'Your papers, please' must never be heard in America
Jozy Altidore broke Clint Dempsey's record for most goals by an American in a European club season, scoring his 24th Sunday in AZ Alkmaar's 2-1 loss at RKC Waalwijk in the Dutch Eridivisie.
Jozy Altidore wants to move on from last week's racist chants directed at him during a Dutch Cup game.
The Dutch club Den Bosch pledged Wednesday to do all it can to identify and punish a group of fans who racially abused American forward Jozy Altidore during a game.
United States striker Jozy Altidore refuses to hold a grudge against fans who showered him with racist abuse during a match this week, saying: "We all make mistakes."
According to AZ's official twitter feed, referee Reinold Wiedemeijer wanted to stop the match in the first half "because of jungle sounds chanted at Altidore" but AZ players, including Altidore, who is black, persuaded him not to.
U.S. coach Jurgen Klinsmann changed all 11 starters from November's 2-2 tie at Russia and is likely to change the entire lineup against for the Feb. 6 qualifier against Honduras at San Pedro Sula.
With injuries to Steve Cherundolo and Fabian Johnson, and Danny Williams' lack of playing time, the U.S. has defensive worries heading into next week's World Cup qualifier at Honduras, the opener in the final round to get to next year's tournament in Brazil.
Mix Diskerud scored his first international goal in the third minute of injury time, giving the United States a 2-2 tie against Russia on Wednesday in an exhibition game at Krasnodar.
Eddie Johnson scored twice Friday night, including the winning goal in second-half injury time, lifting the United States to the verge of advancing in World Cup qualifying with a nervous 2-1 victory.
Jozy Altidore was dropped Monday from the U.S. roster for a pair of critical World Cup qualifiers after disappointing U.S. coach Jurgen Klinsmann in games and practice over the last year.
Jozy Altidore had the best scoring season by an American that wasn't seen back home in the United States.
When Herculez Gomez trotted onto the FedEx Field pitch Wednesday night for his first U.S. national team start in nearly two years, the journeyman striker looked at the Brazilian who would be marking him and saw AC Milan's Thiago Silva, one of the world's finest center backs.
For all the talk about the strides soccer has made in the United States, results of late have been stark and disappointing.
Jurgen Klinsmann is focusing on long-term changes and not short-term results. And that's OK with his boss at the U.S. Soccer Federation.
Defender Oguchi Onyewu will rejoin the U.S. men's national soccer team for upcoming matches against Honduras and Ecuador.
"It was an unfortunate event and very disappointing for everybody involved," Altidore said Monday in remarks released by the U.S. Soccer Federation. "I've spoken on it, and I felt I let all my thoughts out in that moment. I just hope that we can all just be better and that it never happens again."
Altidore told The Associated Press last week that when spectators made monkey chants during AZ Alkmaar's 5-0 win over Den Bosch on Jan. 29, it was a stain on all.
