The US national team and Jozy Altidore are on a roll.
On Wednesday night in Sarajevo, Jurgen Klinsmann's squad registered their 12th straight win, 4-3, after a sensational second-half comeback. Down 2-0 at the half, the Americans scored four after the break, including three by red-hot forward Jozy Altidore.
"It feels great," Altidore told ESPN after the match. "I think more than anything the team, we win another game. The confidence is high. It's good for us now going into the next two qualifiers."
Altidore became the first US player to score in five consecutive appearances, and has now scored eight goals in his past five US games.
The US struggled to create any scoring threats in the first half, when Klinsmann fielded a 4-2-3-1 formation with Eddie Johnson and Alejandro Bedoya playing on the wings on either side of Altidore, who served as the one forward.
Bosnia's lethal strike partnership of Edin Dzeko and Vedad Ibisevic didn't have as many problems, scoring twice to give the home team a 2-0 lead.
"I think the first half we played well," Altidore told ESPN. "It was the little mental errors we have still have that occur occasionally in games that we need to cut out. We held Bosnia pretty well. It was two mistakes that we let goals in that we just have to improve."
After the break the tactics changed with Johnson moving up top with Altidore in a 4-4-2 and the two combined for a goal by Johnson in the 55th minute.
Altidore then proceeded to score a hat trick with his left foot (59th minute), on a free kick (85th minute) and with his right foot (86th minute) to help the US register there first come-from-behind win on European soil.
"It comes from us finally clicking and I think everybody buying into Jurgen [Klinsmann] and his method," Altidore said. "Bob [Bradley] started it and now he's carried it on. And I think everybody has finally responded to trying playing football and playing out of the back and you see we created chances. I think it's been effective.
"We came in here and said we can beat this team," he continued. "We have more weapons and we're just as confident as [Bosnia] are. We just have to put passes together and people were confident and they saw in the second half we created so many chances. Still we had lapses. But it's good to get a victory here."
The US carry their historic winning streak into two CONCACAF World Cup qualifiers in Costa Rica (Sept. 6) and against Mexico at Columbus Crew Stadium (Sept. 10). Meanwhile, Altidore rejoins his new club team Sunderland, which opens English Premier League action on Saturday at home to Fulham.
"This team is coming together at the right time," Altidore said. "We still have some things to work on, but it's coming together and the bigger picture is the World Cup and getting ready for that."
