Jozy Altidore’s goal in the 89th minute was the difference for the USMNT against Canada.
By Ivan Yeo
It’s a dream start to 2016 for Jozy Altidore.
Altidore was at it again for the U.S. National team against Canada on Friday night. Altidore was firing away from just about every part of the field, but it took until the match’s waning moments for Altidore to finally hit the back net, as his header in the final minute of regulation time propelled the U.S. to a 1-0 win over Canada at the StubHub Center.
“We more than deserved that result,” U.S. Head Coach Jurgen Klinsmann said. “The second half, there was only one team playing, and that was us.”
After 89 minutes of chance after chance going awry, the U.S. finally had its breakthrough. Ethan Finlay, who had subbed in a minute earlier, held the ball at the left side of the Canada penalty area, then crossed a ball towards the six-yard box, Altidore jumped and got his head on the ball and the header got past keeper Maxime Crepeau
into the back net.
“It was good for the whole team,” Altidore said of his goal. “It gave the whole team a lift, everyone was excited, it’s been a long month putting all the work in as a team and as a group, so to end it and celebrate as a group was good.”
Altidore was clearly on his game on Friday night. Altidore got his first scoring chance in the 17th minute when Zardes played a ball to him, Altidore shot, but the ball hit off the near post. Altidore then played the role of facilitator later in the half, as he chipped a ball to a sprinting Jordan Morris into the penalty area, Morris in turn tried to chip a ball over Crepeau into the goal, but it missed the far post and Gyasi Zardes came in too late to get any sort of rebound shot.
“The finishing wasn’t quite there, but you saw us connecting pretty well,” Morris said about the team’s play.
Altidore continued to stay aggressive in the second half. Altidore fired a laser just outside the penalty area in the 55th minute, but it was calmly saved by Crepeau. Altidore’s next two scoring chances were free kicks. The first set piece hit off a Canada wall and the second set piece just missed the near post.
Of course Altidore wasn’t alone on the attack. The U.S. as a whole won the possession battle by a long shot while defensively, they limited Canada’s possession and scoring chances, also by a long shot. The U.S. could’ve easily had more than one goal if not for the efforts of Canada keeper Crepeau, who made 17 saves on the night.
“His performance was very good,” Canada head coach Benito Floro said. “Crepeau is one of the younger players we believe in a lot.”
Two games into the calendar year, the USMNT is off to a good start. Granted it’s way early in the year and the level of competition will only improve as the year goes along. Still, after a dismal 2015, the USMNT will take any positive results, especially since the U.S. will jump right back into World Cup qualifying in March with a home-and-home series against Guatemala. One thing is becoming more and more apparent though, if the U.S. is to have success in 2016, Jozy Altidore will be a huge reason for that success.
