TORONTO -- Jozy Altidore and Jermain Defoe. Two forwards who will forever be inextricably linked after swapping clubs in January will face each other for the first time on Wednesday at BMO Field when Toronto FC host Sunderland AFC (7 pm ET, LIVE STREAM on YouTube.com).
At the time, the swap was convenient for both big-money forwards. Altidore had become a maligned figure at relegation-threatened Sunderland after scoring just one goal in his eighteen-month spell with the Black Cats. Meanwhile, Defoe started brightly with TFC and logged more goals (11 in 2014), but he was nagged by a groin injury throughout his brief spell and also fell out of favor with the locals who felt it was increasingly clear he longed for home.
Although Altidore may not be at peak fitness just yet – he left the USMNT squad for the Gold Cup knockout rounds – the 25-year-old has surpassed his Sunderland output with Toronto: Six MLS goals in just 11 league starts.
“I’m a huge family person and the fact that I have my family close by has been tremendous for me and has made it easier for me to adjust,” Altidore told media on Tuesday in the lead-up to the match. “Absolutely [I made the right decision to come to Toronto]. I’m happy here. I couldn’t’ be happier.”
But Altidore also hasn’t shied away in the past when discussing his struggles at Sunderland.
“It was a tough experience,” he told media at USMNT January camp. “I don't think I fit for Sunderland, and Sunderland didn't fit for me. Sometimes that happens. I tried to play in different ways, but it didn't fit. I'm a certain player, and they play a certain way. Sometimes it just doesn't work out.”
After Altidore departed, Sunderland still struggled to produce in the attack, scoring just 31 goals over the course of the EPL season. Even a striker of Defoe's experience found it difficult when he got there, finding the back of the net four times through 17 matches after the move.
Speaking with a skeleton media crew on Tuesday ahead of the friendly, the 32-year-old Defoe pointed to injury as the primary reason his MLS move did not work out.
“I was quite frustrated,” Defoe said. “I came from Tottenham, didn't even have a rest, came straight to play. I wanted to play. It was a difficult time for me. I had a double operation, a double repair. For me, when I look back, it's just unfortunate that I got an injury.”
After starting 13 of Toronto’s first 16 MLS matches in 2014, Defoe only resurfaced for six of the final 18 and he faced increasingly critical articles about his attitude, which puzzle Defoe to this day.
“The thing that disappointed me was there was stuff that was written about me at the time … that I didn't really understand,” Defoe said Tuesday. “I was getting criticized for missing games. The reason I was missing games is that the adductor muscle in my groin was ripped off the bone and I was playing with a hernia for three months."
The media and supporters, however, were unforgiving and the Defoe experiment was soon over. But the experience still proved beneficial for Toronto: Not only did the club receive a proven USMNT goal scorer in Altidore and cash in compensation for Defoe, but it also learned an important lesson, which ultimately helped with landing arguably the best player in TFC history: early MLS MVP candidate Sebastian Giovinco.
“We learned what to do and what not do,” TFC GM Tim Bezbatchenko told the Toronto Sun in January. “Giovinco was willing to meet us halfway. Last time [with Defoe], we went out, picked our player and threw everything at him. This time, we made sure and said, ‘This is an important project. You have to want to do this, too.’ ”
The Eastern Conference standings are proof enough that Toronto FC is clearly in a better place compared to 2014. Defoe and Altidore would probably say the same thing about themselves.
Wednesday night gives them a chance to prove it against their former clubs.
