After a solid World Cup debut against England, Boca Raton product and U.S. striker Jozy Altidore was a key in today's amazing 2-2 draw with Slovenia.
After an early run on goal, Altidore had a quiet first half. He wasn't alone; the entire team looked sluggish out of the gate and the score was 2-0 Slovenia at halftime.
But early in the second half, the Slovenian defenders realized they couldn't handle Altidore, who's built like a linebacker with sprinter speed.
The broad-shouldered 20 year old was fouled numerous times throughout the second half. He won every ball he went up for, and at one point it looked like Altidore was goal keeper Tim Howard's first target on punts.
Altidore got the assist on Michael Bradley's game-tieing goal in the 81st minute. Landon Donovan served a great ball into the box and Altidore leaped over his defender to head the ball down, over another defender, right to an oncoming Bradley, who burried it in the back of the net.
Altidore was also the catalyst for the last, most controversial play of the game. It was a foul against Altidore (replays showed Altidore did all he could to elicit the call) just outside the box that prompted the U.S. freekick that led to the (wrongfully) overturned goal.
It's still not clear what the referee was calling when he waived off the goal (possibly offsides, though nobody was; possibly a foul against a U.S. player, though nobody knows who) but Altidore was in the mix at the edge of the 6-yard box then too.
Depending on the result of the England-Algeria match today, the U.S. could still control its own fate when we play Algeria next week. But however that turns out, today Jozy Altidore made a lot of people in South Florida proud.
