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.
