It will be at least 10 days more before US national team fans can revel in the glory of a much-needed win, but they were able to check one item off their wish list after Wednesday’s 3-2 loss to Chile: a Jozy Altidore goal.
The Toronto FC striker, recently returned to MLS after a rocky 18-month stint at Sunderland, opened 2015 on a positive note when he scored the second US goal off a well-worked move from DeAndre Yedlin and Mix Diskerud to set Altidore up for a precise far-post finish.
“It’s a great play from DeAndre individually, first to get the throw-in and then Mix had the vision to pick me out,” Altidore told the Fox Sports 1 broadcast after the game. “It was all about the build-up – a great pass from Mix and then I just tried to pick a spot and then put it there.”
A relief for Altidore and those eager to see him succeed after a miserable 18-month spell at Sunderland, to be sure, but it was ultimately not enough as the US gave up a pair of second-half goals and slinked to a third straight defeat that also left them winless in their last five.
Still, Altidore drew plenty of attention not just for his goal, but for a strong defensive effort against the high-pressing Chileans.
“I’m just trying to help out. When you see a hole, you see a gap you try to help out,” he said of his defensive effort on the night. “Look, a lot of us coming back to MLS, they don’t have their legs yet, we’re all kind of coming in preseason form so it’s not going to be perfect, but the good thing is that we got a good 90 minutes under our legs, and we need to bounce back against Panama at home.”
There was another complicating factor in that head coach Jurgen Klinsmann opted for a much-discussed 3-5-2 formation from the outset of the game, a setup the US has rarely used and thus required some adjustment. The two first-half goals were a strong early return, but defensive questions prompted a switch to a 4-4-2 in the second half.
“With the 3-5-2, I think, it was difficult because we had a lot of guys in camp, younger guys from the Olympic team, and also guys that hadn’t been around, and we were just trying to see if we could play that formation,” Altidore explained. “Obviously in the first half we allowed them too much time and space to pick out a man, especially in the wide areas, so we tried to switch back to the more comfortable which is the 4-4-1-1, 4-4-2, but we just couldn’t [get] a rhythm.
“That’s what it came down to – we couldn’t keep ahold of the ball.”
Aside from learning a new formation with the national team, one of the big challenges individually for Altidore will be to show he can score the kinds of goals he netted on Wednesday on a consistent basis when he begins the MLS campaign with Toronto. The move has prompted a few questions from critics who thought staying in Europe – Lille and Werder Bremen were reportedly suitors – would be the best step for the 25-year-old’s development, but Altidore downplayed that criticism.
“I don’t see how coming back to a place where you’re going to get games, a place where there’s a lot of expectations to win finally, in that type of market, I don’t see how that can hurt somebody,” remarked Altidore. “Maybe I’m seeing totally the wrong thing, but I think it’s going to be a very big component for myself.
“I don’t think it’s going to be the walk in the park people think it is, so I think I’m going to improve and I wouldn’t have done the move if I didn’t think I could improve and then try to contribute that to the national team … I want to get better and I thought this was a perfect place to do that.”
