Scoring is AZ: Jozy at Alkmaar

Translated today's short article on Jozy from the website of Dutch football magazine "Voetbal Internationaal":

[FONT=&quot]Jozy Altidore: Benching me was fair[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]02/27/2012 13:29[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Jozy Altidore (22) has difficulties living up to the expectations at AZ so far, even though he scored twice in the match against Heerenveen. The American striker, who was presented in Alkmaar last summer to head up the offensive line, explains.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]“It’s my first year at a new club with a different system in a different league.” Altidore says in an interview with British media. “It was difficult to adapt to Dutch football in the first few months, but now that is increasingly getting easier.” I’ve found my niche”.

Altidore started this season as first choice striker, but had to give up his spot in midseason to Charlison Benschop. “Naturally it’s tough to lose your spot when you’re a winner”, confirms the American. “However that decision was justified based on my performance on the pitch.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]The American is determined that he will be able to retake his starting position. “As a bench player you sometimes have to compliment your teammates on their performance, but at the same time you have to keep fighting for a spot on the team. That is the only way to convince the coach.”

Altidore does not have to worry about his fickle performance in his debut season going by past statistics. Luis Suarez also had a difficult start in the Netherlands. The Liverpool striker only made ten goals in his debut season for FC Groningen, but these days he proves every week to be an absolute world-class player in the Premier League.

Another fellow stiker, Luuk de Jong who scored nineteen times already in the Eredivisie this season, only scored twelve goals in his first complete season as a regular starter with FC Twente. Altidore is not performing any less than the other two players in his debut season with nine goals so far and has another eleven games to further up his tally.

[/FONT]

 

Thanks for the article/translation Antario!

 

Very interesting comparisons. Hoping Jozy makes the most of those 11 games and gets those GOALs.

 

Agreed, Suarez may be world class and De Jong could be on his way. I have no doubt Jozy will continue to improve but I think those comparisons are generous.

 

Exactly, simply being "Eredivisie class" would be great for Jozy.

 

You mean "the class of the Eredivisie"? Jozy is already Eredivisie class, consider he co leads the second place team in scoring and is in the top ten overall.

 

http://www.goal.com/en-us/news/1679...tidore-i-would-love-to-be-on-the-olympic-team

Any actual chance of this happening? I'd imagine AZ will be busy with either CL or EL qualifying and Jozy might be tired with the start of WC qualifying. what do you think? Do our boys need him?

 

If Caleb wants him then it will happen. He is underage so its a mandatory release.

 

Honestly, I would prefer Jozy stay at AZ. I would love to see him get some games and potentially dominate but we have to allow lesser known guys to get some game time in important situations and allow Jozy to continue to meld with his teammates at AZ. If he ended up playing in the Olympics I definitely wouldn't be mad but I'm not sure it's the best move for him or for the USMNT.

 

I doubt it -- it did not help him when he began at Villarreal.

 

But he isn't just beginning at AZ and he isn't 18/19 years old either. Also AZ isn't Villarreal.

 

I tend to agree provided he's playing full time again. if he's back to 25 minutes a game then I would like to see him at the Olympics

 

i dont see it as a necessity. Porter and USSF could play the political game by not including him strictly b/c we have other U23 prospects and options (Boyd, Wooten, Agudelo, Bunbury, McInerney, Salgado...)

However, IF USSF and Porter want Jozy on the Olympic squad there is nothing AZ can do. Still with the season ending, Qualifying and preseason, Jozy will be drawn quite thin. IMO, what's best is to leave Jozy off the roster and let him recover.

 

Some interesting thoughts on Jozy from JK.

Jozy Altidore scored two goals for AZ Alkmaar on Sunday in his first start since Dec. 18, but Klinsmann brought up Altidore's name not once but twice on his own Monday in references to pressure needing to be put on the 22-year-old forward.

"We want to see guys who fight for their spots," Klinsmann says. "That's the first message to Jozy when he gets here: Man, we want you to be in the starting lineup. I'm not happy with it. I don't want to see you coming off the bench. Yesterday was a start maybe. He has to underline that. He has to be ready in training every time. He can't be late, he can't be lazy, he can't be anything like that. This is what we want to see. They'll hear that every time they come into the national team camp. If over the stretch of two and a half years toward Brazil we see maybe they don't get that message, they will have a problem."

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/20...7/usa-italy-training/index.html#ixzz1nc53hrYi

 

For Jozy its less about development and more about prestige.

 

kudos to klinsy for this. also got the impression that he brought boyd in to show jozy that his spot isn't guaranteed.

 

Sort of wonder if this is why Beasley is not on the roster despite his solid form recently in Mexico. Wasn't he late to his last camp under JK?

 

Agreed. As thin as we are at the ST position it's nice to see him say that. Jozy needs to know he's gotta work for the starts not just be handed a first team spot because there are no other options atm.

 

Really??? Hmmm......


I don't remember that... if true then I could see that.

I also think if it has maybe to do with our depth on wing play wiht Shea and Johnson on the left, not to mention Donovan there too.

Beasly would be a great band aid for right now... but maybe he rather use this valuable PT for a player that may not be as good now as him... but could use the PT?

 

This way...[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h7UV-K9x77k"]Fronkonsteen 1 - YouTube[/ame]

 

The article is a little strange to me, Altidore has 9 goals in league play (plus another 4 in Europa), good enough for tied for 10th among all players in the league. This reads like someone who's had a very disappointing season, but with big expectations for the future.

Altidore's on pace for about 15 domestic goals in his first season. But the tone of the article is, well... sure he's been a disappointment, but look at some of the superstars to have weak first seasons. Was the expectation for Altidore to be a 20 goal scorer in his first season in Holland?

 

I would say yes and no... On one hand hs has put up some relatively good numbers. But on the other many believe he has the capacity to play at an even higher level.

He's definately improving and will continue to get better and should be an asset to the US team for years to come add to this younger players knocking at the door; he will be forced to get better or replaced. Either way we are in a win win situation

 

The top scorer in the league has 20 goals right now and Jozy is a starter on the 2nd place team in the league. So he's going to be held to a very high standard.

Plus the Eredivisie tends to skew young in attacking talent, so I'm guessing the expectations for young players in that league are greater than they are in other leagues.

 

If he starts for the rest of the season he should have no problem reaching 20 goals.