August 20, 2013

Jozy Altidore: The Ugly Duckling

A career that started with such promise in 2006 was hanging in the balance just four years later, and yet another promising United States soccer prospect had wasted his athletic ability. Or so we thought. One of the aspects of our sports hungry society is the lack of patience across the board. Sometimes it's coaches getting the hook halfway through their first season and sometimes it's young players being deemed failures before they are even legally allowed to drink away the pain of being said failures. Jozy Altidore's tale is one of flash in the pan success experienced by a teenager and the trouble that can come to your career when that success comes too easily. However there is a silver lining to it all, Altidore grew up. He experienced failure and rejection, he realized hard work was necessary to excel, and he found a team and a coach that would turn around his career in two goal riddled seasons.

Jozy Altidore's professional career began when the New York/New Jersey MetroStars (New York Red Bulls) gave him his professional debut on August 23, 2006 at the age of 16. He was selected 17th overall in the MLS SuperDraft earlier in the year after the MetroStars traded up in the draft for him before he had even completed his high school diploma. Altidore quickly became loved by fans after scoring three goals in his first seven matches and overall scored 16 times in 41 appearances for the MetroStars. On June 4th, 2008 at the age of 18, Altidore was purchased by Spanish club Villareal for a MLS transfer record of $10 million. A star was born.

However as with the "star" of said Jay-Z song, the follow up efforts by Jozy Altidore left many of us snoozing. He struggled to acclimate culturally in his first few months in Spain and so instead of forcing it, Villareal sent Altidore on loan to Spanish club Xerxez in the January transfer window just six months after his arrival. At the time Xerxez was a top club in Spain's second division so Villareal was hoping that Altidore could become more accustomed to Spanish culture while having less expectations and stress that come with top flight European football. Instead Altidore injured his toe and required surgery meaning he never stepped foot on the field in a Xerxez jersey. After spending the off season rehabbing his toe Altidore was sent on loan to Hull City in the English Premier League in the next transfer window. Given the fact that he was sent with the option for Hull City to buy him it seemed his time in Villareal was running short. Still the now 19 year old striker was finding it tough to fit in on the pitch as it became clear to some that the talent he supposedly had may have been embellished. In a long, relegation battling season, Altidore managed to score just two goals in 30 total appearances for the club. To make matters worse he received a red card on the last match day in a game which Hull City lost. They were relegated from the English Premier League following that match day. Needless to say Hull City happily sent Altidore back to Villareal. All was not lost though. Rumors were swirling that Altidore had been training hard and was intent on making an impact and finding his place in Villareal. To their credit Villareal seemed to give him the opportunities early on. It was not meant to be though and again in the January transfer window Jozy Altidore was sent on loan for the third and final time of his Villareal career. This time he was sent to Buraspor, a club in the Turkish top division. Altidore ended up playing 11 matches for Buraspor and only found the net once. Buraspor didn't want Jozy and his career was left in limbo as Villareal owned his rights but wanted no parts of him. It seemed as if a promising career had been erased before Altidore turned 21 years old.

All was not lost though. In the summer of 2011 Dutch team AZ Alkmaar and manager Gertjan Verbeek decided to take a chance on the young striker. The Dutch league's open, attacking style of play was a perfect fit for Altidore as was Verbeek who had helped develop much maligned Michael Bradley into the midfield cog that he is. Altidore came into the 2011-12 campaign having been beaten down and admitted he hadn't worked hard enough in the past. That wasn't the only change though, he had matured as a person as well. He said he took time to decide on going to AZ Alkmaar. He weighed out all of his options and decided that it was in fact a good fit for him and he turned out to be correct. In his first term with AZ he led the team in scoring with 22 goals in 52 matches all the while battling for a starting position. Last year he again made his mark on Europe by surpassing Dempsey's record of most goals in Europe by an American with 31 goals in just 41 matches. Altidore attributes his turn around to multiple factors but he puts most of his success on his manager Gertjan Verbeek. He claims that Verbeek is constantly pushing him to better himself on the pitch and that the threats of being benched now inspire his play.(http://msn.foxsports.com/foxsoccer/usa/story/jozy-altidore-united-states-az-alkmaar-starting-to-deliver-062112)

After having two successful domestic campaigns in Europe Altidore is now carrying over that success to the United States Men's National Team. After scoring 13 goals in 51 matches over six years for the USMNT, Altidore has scored seven goals in ten total matches in 2013. All seven of those goals have come in the last five matches as he set a USMNT record by scoring in five straight matches after his second half hat-trick against Bosnia-Herzegovina last week. Not only is the turn around great for Altidore and the USMNT but it comes at an important juncture in first cycle manager Jurgen Klinsmann.  But that is an article for another day.

