USA Vs. Canada, Gold Cup 2011: Jozy Altidore Playing With Life

Jozy Altidore is playing hard, chasing after 50/50 balls, pressuring the ball high when defending, shielding defenders in his hold up play and making good runs to open up space for others. That may seem like the basic things a forward should do, but they are things that Altidore hasn't done consistently and seeing him do them now is a major positive for the Americans. There is no doubt that his earlier goal helped him play with life, but he was bright before he scored with good energy from the very first kick.

The last time that the U.S. played before getting together for the summer was against Paraguay and it was arguably Altidore's worst match ever in a U.S. shirt. He was absolutely listless and wasn't involved in the match whatsoever. For a striker who has been struggled to score, you would think that he would work hard to make an impact in other ways, but Altidore wasn't doing that.