WARREN LENT – Jozy Altidore was pissed. He was pissed at you and he was pissed at me because we’ve been calling for his play to improve ever since Charlie Davies’ tragic car accident. The mojo between those two forwards was at its peak before Davies nearly lost his life near Washington D.C. A trying time for the US Men’s National Team as a whole was even more difficult for Jozy Altidore. Charlie Davies was a best friend and most trusted ally on the pitch for the starling striker. In an instant, Charlie was gone and Jozy was left to fend for himself in attack without a sturdy option to put beside him.
The World Cup flew by with some performances worth noting (shot on Robert Green vs. England, header down to Michael Bradley to tie vs. Slovenia, ground cross to Clint Dempsey that eventually landed for Landon Donovan vs. Algeria) but to the untrained eye, the score sheet was far too bare for Jozy Altidore.
Jozy was supposed to be US Soccer’s next Landon Donovan; a player they could trot out for all to see in order to show the growth of a country thought to be light-years behind most (prominent) footballing nations in the world.
When we found out Hull City didn’t want him back after a loan spell and Villareal had no real need for him back in Spain, nerves started getting to fans across the country. At Bursaspor, Altidore only tallied one goal in 12 appearances. The total was clearly not enough for all US Soccer supporters and Jozy began to feel pressure from all corners of the world.
After the Paraguay friendly on March 29th of this year, the personal anger and disappointment became public after Jozy tweeted “Need to improve, gotta get my mojo back.”
The mojo was temporarily reinstated during the first stages of the Gold Cup when Altidore scored two goals in the first three games of the tournament. The football gods had something else in store for Jozy that didn’t involve the Gold Cup, though. The striker was sidelined indefinitely with a strained hamstring he suffered against Jamaica. The deities had something else in store for the young titan.
Fast-forward to August 23, 2011 and I find it safe to say that Jozy has found his mojo. The 21 year old has found the back of the net three times in three games with AZ Alkmaar and his passion (which could also be portrayed as anger) has been prevalent in all three-goal celebrations.
The passion Altidore dishes out tells me that if he is unable to become one of the top players the United States has ever put into Europe, it won’t be for the want of trying. All the trying he has done through out the congested continent these past few years looks to finally be paying off for him in the land of wooden shoes, windmills, and tactical football.
I don’t necessarily want to be so enamored with his recent performances where I forget about all the things Altidore has been infamous for (on the pitch) in the past, but I truly believe he may have turned a corner or is coming pretty damn close to doing so. Three goals in three games is something. It’s not world-beater status, but it’s a start. A start towards the type of greatness we all pegged for him when he dismantled Trinidad and Tobago in the Music City.