A year ago, Jozy Altidore exploded on the Major League Soccer scene. The 16-year-old scored three late-season goals to help lead the Red Bulls to the MLS Cup Playoffs and another in the second leg of the Eastern Conference Semifinal Series against D.C. United.
The striker from Newark, N.J., is a year older, two inches taller and ready to tackle his first full season as a professional.
"I learned that it's not always going to happen the way you want it sometimes," Altidore said. "The ball didn't bounce our way in the last few minutes [against D.C. United]. You just have to go with the flow."
And that's exactly what Altidore is doing this season. While the Red Bulls have shopped far and wide for additional scoring help, Altidore will likely be Bruce Arena's pick to start against the Columbus Crew to kick off the 2007 season.
"He's doing well. He's still a young kid," Arena said. "I'm always careful about making rash predictions about young kids. It hurts players psychologically in their development and once you lose your confidence it takes a while to build it back up. We want to give him gradual doses of stress, instead of throwing it all out there at once."
That's just fine with Altidore, who remains humble despite being tabbed by many as the future face of the league.
"A competitive player wants to start and I think everyone wants to start here," he said. "That's good to have going through the preseason. I'm just going to play well and whatever happens, happens."
One of Altidore's big goals this season is to compete in the FIFA Under-20 World Cup. He was included on Thomas Rongen's side for the successful qualifying campaign in January, but a stomach virus severely limited his availability.
"It was really depressing because I was looking forward to it, maybe playing well and opening some eyes, but I guess it wasn't to be," he said. "I got hurt and then I ate something and I could barely walk. It was terrible, but I'm going to recover from it, I'm going to work hard and hopefully make the squad for the summer tournament."
Still recovering, Altidore has been playing his way back into shape through the preseason.
"He came into the preseason I think in poor form and that's surprising because he came out of the U-20 camp," Arena said. "He didn't look sharp and it's taken him a while to get his feet on the ground. But he's doing fine now and I've been pretty pleased with him over the last couple of weeks.
"When we start the season, we don't get any bonus points for having a 17-year-old on the field, no one gives us extra credit," Arena added. "He's treated the same way as a 35-year-old veteran. He's got to step up, step on the field and show what he is. Nobody cares what his age is."
While Altidore has seemingly supplanted Freddy Adu as the future of Major League Soccer, former U.S. national team captain Claudio Reyna thinks Altidore's international career is bright, as well.
"He's got a really good attitude, but he's got to now learn in these years how to be a better professional," Reyna said. "Being around a lot of us he'll see what it is - to have a long career, you've got to do certain things right. I think he's on that way. Purely physically speaking, he's got the size, strength, pace and he's technically very good. He's a guy who could be a target guy and play a lot of games. I'd be surprised if he doesn't rack up many, many caps in his career."
Altidore's first MLS goal was Sept. 16, 2006, a spectacular, knuckling blast from 30 yards out that beat Columbus goalkeeper Bill Gaudette in the 83rd minute, lifting the Red Bulls to a critical 1-0 win at Giants Stadium. He scored his second in a loss at D.C. United and added his third in four games - and in his first start - as the Red Bulls beat Chicago 1-0 on Sept. 30.
He took his hot streak into the postseason, becoming the youngest player to score in the MLS Cup Playoffs, heading Amado Guevara's free kick past Troy Perkins to level the semifinal series with D.C. United.
While he had a dream ending to the 2006 season, it's behind him now. Altidore has placed an emphasis on the Columbus Crew this Saturday and would love a good start to the MLS season. Altidore is anxious to prove there is no sophomore slump.
"I just want to play well and show everyone I wasn't a hoax," Altidore said. "I just want to go out there and show what I can do to everybody. Hopefully this summer at the [Under-20] World Cup, show I can play. I want to prove people wrong."
Dylan Butler is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
