In what is becoming an increasingly familiar but equally alarming phenomenon, young Jozy Altidore is yet another U.S. player who while considered among the best talent America has to offer, can’t seem to find the field while plying his trade overseas in Europe. The notion “sounds crazy,” writes MLSnet.com’s Michael Lewis, but that’s just the way things are for the 19-year-old forward.
For whatever reason, in Altidore’s case he’s been stuck on the bench at not one but two successive clubs, yet he continues to be a player who gets called on to play a role for the USA, which he did in scoring as part of an inspired comeback effort in Saturday’s 2-2 draw with El Salvador and will hope to do again on Wednesday night against T&T (TV: 7:30 p.m. ET, ESPN2, Galavision.
While some other players would be exasperated with riding the pine at this promising point in their career (I’m looking at you, Freddy Adu), Altidore’s approach is cool as can be, content to “train every day in preparation you might be called” and as he’s doing for the USA, “go in there and make a difference, give a spark, help the team out in a way that they haven’t had.”