10 Premier League Flops Who Could Become World Cup 2014 Stars
3. Jozy Altidore - United States
Paolo Di Canio's very brief spell at the helm of Sunderland saw him essentially buy a whole new team as 13 players arrived at the Stadium of Light through the summer. At £6 million American striker Jozy Altidore was the most expensive of these and, with 23 goals in 33 appearances for Dutch club AZ last season, was expected to be the big goalscoring forward that the club was lacking. Altidore, however, struggled to settle or make a difference as the club went on an 8 match winless run to kick off the season. After Di Canio was fired and Gus Poyet took over Altidore eventually opened his account in December with a goal in the 4-3 home defeat to Chelsea. And that was it. Appearing in 31 games this season, Altidore managed just that one goal. The Haitian-American forward fared no better in his previous spell in England, as a 20 year old on a season's loan at Hull City in their Premier League relegation season in 2009/10. In that year Altidore scored 1 goal in 28 games, making the striker's total Premier League scoring tally 2 in 59 or 0.0338 goals per game. For his national team, though, it's a different story. Manager Jurgen Klinsmann has turned the Americans into a strong and plausible challenger at the World Cup with a very real possibility of causing an upset against a Portugal team that may have the best player in Europe but look weak elsewhere. Klinsmann caused a stir when leaving America's greatest ever forward Landon Donovan out of his final squad, which just goes to show the faith that he has in Altidore. Altidore has repaid that faith with goals and lots of them. This week alone he has matched his tally for his entire 59 game Premier League career with two in the 2-1 friendly win over Nigeria. In 2013 he scored 8 in 14 internationals, including a crucial goal in the 4-3 win over Germany and an impressive hat-trick against Bosnia in Sarajevo. Don't bet against Altidore beating his season's Sunderland goal record in just three World Cup group games.
