A Name to Remember: Jozy Altidore

By: Bob | October 20th, 2006

Soccer fans around the world know about the much hyped American teenager Freddy Adu, but in Saturday’s match between Adu’s DC United and the New York Red Bulls there will be another teenager on display who is starting to make a name of his own.

Five months younger than Adu, 16-year-old Red Bulls forward Josmer “Jozy” Altidore has shown in his brief MLS career that he has a knack for scoring goals. Altidore was inserted into the Red Bulls lineup by coach Bruce Arena in early September and he has scored three goals in seven games. That is one more goal than Adu scored in 29 games this season for DC United.

Altidore, whose parents were born in Haiti, was born in Newark, New Jersey and attends high school in Florida. As a member of the United States U-17 team, he has scored 19 goals in 25 games.

He is still quite young and his talents are raw, but Altidore could be a player who is destined to move on from MLS to one of the big European leagues and he could someday join Adu in wearing the red, white and blue of the U.S. national team.

Video below of his first goal in MLS, a blast against the Columbus Crew in September.