Jurgen Klinsmann has told troubled United States forward Jozy
Altidore that the onus is on him to cure his miserable form and end his
goal-scoring drought in time for the World Cup.
Out
of all the players on Klinsmann's final 23-man roster, Altidore may be
the one bringing in the worst run at club level. In 31 games for
Sunderland in the English Premier League, he managed to score just once
all season.
Heading into Tuesday's friendly against Azerbaijan at
Candlestick Park, the first of the U.S.'s three tune-up games before
heading to Brazil, Klinsmann would love for the 24-year-old, who will be
the focal point of the American attack, to finally rediscover his form.
"Jozy
is sharp, he is hungry and he is scoring [in training]," Klinsmann
said. "With every day of work he puts himself in a better position and
puts himself into more confidence. We want to build on that. We want him
to work more every day.
"And then, a striker has got to solve it himself as well."
Altidore
enjoyed a superb 2012-13 campaign, scoring 31 goals in all competitions
for AZ Alkmaar including 23 in the Dutch Eredivisie. His outstanding
displays in Holland caught the attention of Sunderland, which came
knocking with a transfer offer of around $10 million to pry him away.
Things
did not go well in the northeast of England, though. Altidore struggled
to adjust to the pace and physicality of the Premier League and failed
to adapt as Sunderland looked doomed for relegation when the Black Cats
sat bottom of the table at Christmas. What transpired was a minor
miracle as new boss Gus Poyet masterminded an extraordinary revival that
would eventually lead the team to safety with late-season wins at
Chelsea and Manchester United and a plucky draw at Manchester City.
But
that epic surge rarely featured Altidore, who was first bumped out of
the starting 11 by Connor Wickham. An impressive scoring run by Wickham
kept Altidore on the substitutes' bench.
Altidore doesn't have to
worry about playing time with the U.S. – he'll start at the top of the
attacking formation just ahead of Clint Dempsey – but a strong
performance against Azerbaijan will be important. Klinsmann would love
to see Altidore hit the net when the Americans open the World Cup
against Ghana on June 16.
"He is on a very good path," Klinsmann
said of Altidore. "From what we see obviously psychologically he has to
leave behind that entire season with Sunderland. It is a season that
ended thankfully positively for the club being not relegated after being
in the danger zone.
"But for him personally it was not what he
expected. So the good thing about sports in general is that you are
always looking forward to the next game or the next challenge and he has
already forgotten what happened during the whole of last year."
Altidore burst onto the scene as a teenage phenom with the
New York Red Bulls
in 2007, but with the exception of his time at Alkmaar, he has often
found life difficult in the European leagues. The Premier League, in
particular, has not been to his liking. His first Premiership stint came
at
Hull City just before the 2010 World Cup, and it wasn't a particularly happy experience as Altidore scored only one goal in 28 games.
The
method Klinsmann wishes to play, with a big and physical striker
combined with Dempsey in a front-line tandem, means Altidore plays a key
role. There is no real back-up for him in this system – Terrence Boyd
was the closest thing to an Altidore clone in the initial squad of 30
but was among the final seven cuts last week – and that's why Klinsmann
has pushed him in training, trying to cajole the kind of world-class
displays he is convinced Altidore can produce.
"I think we got
already a couple of good answers from Jozy in the last two weeks here,"
Klinsmann said. "He has got to go out there and be hungry and once you
get an opportunity you've got to put the ball away."
American fans have waited all season to see Altidore hit top form. They, and Klinsmann, can't afford to wait much longer.
Jozy Altidore under pressure to regain scoring form in time for World Cup - Yahoo Sports
