Altidore should, for the foreseeable future, have his name engraved in stone in the Starting XI

I just want to say one thing:

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edit to add:

FIRST REPLY!!!

 

I have to say i agree. I mean the best part of the whole game was those last 3 minutes when Jozy held the ball up in the corner and just abused and punked every Sven that came over. It was ridiculous, so much so they showed a shot of the US bench and all the players had their head's turned down the sideline watching it and having a laugh.

The guy has more talent thatn ANY striker in the US today. And he still has a long way to go before his full potential is realized.

 

I would love to see him get starts, but let's not put to much pressure on him, if there is a player who will take us to the elite level it is him, so let's not over use him example Owen with England, I agree we should start him and give him more minutes but don't put to much pressure on an 18 year old, we need Altidore if we plan on having success in the World Cup, we can qualify with a number of options at forward.

 

Agree, enough with the 2nd rate strikers we need goal scorers not people that take up space. If he was small it would be better if he waited but he's big enough and the experience he would gain would help him a lot. Plus is not like he has any real competition from other strikers besides its not like its uncommon for 18 year olds to start for their NT.

 

I think the goal for Altidore is to develop him as a starter for South Africa in 2010. Hopefully by the Confederations Cup we're seeing the full impact of that preparation, but in terms of 2008, how we get Jozy to that point is the million-dollar question.

The tough question in my mind is what benefits him more - playing a critical role with the U-23 squad through Olympic qualifying and the Olympics this summer, getting time in with the full USMNT this year, and/or seeing Bradley and Nowak working together to maximize his growth, development and exposure to higher levels of competition.

"In stone" as a starter for the USMNT starting right now?! I'm just not sure that's best for the team or for Altidore's development. What benefits him more.....the Olympics of playing a qualifier against Dominica?! Come September, I'd hope to agree with you, but I'm not sure I do right now..........

 

Good thing the Olympics are in August.

 

I was at the game Saturday night. We I saw the starting line up warm up together on our side line, I was mildly disappointed that Mr. Altidore was not amongst them. I was glad he got in for the start of the second half. Let me tell you people, this kid gets the game. Other Americans have been goal scorers. This kid is gonna be a goal scorer and a football player. He's got it.

 

First I'll start by sayiing he is, along with Donovan and Dempsey, one of the three best attacking options the U.S. has (okay, maybe Freddy in there). And is I think the best pure forward.

But I would not transition him to the starting role yet. He's young, he needs to mature physically, and US Soccer needs to make sure he doesn not have too big a playing load in the next year or two.

Give him time, transition him in, and save those minutes for critical games. Everyone here was impressed by his performance Saturday, but you also saw the physical abuse he took. No sense making that a more common occurence than necessary at this point.

 

He needs to mature as a striker.

In that instance, Osorio would be far more helpful to him than either Bradley (not helpful at all) and Nowak (marginally helpful).

But I'd still prefer if he had gone to a decent Euro club right away.

He'll be a different player within a year.

 

We'll see after this summer.

 

I think he has matured decently, at least enough to be bigger, and stronger then Twellman and Noonan. His body is big enough, and he has the right mentality. I think you guys are right, we should develop him slow, so come around 2010, he will be ready. But i think he is the type of player who can take dissapoitment, and ia way ahead of his years, or sounds like it in the interviews.

 

I'm not happy about it. I'd rather protect him. He is awfully young and can be sidetracked by expectation and too much too soon. But right now, I'm leaning that direction, because we don't have a lot of choice. Running Twellman out there again and again is getting us nowhere. Why Cooper isn't getting a shot, I don't know. He might be better, and he couldn't be worse. Ching might give us an ease-him-in stopgap, because he has been useful if not a prodigious National Team scorer. But he needs to recover his form a bit.

 

Yes, he's becoming our most attractive striking option, but he's still too young to pin all our hopes on. He needs an occasional start in real matches, but should not be made to feel like' he's a guaranteed starter.

The fact is there are opponents and situations awaitng the USMNT between now and WC2010 that Jozy may not be the best option for due to experience, fitness, form, or whatever.

But yeah, he should be an automatic for the Top 4 rotation now for sure, even for A team matches.

 

Typical bigsoccer. Anytime promising young player looks good...

