Freddy Adu was once the great hope for American soccer, but excessive hype, marketing and expectation undermined his embryonic career. He did not even make the US squad for South Africa. The case of Jozy Altidore is different. Unlike Adu, substance has triumphed over style, and the New Jersey-born striker, 20, has already played top-flight club football in his home country, Spain and England.
After making his debut aged 16, Altidore scored 15 goals in 37 Major League Soccer games for Red Bull New York. His first, at 16 years, 337 days, made him the youngest scorer in MLS history. He became a hit with fans in his three seasons at the club, though his first-team performances were initially limited by his studies for a high school diploma in Florida. That education was not wasted. He is intelligent and articulate in interviews, with the media keen to speak to a player who continues to break records.
Altidore was the top scorer in qualifying with six goals. He became both the youngest American to score in a World Cup qualifier and the youngest to score a hat-trick in a World Cup qualifier -against Trinidad & Tobago last year. Strong, skilful and energetic, Altidore had joined Villarreal for a US$10 million (Dh36.7m) fee - a record for an MLS player - in June 2008. He represented his country in the 2008 Beijing Olympics months later, scoring a goal against Holland.
Villarreal has not been the success that he hoped for, however. "I felt like I didn't play properly for a year and half," Altidore said. "I had a regular ingrown toenail, but I had it for so long that it grew halfway around my big toe. That became very painful and it also became infected, to the point that every step hurt. Everything I did hurt. "I had to get rid of it and have surgery. They cut my big toe in half, flipped it open, cut the nail and then burned the roots of it so that it never grows back."
The injury affected his loan move to Xerez, but then he played 28 games last season, scoring just once, for relegated Hull. He also took time out to visit Haiti, the birthplace of his parents, following the earthquake that devastated the country last year. "Life has never been easy in Haiti and unfortunately it's only going to get worse," he said. "My parents were both born there and I have a lot of family living there."
He will return to Villarreal for next season, but his immediate priorities lie in South Africa. He has not scored in his two starts for the US, but he was a constant irritant to the Slovenian defence in their last game. Victory against Algeria in Pretoria today will guarantee the US a place in the last 16. Altidore feels an early exit would be tough to take after they navigated such a tough path to reach the finals.
"It was difficult for us to qualify for South Africa," he said. "We went to El Salvador midweek and played on a pitch full of rocks. It wasn't easy, nor was playing in Mexico City at altitude. I'd love to see some of the European teams go to places like that and try to qualify. They were tough challenges, but we consistently showed that we were one of the better teams. We deserved our place in the finals."
sports@thenational.ae
