adminJACKSONVILLE. — Jozy Altidore broke his goalscoring drought as the United States beat Nigeria 2-1 on Saturday in the Americans’ final World Cup soccer warm-up on US soil before heading to Brazil.Sunderland’s much-maligned striker — without a goal in 2014 — netted in the 32nd and 68th minutes as Jurgen Klinsmann’s men made it a hat-trick of wins after victories over Azerbaijan and Turkey in their “Send-Off Series.”
“It took us awhile to get into the game,” Altidore said. “But after 25 minutes we started playing better. Look, we can always do better, but I thought we created enough chances tonight.”
It was a fitting final dress rehearsal for the American squad and a confidence-boosting game for Altidore, who seemed to have rediscovered his scoring touch at EverBank Field.
Except for a stumble late in the first half when they squandered two scoring chances, the USA put together a complete performance against Nigeria, who are ranked 45th overall.
“The most important thing is how this team performs,” Altidore said. “Going into a tournament like this we want to make sure we are performing at a level where we give ourselves a good chance. I think we are going to do that.”
Altidore said he never lost confidence throughout the scoring slump.
“To be honest. I felt fine before and I feel fine now,” he said.
Altidore opened the scoring in the 32nd minute, finishing from close range after a deft pass from Fabian Johnson. He then blasted a right-footed shot into the bottom left corner for his second goal in the 68th minute. “The first goal was a beautiful give and go with Fabian and the second goal was just having a shot on goal.”
Victor Moses scored the only goal for Nigeria with a penalty four minutes from time to make it 2-1. — AFP.
Online Reporter