Congratulations to Jozy Altidore on going to Villareal

Reports are everywhere (check out MLS’s homepage for details) that Jozy Altidore has agreed to a transfer to Villareal effective July 1st.

It is a GREAT move in my opinion as we have had FAR too many players going to England and the utter lack of imagination and ability to possess the football have become horribly apparent on the senior national team. (though the youth teams possess a latin flair that I hope remains with them once they become full senior internationals because this Brit-ball shit is killing me)

Most people are of the mind that Jozy will be loaned at least initially to Recreativo Huelva so he can get more playing time.

In any event, La Liga is the best league in the world. Teams actually focus on technical skill and not just brutish thugball like they do in the Prem. If things pan out for Jozy we really could have our first true footballing superstar from the US. With his size, speed and technical skill he could really do something special at Villareal. If he keeps it together, I could even see him figuring into their Champion’s League run this year.

Let’s hope Jozy will join Jovan Kirovski as an American with a Champion’s League medal. (Kirovski won with BVB 09 in 1997 a fact that many forget as I’ve heard the lament that ‘we need an American who goes deep in CL sometime and/or win’s’ which Kirovski did and even scored a goal on their run so it wasn’t all from the pine)

what did jozy altidore say to rafa marquez?

I am trying to find the original link from Yahoo Sports, but they had the scoop on what Jozy said to Rafa that made him laugh.

Basically, Jozy ran from all the way across the field to tell Rafa that he was a huge Barcelona fan and watched them every week. Rafa apparently was taken aback by Jozy’s youthful exuberance given his less than youthful frame and poise on the pitch.

It was a, for lack of a better word, ‘cute’ moment. It’s hard to remember that Jozy is barely out of high school sometimes.

I noticed a lot of people searching for it in the dashboard so I figured I’d toss it up there for those wondering.