Jozy Altidore is yet another tale of writing young athletes off too early. With his tireless play on the field and his efforts with various charity groups, he has shown his maturity and has developed into a quality striker and teammate. These are exciting times for Josmer Altidore as he hopes to lead the USMNT attack in the 2014 World Cup in Brazil and beyond. After all, through an ugly start to his soccer career Jozy Altidore has flourished and made a name for himself... and he's only 23 years old.

September 24, 2012

DC United v Chivas USA in Pictures

Today marks the spawning of a new generation of DC United fans. My sons saw their first United game live and while my youngest didn't really realize we were at a game, my oldest watched large portions either on the field or on the big screen (amazed him at first). After the game he said he had a good time and he wants to go again. This bodes well for the future as he also enjoys watching parts of Manchester United games with me and knows whether they are in their red or white jerseys (his mom thought United was wearing red today against Liverpool, but he knew better). DC United had a rare dominant game with the only real threats coming at the end of each half. With him able to see and feel the roar of the stadium when United scored, he's hooked. On to the show though, you came here for the pictures (and two videos. One of a nice save by the Chivas keeper and one of the final whistle).

Parking Lot Pimpin

Pre-Game Playoff Push

United Warming Up

La Barra Brava/Screaming Eagles. Flags Waving

Line-Ups

Underway

Superhero Talon


Live at RFK

Dominating Play Early

Halftime

Flags Flying High To Start The Second Half

Goal United!

Hard Foul

Free Kick. Flags Still Flying


Legendary

Things Got Fierce Late


Game, Set, Match

Mingling

Thanks DC United

September 17, 2012

Vote or Don't

The age old thought is that democracy will not work if the people don't get out and vote. However there is another side to this argument. I will say that ideally all citizens legally allowed to vote should, in order to make this the most fair democracy possible. The problem is that it doesn't work out so cleanly in the end. With voting becoming almost pop culture with the "vote or die" fiasco and the peer pressure many face to "let their voice be heard", many people who wouldn't normally vote have come out of the woodwork the last two elections. The numbers aren't skyrocketing to never before seen heights and a lot of these voting movements are just big talk, but either way a troubling trend is occurring. People who know next to nothing about our government, it's mechanisms, nor the actual candidates are voting based off of what they read in 140 characters or hear in sound bytes. I know it happens every election, but recently the young vote has been the group targeted by candidates looking to take advantage of social networking. A huge flaw in the democratic process is also the greatest strength, anyone can vote. Scroll through your twitter/facebook timeline. Tell me how many of those people do you trust to have a say in the direction this country is going. I love America but I doubt a majority understand the electoral college and how it skews votes so that while everyone can vote, all of our votes are not equal. I also doubt that a majority of Americans realize that because of that fact, "that all men are created equal" really has no basis in reality socially, economically, or politically in this country. I'm not trying to say that certain people shouldn't vote and others should. Every individual has the right to choose who they wish for whatever reason they wish, this is America bish! It's just really important to take the time and learn the process. It's important to not listen to your candidates but read up on them and their voting history. It's important to be involved with voting not just during presidential elections, but also during Congressional, State, and Local elections. After all, the further down the totem pole you go, the more direct an impact your representative has on your daily life.

Birfday

How I feel with two kids (one of them with an ear infection) on my birthday. Thank you TSS and their comment section for introducing me to these mindless time consuming things called gifs. I am forever indebted.



Seriously though. It's my birthday. Deal with it. I'll try to get back on the grind today but we will see... yes, we will see.

September 11, 2012

9/11, "Never Forget" and Just how Un-American I am

"Never forget" is a bit irresponsible. We should all pay tribute in our own way to those lives lost on 9/11. But saying "never forget" is furthering the hatred and evil that coursed through this country in the years following 9/11. I mean why aren't we saying "never forget" for the thousands of civilian lives lost over in Iraq and Afghanistan? Do we as a people really think our lives are more important than others? I think what we should "never forget" is the actions of our government that led people to hate us with such passion that they would take it out on our civilians. Why are we not holding accountable the ones who created a foreign policy so oppressive that people felt the need to act on it? Why are we not holding ourselves accountable for allowing these actions to take place? After all we did vote the people into power who implemented those policies and reacted the way they did. I think today everyo
ne should take a minute and really reflect on why we should never forget 9/11. If its because it was a tragic loss of life then this post affects you in no way. However I think 9/11 should really teach people the importance of voting and selecting the people that represent our country. It should teach about how we need to be more involved not just in presidential elections but selecting your other representatives as well. Yes I am preaching. Yes I know this will miss many of you ideologically and others because it is too long. However I feel too strongly that this country is holding in anger against a group that has already been punished and that anger has obviously spread to hatred for a people or region of the world. So seriously, rather than just throwing out a "never forget" with a patriotic picture, how about you spend more than just one day a year thinking of the actions that led to 9/11 on both sides and the repercussions faced on both sides post 9/11. Nobody won. Everyone lost. Worldwide.

*steps down from soap-box, shakes head, walks away head down*