If you have been wondering why Jozy Altidore has been relegated to the bench for AZ Alkmaar, it
looks you now have an answer.
According to a report from the Netherlands, AZ manager Gertjan Verbeek has preferred to start
Charlison Benschop over Altidore in recent weeks due to Altidore's lack of progress.
After a red-hot start to the season, Jozy Altidore had lost his starting role for AZ Alkmaar and
was mired in a bit of a scoring slump.
At the very least, that slump is now over.
Altidore scored twice in a four-minute span as a substitute in AZ's 6-0 rout of ADO Den Haag on
Wednesday to break a two-month scoring drought.
Sacha Kljestan and Jozy Altidore will square off in Alkmaar while Jermaine Jones could be back in
uniform for Schalke on their trip to Plzen as the Europa League round of 32 gets underway.
Photo by ISIphotos.com
The lack of reliable options at forward makes Jurgen Klinsmann's decision for which strikers to
bring to Genoa for the match against Italy on Feb. 29 a pretty basic exercise.
With a pair of entrenched players at the position and Klinsmann potentially opting for a one-man
forward line anyway, he won't be pressed into bringing a slew of players to compete for minutes up
top against the Azzurri.
