TORONTO – Jozy's on fire, your defense is terrified.
Or at least, it ought to be.
With recurrent hamstring injuries, Jozy Altidore's 2016 season started slowly. Despite waiting until July 31, his 10th appearance of the season, to score his first goal, he hasn't looked back.
Altidore registered 10 goals and four assists in his next 14 appearances, including a goal and an assist in Toronto FC's 3-1 win over Philadelphia on Wednesday in the Knockout Round.
As the 2016 Audi MLS Cup Playoffs continue, with TFC hosting New York City FC on Sunday night in the first leg of the Eastern Conference Semifinal (7 pm ET, FS1 | TSN1/4 in Canada), the club will look to Altidore to lead them to glory.
“This is what we always knew he was capable of,” said TFC head coach Greg Vanney from training on Friday. “It's something you see from [Didier] Drogba. Try to physically deal with him, and he would just dominate you – I can speak from experience on that. Jozy's the same way. If you try to deal with him physically, he will throw you around like a rag doll; if you try to deal with him in other ways, he can run by you, he has that change of speed. He becomes very difficult to deal with.”
“His mindset has been fantastic; he's brought a new level of intensity since coming back,” continued Vanney. “When he gets running, [he] becomes an absolute nightmare. That's part of how he set up the first goal [against Philadelphia]: he gets on the turn, barrels into the box, and [Andre] Blake was a little uncertain whether he should go into that and it gave [Altidore] just enough time to get that ball back in front of the goal.”
Altidore's hustle and deft touch found Sebastian Giovinco in the middle, who gracefully placed his volleyed finish off the underside of the bar to settle any lingering nerves in the 15th minute, setting the stage for victory on an historic night.
“[Altidore] requires so much attention in those moments that it helps to free up Sebastian,” added Vanney.
“It's no secret we are at our best when Seba and Jozy are on the field together,” confirmed midfielder Michael Bradley. “Their ability to play off of one another, to occupy defenders so the other has more space, their quality, and ability to make something from nothing... these are important for us. Tactically, it presents an interesting challenge because there aren't many teams who play with two out-and-out forwards. We do, and we have two of the best.”
