Altidore on the board, Team USA lets one get away

By: Steve | August 11th, 2008

Saturday morning, the US olympic team was on the verge of a historical 2-1 victory against Holland, before Gerald Sibon got lucky with a free kick he put under the wall, skipping it past Guzan for the tie.

Beckham always says that the laziest approach to a free kick it to blast it under a jumping wall’s feet, but I am sure Sibon could care less what Beckham thinks in this case. Holland dealt a gut blow to the US team, who were seconds away from a quarterfinal berth but now must tie or win against a tough Nigerian side to move on.

The team will be without Adu and Bradley, as both recieved their second yellow card in as many games. Danny Szeltza and Benny Feilhaber will most likely step in to start.

Altidore came on as a sub and scored with his knee off a blistering cross from Michael Orozco who was once again impressive on both sides of the field. It was such a hard cross that Jozy simply had to get in its way to put it in.

“It happened so fast. It stared with a throw-in from Marvell, and it was pinging around the box and I got it to Orozco,” said Altidore. “I just put myself in a spot where I thought the ball was going to end up, and luckily for me it actually took a deflection off the defender and came right to me and I just tapped it in.”

As for those concerned about Jozy not starting, it seems that an ankle injury he sustained in Red Bulls training when he ran into Juan Pablo Angel is still giving him trouble. Both Nowak, the coach and the player himself insist that his use as a sub is a tactical choice, but the young striker has admitted that his left ankle is bothering him more than people realize:

“It’s still bothering me,” Altidore said. “I get it looked at every day, just trying to get it better and better, but it seems to be something that when I get back to my club maybe I need to have someone else look at it.”

Let’s hope it is not anything too serious.

You have to love the swagger off this team. They have a world-beater attitude and may still surprise in the tournament.

Check out highlights of the game by clicking this LINK.