I've seen virtually every have since 2001 and my front line is Clint Jozy Landon Or Jozy Pulisic Clint Landon Best moment is probably the Jamaica winner or the build up to LD's goal against Algeria. The goals against Panama should have got us into the World Cup would have been up there. Nobody on Earth thought we weren't going to get a draw against Trinidad and Tobago's youth sqaud. The guy missed three major tournaments in a row, save 14 minutes.
Jozy just keeps showing up and putting in a shift. The vitriol he attracts is nothing short of mind boggling.
In terms of players since the turn of the century, top-15. The goal against Spain was his best moment, imo.
He has attracted very little vitriol. Bradley, Zardes, and Donovan--now those guys have attracted vitriol
Personal attacks or largely baseless attacks would constitute vitriol. I do agree, Jozy has accumulated a lot of caps. Being healthy is also a skill.
Jozy has been pretty harshly criticized, like Bradley and Landon, not as bad as Zardes. I don't think Zardes even has many defenders.
With Donovan and Bradley--the criticism reached a ridiculous personal level. That has largely not been the case with Altidore. Zardes attracts a completely different level of pathological obsession and loathing.
Well, he did lose weight and really improve his fitness. And that was just a performance-based criticism.
He's never been fat or out of shape. The argument was that he was too muscled. That's not a character flaw.
You didn't visit the Sunderland threads much, I'm guessing. And I don't mean just caps. He drew a PK this week. He just puts his head down and punches the clock.
And his weight. which is when I went back to more enlightening infomercials, like home shopping reruns.
Essentially, Jozy needs an international tournament to dominate. If he were to score 3 goals and get 3 assists and lead the US to the QF in 2022; that'd be it. Or if he somehow got a return to Europe and spent 3 years scoring a good number of goals at a decent club in a top 5 league. But he's barely scoring for the NT (in competitive matches) so he will get some crap. And some folks still not over 2017 qualifying. Is it really any wonder that folks wanna see Weah and Sargent? Zardes is so bad that many Jozy critics have to cry for his return. That's not a strong and positive position some wanna be in.
Let's see. Sarge misses a PK, so yeah... Objectivity goes out the window with Jozy. Dunno why, but imagine Jozy missed that shot. (And I like Sarge, and think he needs to be integrated as he's been, but there is something about Jozy makes folks a little irrational. I think because we want him to be great and he's just good, and better than other options.)
I think Sarge looks like the first real one to one replacement for Jozy. I think the expectations are the problem for Jozy. We saw the youngest starter at the World Cup and had dreams of Luis Suarez. He's very good, a guy that we would be thrilled to get if we hadn't expected more. I have said it before, if Jozy were an uncapped dual national with the exact same club resume, fans would want him on the team. If he played for Honduras or Costa Rica, he'd be a nightmare for the USMNT.
Here are the competitive goals for Jozy: 2009 Confed Cup: 1 goal against Spain 2010 WCQ: 1 goal against Cuba, 2 goals against El Salvador, 3 goals against T&T 2011 Gold Cup: 1 goal against Canada, 1goal against Guadeloupe 2014 WCQ: 1 goal against Panama, 1 goal against Honduras, 2 goals against Jamaica 2017 Gold Cup: 1 goal against Jamaica, 1 goal against Costa Rica 2018 WCQ: 3 goals against SVG, 2 goals against T&T, 2 goal against Panama, 1 goal against Guatemala 2019 Gold Cup: 1 goal against Panama Other tournaments: No goals in our 2010 WC crash out, got hurt in the first game of the 2014 WC, no 2018 WC Did not play in the 2009 and 2013 Gold Cup, only played in the group stage of the 2015 Gold Cup/no goals Did not play in the 2016 Copa America
Cool. So if goal scoring in a meaningful game's your metric for "good" strikers... Here are guys with WC goals in 2014 (Jozy did not play meaningful minutes): Demsey Green Brooks Jones Here are guys with goals in WCQ games 2013: Dempsey 3 Altidore 4 Evans Zusi 3 Johnson 2 LD Johannsson So... what's the question again?
Wouldn't you expect your no.1 striker to score goals? He performed real well in the Hex. I'm not blaming his injury on him but I am saying he has yet been able to deliver in a tournament. He hasn't been a Golden Boot winner in a Gold Cup which he should easily have been able to or make the All Star Team of the Tournament. Lack of Big moments in a NT jersey will lead fans resentful.
Well, I'm going to suggest that says more about fans than the player. Or we could start Green and Brooks up top. I mean, we got supposedly serious guys on here wanna talk about Jozy was "too fat" at one point? When? "Needs to do yoga?" Wtf? It's just weird and silly. Mostly it's Anglo-wannabes who are hurt they had to go to their Faux-pub to watch EPL and get ribbed for Jozy not scoring, I think. Eric Idle made fun of me at the Fox and Hound!! Waaaaahhhh.... Here's some reality. Wondo skies it over the bar in Brazil. Sarge misses a PK v. Mexico. AronJo hurt and only moderately effective. After 2012, anyone not named Dempsey or Jozy scoring in WCQ/Finals for the US is as likely to be a defender or middie aS a striker or attacking winger (Fabio, Jones, Brooks...) It's not that Jozy is great. It's that no one in a US Jersey not named Clint has proven to be better. So sure, I'm mad he's not Suarez too... but I'm also mad I'm not Jeff Bezos (with hair...) So there's that.
Our guys need competition. They need to know someone will steal their spot. even if it's a guy who can only score by accident. They need that PUSH.