - make errors. Generally, there are positive posts woven in to each thread that provide some balance, as there are in the Italy thread I am referring to, above.

But look particularly at that last post, which I quoted in full. Saying that Inzaghi is "perpetually lucky and not that talented, he sucks" - strikes me as laughable, but BS is full of posts of just that sort. Posts like those are not - repeat not - confined to USMNT N&A.

[Chicago1871]

Methinks he has not spent a lot of time reading the forums of other national teams, which can be highly, even hyper-critical.

I took 30 seconds and flipped to the Italy forum, where I immediately found what I was looking for, on the last page of the Euro 2008 qualifying game v. Ukraine, and sampled the following {starting with Post 521} ...

I'll stop there - no need to oversell the point, which is that every MNT forum on BS by its nature will have many posts critical of players and coaches, who - being human - make errors. Generally, there are positive posts woven in to each thread that provide some balance, as there are in the Italy thread I am referring to, above.

But look particularly at that last post, which I quoted in full. Saying that Inzaghi is "perpetually lucky and not that talented, he sucks" - strikes me as laughable, but BS is full of posts of just that sort. Posts like those are not - repeat not - confined to USMNT N&A.
1. I noticed the conversation was in English. Are the posters in the US or American?
2. It is possible that these are simply the type of people that BigSoccer, for the most part, attracts; regardless of nationality.

[TimB4Last]

1. I noticed the conversation was in English. Are the posters in the US or American?

Not always identified/identifiable - mostly US-based + at least one in Montreal. Italian posters conversing in Italian might be less critical, but it's not clear to me why they would be less critical. I don't speak Italian, so I'll have to research that point - indirectly and elsewhere - in Spanish. :cool:


2. It is possible that these are simply the type of people that BigSoccer, for the most part, attracts; regardless of nationality.

You talking to me? You talking to me? You talking to me? Well, who the h*ll else are you talking to? You talking to me? Well, I'm the only one here. Who the f*ck do you think you're talking to? Oh yeah, huh, okay. :mad:

Where was I?

:o Sorry. Again, I suspect that what Altidore sees as over-the-top, unhelpful criticism of the USMNT, its coach and players is not unique to US fans. I welcome the input of others on the issue of whether such criticism might be unique to English-speaking fans, or perhaps more accurately, English-speaking fans who post on BigSoccer.

[Adam Zebrowski]

altidore turns 18 in november, and i suggest he's euro bound during the winter transfer window...

as to his national play itself. i see him being targetted for u-23 primarily, just like adu, and once beijing is over transitioning to the seniors...

fine with me.