Reconsidering Jozy Altidore

For years, Jozy Altidore has been America's "if only" player, the guy with all the physical attributes and necessary skill marred by inconsistent play and untimely injuries. In a particularly telling sequence of events prior to last year's World Cup, much of the press speculated on if or when Altidore would climb out of a goal slump. But Altidore got injured in the opening match of the tournament, which made the whole discussion moot.

Now, Altidore is being replaced by Alan Gordon for the knockout rounds of the Gold Cup likely due to a lingering hamstring issue. Whether or not Altidore is a reliable contributor to the national team is no longer the debate. We know he isn't. So the question becomes: what now?

First things first: Altidore isn't finished. This is an indisputable fact demonstrated by his age (25) and current performance at the club level (.65 goals per 90 minutes). Any U.S. fan ought to root for Altidore, because the team is better with him on the roster performing at or near his best. But it is time to consider his role as automatic starter.

For the first time, Altidore has real competition, with even more coming through the pipeline. Consider the other forwards on the 2010 World Cup roster whom Altidore had to compete against for playing time: Herculez Gomez, Edson Buddle, and Robbie Findley.

In Brazil last year, his fellow US forwards were Aron Johannsson—a talented goal-scorer who was also battling an injury for the entire tournament—and Chris Wondolowski. Johannsson was pushing Altidore hard for his starting spot, but injuries to both players prevented Klinsmann from truly making a choice.

Going forward, Klinsmann can now select from Altidore, Johannsson, and the out-of-nowhere 23 year old Gyasi Zardes who has many Americans cautiously excited due to his energetic niftiness and skunk-inspired hair.

Perhaps it's the devil you know versus the devil you don't, but the alternatives appear more attractive by the day. Zardes is not quite as strong as Jozy but he's quicker, shiftier, less predictable on the ball, and tracks back better—a trait desperately needed whenever Dempsey is lying in existential despair because he didn't get the foul call. Johannsson may be equally plagued by injuries as Altidore, but he's a better passer, finisher, and has more instinctive positioning in the box.

Looking forward, Klinsmann has to be excited about 19 year old Rubio Rubin—currently gaining European experience at Utrecht—and even 20 year old Jordan Morris out of Stanford who has impressed U-23 observers over the last few months.

In the past, so much of the American goal-scoring threat had to come from forwards. But this changed last year as fullbacks DeAndre Yedlin and Fabian Johnson showed a real flare for igniting attacks. Now, the American system doesn't demand a big, strong, athletic striker who needs to make his own luck. It needs a player who can read others, make calculated runs, and finish reliably. It's simply a different skill set that doesn't let Altidore do what he does best: beat the shit out of defenders.

But this isn't bad! At the risk of stating the obvious, it's good to have players in the same position who complement each other well, and that's exactly what an Altidore/Zardes/Johannsson trio does. It gives Klinsmann options to play to opponents rather than being three ways to fucked when Altidore has to go up against a big, physical centerback. The US no longer needs to pretend it's a team of superheroes. We can be like every other soccer team now. That's a good thing.

In some ways, the Altidore situation mirrors so much of the American soccer transition over the last five years as the team tries to elevate its game to match the roster's influx of talent. With two capable replacements and two more promising players rising the youth ranks, Altidore will have to prove the starting striker role still belongs to him, or possibly play a super sub role (again, not a bad thing to have). Maybe Klinsmann will find that's best. Either way, he will get to choose. Would that be such a bad thing?