CHESTER, Pa. – Jozy Altidore still can't find his scoring touch.
Three days after scoring his 10th US goal against Poland, the young American striker couldn't finish his solitary chance in Tuesday night's match against Colombia at PPL Park.
Bob Bradley, who thought his forward acquitted himself well vs. Poland, sounded less enthused about the effort against the South American side.
"Tonight, I didn't think he was as sharp," the United States manager said at the press conference after Tuesday night's scoreless draw.
The United States played a 4-3-3 in the first half and Altidore found himself without service. When he did receive the ball, he was isolated by himself and had trouble locating his teammates. It made for a frustrating night for the 20-year-old.
"Today we tried something different but I don't feel comfortable with it, which is normal," he said. "I myself wasn't the sharpest. I was real sloppy on a lot of balls.
"[In] today's formation you stay high and you hope that everything goes well and you score three tap-ins. The 4-3-3 didn't go well for us today. But you have to work on these things, you have to try them. If it works, it works; if it fails, it fails."
On a chilly night in Pennsylvania, the effort failed.
After 45 minutes, the US switched to a more traditional two-striker set with Eddie Johnson joining the Villarreal forward. The pair had a bit of success playing off each other, but they still couldn't be dangerous.
As always, the lack of production from the US forward corps is a concern for the American manager. Bradley mentioned seeing flashes of "good things" from Charlie Davies (pre-injury), Robbie Findley and Edson Buddle, but the search is far from over.
"We continue to now size up different guys, different options, but the bottom line still is that like a lot of countries in the world we continue to look for players that we think at the international level can really have a presence and score goals," Bradley said.
"That's an ongoing search for sure and we feel we've got some different options but at the same time, it's an area where we'd like to improve."
Left unstated was the reality that no one on the list has stepped up and proved he can thrive at the striker spot on a consistent basis.
Noah
Davis (@noahedavis) covers the United States men's national team for MLSsoccer.com.
