Jozy Altidore is one of the stars on the USMNT. When he went down during the 2014 World Cup with an eventual hamstring injury, fans held their breath out of worry. The team was different without Altidore on that field, and they may had advanced farther with him. Yet against Switzerland on Tuesday, Altidore looked nothing like a leader and oft captain of the USMNT; he looked like a young soccer player that has yet to mature.
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Throughout the game, Altidore was chirping with the ref over his displeasure of certain calls. In the second half with about ten minutes to go, he fouled a Swiss defender. Immediately after the play, the referee pulled out a yellow card until Altidore cursed him out and that quickly led to a red card. It’s still unknown whether he was given two yellows or a straight red, but that is beside the main point.
Altidore has been apart of the USMNT for quite some time now. He’s a leader on the team made his 80th cap against Switzerland. Among those games, he’s been captain multiple times. For Jurgen Klinsmann, he gives the armband to players that have proven themselves on and off the field, shown maturity, and lastly are leaders within their national and club teams.
His actions on the field against Switzerland showed none of the above. Altidore acted like a selfish diva that wasn’t getting their way. In fact, the referee called a fair game and Altidore seemed to have pissed him off by continually complaining about the calls. It isn’t Altidore’s place to complain to the center official since he wasn’t the USMNT’s captain. The captain for Tuesday’s match was TFC teammate Michael Bradley, who didn’t seem to have as many issues with the ref as Altidore.
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Due to Altidore’s unprofessional actions that saw him red carded for dropping the F-Bomb, the USMNT had to play down a man. They gave up another late goal not solely due to being down a man, but because they didn’t mark their opponents well of the set-piece and failed to clear. Yet, the game would have looked different if Altidore would have maturely kept his mouth shut, accepted his yellow card for the foul, and moved on. It’s possible he could have scored given how the USMNT were actually sustaining pressure and finding ways to come up with scoring opportunities.
For the USMNT to succeed moving further, many things need to happen. However, Altidore must act more mature and not complain about the officiating throughout an entire match. Instead, he should be focusing on his play and his responsibilities within the game being played. This sets a good example for younger USMNT players and he then is an effective leader and mentor. Life presents us all with teachable moments and Altidore must learn from his teachable moment today, or else he could become a poison to the USMNT.