Tweet
February 12, 2008, 4:41 pm Red Bulls Give Altidore Some R&R
By Jack Bell
Tags: Jozy Altidore
Teenagers need their rest, so the New York Red Bulls on Monday sent home to Florida their 18-year-old rising star, Jozy Altidore, until the club leaves for training in Austria on Feb. 25.
Altidore became the youngest American player to score a goal in a senior international match when he he earned his first start for the United States national team last Wednesday against Mexico in Houston. After the match, he joined the Red Bulls in California for preparatory sessions that the striker hardly needs, in the view of the team’s new coach, Juan Carlos Osorio.
“I think Juan pretty much took his cleats away from him!” Brian Tsao, a team spokesman, said Monday in a tongue-in-cheek e-mail message.
Since the Red Bulls finished their season last Nov. 3, Altidore has had little time off. He traveled to South Africa and made his national team debut on Nov. 17, in a friendly against the nation that will play host to the 2010 World Cup. In early December he joined the United States Olympic team for training as it prepared for a two games in China. Altidore was back home for the holidays, but was summoned to a national team camp in California by Coach Bob Bradley early in January and then played a strong 45 minutes against Sweden on Jan. 19.
Then it was back to Florida, not for some time at home, but another Olympic team training camp from where Altidore again joined the national team for the match against Mexico.
Altidore has been surrounded by talk of a move to a European club and last week said on The New York Times Goal blog that he had meet with Steve Coppell, the coach of Reading of the English Premier League during last month’s European transfer window. Reading already has two Americans — Bobby Convey and Marcus Hahnemann — on its roster.
“I’m not going to lie about it,” he said. “Reading had some interest in me, but in the end I’m playing for the Red Bulls now.”
Looking ahead to the rest of 2008, Altidore will be involved in another M.L.S. season, qualifying matches next month for the Olympics in Bejing, World Cup qualifiers in the summer and perhaps another trip to China for the Summer Games.
By Jack Bell
Tags: Jozy Altidore
Teenagers need their rest, so the New York Red Bulls on Monday sent home to Florida their 18-year-old rising star, Jozy Altidore, until the club leaves for training in Austria on Feb. 25.
Altidore became the youngest American player to score a goal in a senior international match when he he earned his first start for the United States national team last Wednesday against Mexico in Houston. After the match, he joined the Red Bulls in California for preparatory sessions that the striker hardly needs, in the view of the team’s new coach, Juan Carlos Osorio.
“I think Juan pretty much took his cleats away from him!” Brian Tsao, a team spokesman, said Monday in a tongue-in-cheek e-mail message.
Since the Red Bulls finished their season last Nov. 3, Altidore has had little time off. He traveled to South Africa and made his national team debut on Nov. 17, in a friendly against the nation that will play host to the 2010 World Cup. In early December he joined the United States Olympic team for training as it prepared for a two games in China. Altidore was back home for the holidays, but was summoned to a national team camp in California by Coach Bob Bradley early in January and then played a strong 45 minutes against Sweden on Jan. 19.
Then it was back to Florida, not for some time at home, but another Olympic team training camp from where Altidore again joined the national team for the match against Mexico.
Altidore has been surrounded by talk of a move to a European club and last week said on The New York Times Goal blog that he had meet with Steve Coppell, the coach of Reading of the English Premier League during last month’s European transfer window. Reading already has two Americans — Bobby Convey and Marcus Hahnemann — on its roster.
“I’m not going to lie about it,” he said. “Reading had some interest in me, but in the end I’m playing for the Red Bulls now.”
Looking ahead to the rest of 2008, Altidore will be involved in another M.L.S. season, qualifying matches next month for the Olympics in Bejing, World Cup qualifiers in the summer and perhaps another trip to China for the Summer Games.