Altidore tapped in Fabian Johnson's cross in the 31st minute on a play that started with an Alejandro Bedoya run, stopping a 27-match scoreless streak for club and country with his first goal since Dec. 4 for Sunderland against Chelsea. (Imagine a "strike-less" striker resuming scoring with 2 goals against a world cup team, hmm...). According to the striker, "To be honest, it makes no difference, I don't know if it's weird to you, but it's not weird to me. I've played for this team for such a long time that I think it's my responsibility to kind of help the team in other ways, tracking back and just being somebody now that the other guys can look up to. And I take that very serious."
"The second goal was world class, no
doubt about it," U.S. coach Jurgen Klinsmann said. "You heard the other coaches of the last friendlies, especially the Turkish coach who said, 'This (guy) is a handful.' Hopefully we can keep him as a handful going down to Brazil now." He doubled the lead in the 68th, running onto Michael Bradley's looping 30-yard pass over the defense. Altidore took a touch with each foot as he cut inside of Nigeria captain Joseph Yobo, then beat goalkeeper Vincent Enyeama to the near post with a right-footed shot from 12 yards for his 23rd international goal. Klinsmann stopped short of calling Altidore's performance a much-needed boost but said it was "a wonderful message" and gave the player "a big smile at the right time now.""I think it will give him a lot of confidence," Klinsmann said. "It's always a tough period when you don't score for a striker. And everybody around you let's you know that. You get more and more anxious about the situation. ... You work harder and harder, which he did the last three-and-a-half weeks in camp. ... And then you just wish, you know, that the moment comes and you put it in there and you go start to be your old self again.
doubt about it," U.S. coach Jurgen Klinsmann said. "You heard the other coaches of the last friendlies, especially the Turkish coach who said, 'This (guy) is a handful.' Hopefully we can keep him as a handful going down to Brazil now." He doubled the lead in the 68th, running onto Michael Bradley's looping 30-yard pass over the defense. Altidore took a touch with each foot as he cut inside of Nigeria captain Joseph Yobo, then beat goalkeeper Vincent Enyeama to the near post with a right-footed shot from 12 yards for his 23rd international goal. Klinsmann stopped short of calling Altidore's performance a much-needed boost but said it was "a wonderful message" and gave the player "a big smile at the right time now.""I think it will give him a lot of confidence," Klinsmann said. "It's always a tough period when you don't score for a striker. And everybody around you let's you know that. You get more and more anxious about the situation. ... You work harder and harder, which he did the last three-and-a-half weeks in camp. ... And then you just wish, you know, that the moment comes and you put it in there and you go start to be your old self again.
It was his first multi-goal game since a hat trick in an exhibition against Bosnia-Herzegovina (who are paired in the same group with Nigeria) last August, part of an American record five-game scoring streak that ended a 19-month stretch with an international goal. June 7 has become a favorite date for the 24-year-old: He scored on that date at Jamaica in a World Cup qualifier last year and against Canada in an exhibition in 2011.
Victor Moses converted an 86th-minute penalty kick for Nigeria after he was knocked over in the penalty area by Matt Besler. It is perceived in many quarters that the Nigerian team are struggling when it comes to scoring goals. This in my opinion is largely due to the fact that they are lacking the high level of first touch, agility, quickness and decision attributes needed by the players for a World Cup team and not forgetting that they've never done n cases where they were pressure marked. The loss not withstanding, the hopes of Nigerians, the super Eagles, and Supporters are till very high going into the world cup. The Nigerian team would be able to score goals if Stephen Okechukwu Keshi and his coaching crew make significant improvements in these attributes in its players.
The U.S. was undefeated in its send-off series for the first time since it started in 2002, beating the African champions following a 2-0 victory over Azerbaijan and a 2-1 win over Turkey. Nigeria on the other hand had bagged 2 draws and 1 defeat in its 2014 World Cup tuneup games.
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