Brad Mills-USA TODAY Sports
All eyes were on two U.S. Men’s National Team-related streaks Wednesday as they took on Bosnia-Herzegovina. The first was USMNT’s 11-match win streak, and second was forward Jozy Altidore‘s streak of a goal in four straight games. Altidore has now made USMNT history by scoring his fifth goal in five straight games.
Altidore was tied with William Looby, Eric Wynalda, Brian McBride, Landon Donovan and Eddie Johnson for scoring goals in four straight games. Donovan accomplished the feat twice. However, Wednesday was Altidore’s day to shine and he now holds the record alone.
In a somewhat sluggish first half for the United States, Altidore was active and his high confidence carried over into Wednesday’s international friendly. He kept nagging the Bosnian defense early on and couldn’t find the net, but that changed in the second half.
Another reason he was successful in scoring his historic fifth goal in five games was Jurgen Klinsmann‘s tactical switch coming out of the half. The United States switched to a 4-4-2 with Johnson and Altidore up top. That forced the Bosnian defense to focus their attention on two quality strikers, and allowed Altidore to get off a confident strike on goal and write himself into the history books.
From the club level up to the national level, Altidore’s confidence keeps growing. His high confidence has been key to his individual success as well as the USMNT’s success heading into the 2014 World Cup.
Oh, and he wasn’t done there either, as he wound up with a hat trick in the history-making game. No big deal, right?
Phil Naegely is a writer for www.RantSports.com. Like him on Facebook, follow on Twitter @PnaegelyRS, and on Google.
