It’s been quite the year already for Jozy Altidore.
From the headline-grabbing move from the English Premier League to MLS with Toronto FC to rejoining the US national team amidst their post-World Cup struggles, Altidore has been front and center in the American soccer world in 2015.
And in an interview on America’s Pregame on Fox Sports 1 on Tuesday, Altidore discussed all of it. He said he feels the national team struggles are do mostly in part to transitioning from a grueling World Cup in Brazil to a new cycle with new players, and that they will turn things around when it matters after having won just once in their last nine matches, with three straight losses after last week's 3-2 defeat to Chile.
The team’s current January camp is made up of a mixture of mainstays such as Altidore and younger players just beginning their senior-team careers.
“You have a lot of young guys coming in and getting their first caps, and I think they need their time to get accustomed to the higher level,” Altidore said. “And I think that’s a natural process that any national team goes through.”
Altidore said the fact that MLS players, which made up a bulk of the USMNT’s roster for the Chile match, are just beginning their preseason also had something to do with their form.
“You look at the first 60 minutes of that Chile game, and I thought the guys did really well,” Altidore said. “I thought we played really well for the parts of the game, and then we kind of ran out of gas. It’s almost similar to the NFL where you play three quarters with the first team and then the fourth quarter they kind of bring in guys to kind of get experience and get a game in. So as the game is still important, you still have to understand that a lot of guys are getting their first cap and getting their first experience.”
Altidore treaded lightly when he was specifically asked about head coach Jurgen Klinsmann’s comments following the loss to Chile, saying that his players’ fitness wasn’t where it needed to be and that the culture of soccer in North America doesn’t foster a competitive enough post-World Cup environment.
“I think a lot of the guys, like I said before, it’s a bit of a transition,” he said.
Altidore also touched on his decision-making process of leaving Sunderland to re-join the league where he started his professional career.
“I think the project in Toronto was something I think that any player would be excited about,” Altidore said. “It’s one that’s going test me in a lot of ways, a lot of similar ways that I was tested in Europe, so I figure it’s a step in the right direction and a step that’s going to help me improve as a player and a person.
“[Klinsmann’s] been very open, very honest about how he feels certain players should approach certain situations in their career. But I think from player to player it differs. So for me, I thought this particular challenge that I have in Toronto I think will still help me improve and will still help me keep my level high enough to contribute at the national team or else I wouldn’t have made this decision.”
