[AMERICANS ABROAD] No American will be under more scrutiny abroad this season than Jozy Altidore following his U.S. record$13 million move from Dutch club AZ to Sunderland, which kicks off the 2013-14 English Premier League season Saturday against Fulham.
The first time around in the English Premier League,he was a bust at Hull City (one goal in 28 games). But he is coming off a record season with AZ (31 goals in 41 games) and an even better summer with the U.S. national team (goals in five straightgames, including a hat trick on Sunday), and his manager at Sunderland, Italian Paolo Di Canio, says he expects a big season from his new striker.
After Altidore’s three-goal, one-assist game against Bosnia-Herzegovina on Wednesday, Di Canio
“I don’t hope he will be a success. I am sure he will be a success. With his characteristics, he will score many goals. He can play very well for the team and can score lots ofgoals. His main part is to score goals and to help the others. He is a modern footballer, like you saw last night. He can make lovely movements and we expect that he will score many goals for us. Idon’t know a number, but it won’t be two obviously. Maybe 15 or 17. He will do it if he uses his energy like he did for the national team. He has desire and pride, and I think thisenvironment here will help him. We spent a good amount of money on him, he was not a free transfer. We brought in four or five players and a few free agents but three or four specifically we had tospend on.”
Di Canio added Altidore has grown up since his first stint in England and wouldn’t hit the goal totals he did at AZ — 51 in twoseasons — if he was not a quality striker:
“He is the kind of quality I need. He is the size I need. He is a modern footballer, he jumps hard andhe is an animal. He attacks every space and his first touch is good. He is fantastic finisher and that is a good mixture. We will play good football to help him to score and he is going to have a bigpart to play this year. All the signals that we have seen are positive and Wednesday night [for the United States] was an example.”
— With three Americans (
— In Mexico, Tijuana, which hasbeen regularly playing four Americans (Paul Arriola, Edgar Castillo, Joe Coronaand Greg Garza) travels Saturday to Monterrey (UniMas, 8 p.m. ET). On Sunday, DaMarcus Beasley and
Austria (Bundesliga)
Terrence Boyd, Rapid Vienna, at FC Trenkwalder Admira (Sunday)
Belgium (Jupiler League)
Sacha Kljestan, Anderlecht, at Waasland-Beveren (Sunday)
Brazil (CampeonatoBrasileiro)
Freddy Adu, Bahia, vs. Santos (Sunday)
Denmark (Superligaen)
Babajide Ogunbiyi,Viborg, at Sonderjyske (Sunday)
Conor O’Brien, FC Nordsjaelland, vs. AaB
England (Premier League)
Jozy Altidore, Sunderland, vs. Fulham
Geoff Cameron, Stoke City, at Liverpool
Maurice Edu, Stoke City, at Liverpool
Brad Friedel, Tottenham, at Crystal Palace (Sunday)
Brad Guzan, Aston Villa, at Arsenal
TimHoward, Everton, at Norwich City
Sebastian Lletget, West Ham United, vs. Cardiff City
Brek Shea, Stoke City, at Liverpool
England (LeagueChampionship)
Stuart Holden, Bolton Wanderers, at Nott. Forest
Eric Lichaj, Nottingham Forest, vs. Bolton Wanderers
Will Packwood, Birmingham City, vs. Brighton & HoveAlbion
Tim Ream, Bolton Wanderers, at Nott. Forest
Jonathan Spector, Birmingham City, vs. Brighton & Hove Albion
Zak Whitbread, Leicester City, at Derby County
DannyWilliams, Reading, vs. Watford
Finland (Veikkausliiga)
Mike Banner, FF Jaro-no game
Giuseppe Funicello, FF Jaro-no game
JonathanOkafor, MYPA, vs. Inter Turku
Jordan Seabrook, VPS, at TPS
Karsten Smith, VPS, at TPS
Etchu Tabe, KuPS-no game
France (Ligue 1)
Alejandro Bedoya (Nantes), at Lorient (Sunday)
Germany (Bundesliga 1)
John Brooks, Hertha Berlin, at Nuremberg (Sunday)
Timmy Chandler,Nuremberg, vs. Hertha Berlin (Sunday)
Steven Cherundolo, Hannover 96, at Bor. M’Gladbach
Fabian Johnson, Hoffenheim, at Hamburg
Jermaine Jones, Schalke 04, at Wolfsburg
MichaelParkhurst, Augsburg, at Werder Bremen
David Yelldell, Bayer Leverkusen, at VfB Stuttgart
Germany (Bundesliga 2)
Alfredo Morales,Ingolstadt FC, at 1860 Munich (Sunday)
Bobby Wood, 1860 Munich, vs. Ingolstadt FC (Sunday)
Andrew Wooten, Kaiserslautern, vs. Erzgebirge Aue
Italy (Serie A)
Michael Bradley, Roma-no game
Mexico (Liga MX, Apertura)
Paul Arriola, Tijuana, at Monterrey
DaMarcus Beasley, Puebla, at Guadalajara (Sunday)
Jonathan Bornstein, Tigres, at Santos
Edgar Castillo, Tijuana, at Monterrey
Joe Corona, Tijuana, at Monterrey
Greg Garza,Tijuana, at Monterrey
Herculez Gomez, Tijuana, at Monterrey
Alonso Hernandez, Monterrey, vs. Tijuana
Michael Orozco Fiscal, Puebla, at Guadalajara (Sunday)
Jose Torres, Tigres,at Santos
Netherlands (Eredivisie)
Aron Johannsson, AZ, at RKC
Norway (Tippeligaen)
Steve Clark, Honefoss, vs. Sandnes Ulf (Sunday)
Mikkel Diskerud, Rosenborg, vs. Valerenga
Josh Gatt, Molde, vs. Odd (Sunday)
EthanHorvath, Molde, vs. Odd (Sunday)
Russia (Premier League)
Evgeni Starikov, Tom Tomsk, at PFK Samara Kryliya Sovetov (Sunday)
Brian Span, Djurgarden, vs. Hacken (Sunday)