Tweet
Back to front page »
February 28, 2008, 3:37 pm Jozy Altidore: Olympic Rings in Sight
By Jozy Altidore
Tags: Barcelona, Jozy Altidore, red bulls, U.S. U 23 mens team
Red Bulls forward Jozy Altidore contributes items for The New York Times Goal blog each week. Altidore is headed to Florida where he will train with the United States Olympic team while his club team, the New York Red Bulls, trains in Salzburg, Austria.
Red Bulls’ striker Jozy Altidore.
I’m still up here in New Jersey until later Thursday afternoon, moving into my new house. I’m getting all my stuff together for the trip back home to Florida and then over to Bradenton on Saturday.
I’ll get home in Boca, wash some of my dirties, do some running.
Yesterday was a real treat for me … I got to watch the Spanish Cup match during the day between Barcelona, my favorite team, and Valencia. It was only a 1-1 tie, but Barcelona pressed the whole game. I love games like that. In my opinion, Barcelona is one of the top 2-3 teams in the world and I look forward to a great finish in La Liga because Real Madrid is struggling and Barca is so hot.
It’s definitely unfortunate that I’m away from the Red Bulls right now. I really haven’t been with the guys for more than a day or two. And I really miss being around them. I haven’t seen anybody at all. Sure we’ve talked, but it’s been weird being with the national teams then being sent home from California.
It’s hard because there’s a new coach and he handles things differently. I kind of have an understanding what he wants, which is good. Of course everyone is always worried about where they stand in the team, but I know that my teammates, especially guys like Claudio [Reyna] and Juan Pablo [Angel] understand that I have duties outside the team. They’ve been through it themselves.
That said, it would have been nice to go to Europe because I’ve never been to Austria and I really wanted to see the Red Bull headquarters and meet the owner to understand what Red Bull is doing and putting all its resources behind us. It would have been nice to meet all the people and have a look around, but I also think that being involved in Olympic qualifying is important.
It’s a Catch-22, but you can’t say no to your country.
Once I get to Florida, I’m probably going to drive from Boca to Bradenton. It usually takes about two and a half hours … depending on who’s driving, of course!
One thing I’ve noticed as I’ve played for the 17s, the 20s and now the 23s again is that there is a lot of talent out there in the United States, and this team is going to be no different. The skills level has elevated, at the same time we always seem to be comfortable with each other. I believe we have all the ingredients to make it far in qualifying and in the Olympics.
And what I like about Coach [Peter] Nowak is that he’s always stressing the team, that we’re 11 guys out there who have to bring it all the time. Just three guys won’t cut it. We defend and attack as a team.
So here’s my prediction: We qualify.
At the Olympics? I really can’t look that far in advance. I can only focus on the now.
February 28, 2008, 3:37 pm Jozy Altidore: Olympic Rings in Sight
By Jozy Altidore
Tags: Barcelona, Jozy Altidore, red bulls, U.S. U 23 mens team
Red Bulls forward Jozy Altidore contributes items for The New York Times Goal blog each week. Altidore is headed to Florida where he will train with the United States Olympic team while his club team, the New York Red Bulls, trains in Salzburg, Austria.
Red Bulls’ striker Jozy Altidore.I’m still up here in New Jersey until later Thursday afternoon, moving into my new house. I’m getting all my stuff together for the trip back home to Florida and then over to Bradenton on Saturday.
I’ll get home in Boca, wash some of my dirties, do some running.
Yesterday was a real treat for me … I got to watch the Spanish Cup match during the day between Barcelona, my favorite team, and Valencia. It was only a 1-1 tie, but Barcelona pressed the whole game. I love games like that. In my opinion, Barcelona is one of the top 2-3 teams in the world and I look forward to a great finish in La Liga because Real Madrid is struggling and Barca is so hot.
It’s definitely unfortunate that I’m away from the Red Bulls right now. I really haven’t been with the guys for more than a day or two. And I really miss being around them. I haven’t seen anybody at all. Sure we’ve talked, but it’s been weird being with the national teams then being sent home from California.
It’s hard because there’s a new coach and he handles things differently. I kind of have an understanding what he wants, which is good. Of course everyone is always worried about where they stand in the team, but I know that my teammates, especially guys like Claudio [Reyna] and Juan Pablo [Angel] understand that I have duties outside the team. They’ve been through it themselves.
That said, it would have been nice to go to Europe because I’ve never been to Austria and I really wanted to see the Red Bull headquarters and meet the owner to understand what Red Bull is doing and putting all its resources behind us. It would have been nice to meet all the people and have a look around, but I also think that being involved in Olympic qualifying is important.
It’s a Catch-22, but you can’t say no to your country.
Once I get to Florida, I’m probably going to drive from Boca to Bradenton. It usually takes about two and a half hours … depending on who’s driving, of course!
One thing I’ve noticed as I’ve played for the 17s, the 20s and now the 23s again is that there is a lot of talent out there in the United States, and this team is going to be no different. The skills level has elevated, at the same time we always seem to be comfortable with each other. I believe we have all the ingredients to make it far in qualifying and in the Olympics.
And what I like about Coach [Peter] Nowak is that he’s always stressing the team, that we’re 11 guys out there who have to bring it all the time. Just three guys won’t cut it. We defend and attack as a team.
So here’s my prediction: We qualify.
At the Olympics? I really can’t look that far in advance. I can only focus on the now.
Comment