I LOVE Altidore, but he still has a long way to go. Let's give him a few more matches before we anoint him the New Savior (now that LD, Bease, Dempsey, EJ, Mapp, and Adu are passe -- I'm sure I missed about a half-dozen others)

 

Read my post before offering your sarcasm, my friend. Come September, I'd love to see Altidore getting locked in for USMNT duty. Between now and then, which would include the Olympics, I'm not sure that's best for his development given the amount of time he can get against good competition in a a quality competition with the U-23 squad.

Putting him "in stone" with the senior team right now would force him to miss some important developmental opportunities.......

 

Not only for him but for other attacking players who need to get looked at (Cough Jeremiah).

Altidore needs another solid year of both club and international productivity and then we can set the sword into the stone.

 

I'm not ready to annoint Jozy anything on the senior level. He's got a lot of talent and probably is the brightest prospect we've ever had at the striker position. But he also needs to put his time in and have many good performances before he merits a consistent starting position.

Having said that, if he continues perfoming well with the seniors and does as well as expected with the Red Bulls and U23's, I say his first start will come in the second leg of the home and home vs. Barbados or Dominica (I think those are the right teams). We should carry a big enough goal differential (barring brain farts) into that second match that there will be little pressure and plenty of opportunity for him to impose himself on the match. We be the perfect match for him to get his first 90.

 

He's got great potential, but he's not there yet. Club work will be better for him than national team work this year (since we really don't have any meaningful, challenging matches). Also, he's at the age where he can still be prone to breaking down physically if over-used-- something Arena was concerned with last season.

If you are really focused on 2010, I say back off on Jozy for a while right now.

 

We can get through the early rounds of CONCACAF qualifying with TT, EJ, Chingy, and others at forward. During that time, Jozy should slowly be integrated so he is ready for the final round of qualifying (and even then we can probably still qualify without him). Right now, send him to the olympics rather than him playing Barbados or Dominica or whoever. Get him minutes and experience here and there when you can, but in no way should he be set in stone for our starting lineup as of now.

By Confed Cup 2009 and beyond...likely we can set him in stone (but still don't overuse him).

 

Guys, he is the most talented of our forward for sure. He did not have a great game against Sweden. He's still got weaknesses, and they involve his ability to get involved and show for the ball. Integrating him into the team at his own pace I think is preferable to simply handing him #9 shirt and telling him to have at it... until he gets discouraged and then we're all calling for his head.

After the Olympics, though, if he's not in every camp (and I hope he is in every camp that doesn't clash with the U23s), and if it isn't clear that he's steadily on track to become our featured forward up top, then something is clearly wrong.

 

You're right, he does seem confident, he does seem pretty mentally strong. I'm for caution here though. There's no better time to ruin a player than when they're still teenagers. (And we don't have another Altidore. Looking at our program, he's very valuable to us.)

 

I'm excited about Jozy and think he has the potential to be an excellent player for us, but I've got to dissent. We've seen Jozy in how many games so far? One or two? (Can't recall if he got PT against Suisse or S Africa.) He's looked great on the ball in lots of moments but has yet to score a goal for the full side. He also has yet to play significant minutes against a truly strong senior side, or against a strong club side--we've only seen him against weakened national teams, youth national teams, or MLS opponents.

So my position is let's wait before we anoint him the savior of US soccer. After all, EJ had something like 9 goals in his first 10 games, and even after that has not turned out to be the superstar so many were predicting (I still think the move to Benfica would have been a good one). Let's also wait before we put too much pressure on the kid. He is, after all, just a kid, only what, 17 or 18? he's got years and years to play if he develops properly, so it would be a shame to put too much pressure on him so that he is overwhelmed and doesn't have the longevity that he otherwise might (Owen, as someone mentioned, might be one example of a wunderkind who has had his career curtailed because of excessive demands).

It is a joy to watch him play though, and if he reaches his full potential we'll finally have a truly great option at striker.

 

agree altidore will slowly get integrated...

the oly qualifying in march is an early key, meaningful matches versus international quality..

then some mls to keep him busy, followed by the beijing gig, presuming usa advances...

i'd see altidore and adu, as subs once september rolls around, UNLESS either knocks their socks off in the u-23 tourneys...

i'd expect BOTH to see senior time, as starters, when usa clinches advancing and have matches remaining....

still doub they start in the early hex, although performance can change it all, BUT wit the hex split in half by confed cup, BOTH should see time in confed cup, and emerge from confed cup with the last 5 he matches as starting material...

all this presumes they develope along the path as we expect kids to develop..

rushing kids to play against men can end up unexpectedly