He's our Emile Heskey. Though Heskey played for a bunch of clubs and was quite useful while at Liverpool at least.
He's the second best striker behind Dempsey. He's also likely going to be the USMNT's top goalscorer by the end of his career. That record, plus one good World Cup, is all that separates him from being perhaps the best US striker ever. Heskey was extremely poor for England. 7 in 62? GTFO with that junk. The stats, the eye test, everything tells you that Altidore is superior in a US shirt. Hell, Altidore's got a better goal-scoring record than anyone suiting up for England not named Rooney. Altidore's merely suffering from being injured often. He's quite good overall, if inconsistent. Though, part of that problem is due to his injuries as well...
Well yes of course but look at the goals scored against. Heskey has terrible stats. But my point is his scoring rate reveals much more than just being crappy. His style benefited others. Just like Jozy should have more goals, so should Heskey, but there is a reason for this. Just by way of him being used by the team, I'd def figure Altidore to be an equivalent of Heskey, with of course difference being a superior goal scoring rate.
Torres only scored like 35 goals in 100 matches for Spain. Would that imply he's worse than Jozy? No. A group of factors. I'm not knocking Jozy. Just indicating he could have a higher goal-scoring rate. Reasons for why he does not of course. He might be the best we have, but he's def not shown that he's the best we have ever had or even if he does get the goal-scoring record, the value is when you score and against whom.
That's poor, very poor, reasoning. Heskey has a poor scoring rate because he's not very good. He's also not very good in an England shirt. He does not score against top International competition. He does not score against low-level International competition. He simply does not score enough. His name brings to mind an ineffective, yet often-chosen striker with few redeemable qualities that is universally disliked by England fans. Jozy Altidore is mostly well-liked, has several good qualities that make him a good player for the US, and most-importantly, he's proven himself an effective goalscorer. I can halfway-understand that Heskey could be similarly underrated compared to Altidore, but you've arguably got a better comparison on the same English team. Wayne Rooney, like Altidore, set the world on fire as a teenage professional. And, like Altidore, combines with teammates a lot, even when he doesn't score (particularly as Rooney drops deeper with age). Fans generally like Rooney, but expect more from him, especially against high level competition.
He'll have that astericks for when we debate the best US strikers ever, but when he breaks the US goalscoring record, he must be considered "great", unless he only scores against Cuba and others from now on.
I agree. At the moment probably only Chicharito. A decade ago Kenwyne Jones was quite good. Average by PL standards but consistent for small clubs there. He hasn't really brought that to T&T though.
Like Costa Rica? Yeah, that's true. The question is where Jozy fits within CONCACAF though. Where he fits in with the wider international game is much murkier depending on which nation or timeframe you're comparing him to.
If only those were his club stats while in Europe That hattrick in 2010 qualifying, his goal against Spain in 09 Confed Cup, hattrick against Bosnia, those 3 goals in summer 2013 for 2014 WC qualifying.... He has scored some crucial and quality goals, but he needs a big tournament performance. Something for the AGES. I want Jozy to show what he can do. He needs to dominate next summer in Russia. 3 goals during the tournament and he won't have critics anymore.
This is a great graphic. Thanks for posting it. I'm curious.... Does anybody know how old Donovan and Dempsey were when they reached the 107 cap mark, where Jozy is right now? My first impression is that he's younger than the other two were. Is this correct? EDIT: I overcame my bout of laziness and looked it up myself. Clint was 31 years and 3 months old when he got his 107th cap. Landon was 27 years and 1 month old when he got his 107th cap. Jozy is 27 years and 8 months old now.
Costa Rica B were a good start. Hopefully, that match postively portends something for Jozy. There is not much of a 'middle class' forward in Concacaf.
what was the best performance at a World Cup from a CONCACAF striker? Only Dempsey and Donovan come to mind. Maybe also Bryan Ruiz, but not sure if he played as a striker in Brazil. Anyway I really wanna see Jozy go BEAST mode. 3 goals, especially in the knockout rounds would secure his Legacy.
Hmm, could be a trick question. Donovan has the most goals of any CONCACAF player cumulatively. He also scored three in one tournament, which is the best I could find in CONCACAF since it formed in 1961 (always a chance I missed somebody though). I say a trick question because Bert Patenaude scored 4 goals in 1930, including the first ever World Cup hat trick, but that was well before CONCACAF was formed.
As was mentioned, that's his weakness. He's had bad luck with when his many hamstring problems/other injuries. He hasn't been healthy for a ton of tournaments, including missing out of a WC in his prime.
Altidore scores plenty against CONCACAF opponents in the above-mentioned World Cup competition. Wood only has 3 goals, 2 of those occurred against mighty St. Vincent, and he had an Altidore-esque strike rate in the 2016 Copa America. Morris has 0, and Zardes has 1 against St. Vincent.
Great post and it got me to thinking, Jozy is somewhere between Lewandowki and Wondoloski. Jozy is Lewondolowski.
He def comes up big in WC qualifying. I can't deny that. But I would ask how many games has Wood actually played or started in QC qualifying?