World Cup 2010: Jozy Altidore will start for USA in Group C opener against England - Bob Bradley

States boss praises striker's determination

12 Jun 2010 00:03:00

By Eliot Rothwell

More On :  England, USA, Bob Bradley, Jozy Altidore
Jozy Altidore, USA, United States vs Turkey (Getty)

USA manager Bob Bradley has confirmed that Hull City loanee Jozy Altidore will start the opening group C fixture against England.

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Altidore did not enjoy a prolific season with Hull, netting only one solitary goal in the Premier League season, during which the Tigers were relegated to the Championship.

Bradley, however, has backed the Villarreal striker to perform for his nation and insists that a season in the premier league will have helped the player’s development.

"It was an important year for Jozy," Bradley told a press conference. "Any player that has gone to the Premier League finds out about the level and the competitiveness.

"But I think he grew a lot at Hull and the one thing I would always say about Jozy, from our experiences with him, is when he's come into our camps he's shown that, when things don't come easily it's helped him.

Bradley praised the mental attributes of Altidore and commended his will to succeed.

He added: "He [Altidore] comes in with a level of determination and ready to prove himself. He knows we believe in him. That's why he continues to be important for us."

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England 1-0 Belgium, Netherlands 2-0 Northern Ireland - follow all the international action LIVE! ahead of Euro 2012
With countries across the continent gearing up for their final warm-up games ahead of Euro 2012, join us for all the action from Saturday's friendlies. Get in touch with us via Twitter with your reaction.

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19:54 BST
We're still getting plenty of Hazard chat on Twitter. A few are now saying that he's not worth the hype, others saying he was brilliant(!?) and others (which I agree with), saying he created much of his own hype. What do you think? Get involved!
19:46 BST
Joe Hart has also been giving his thoughts after the Belgium game: "It was a really tough game, a good run out. I thought we played well, [but] we were a little bit bitty at times.

"But, we came through. Obviously there were a lot of changes so it's good to get the result.

"Belgium are a very, very strong side who are going to be really good in the future. Vincent [Kompany] told me about them and said that they were coming good and I totally agree with him."
19:38 BST
Here's Roy Hodgson's reaction to the result and some injury chat: "I'm very pleased, it's been a hard week and we've used a lot of players. There was a lot of disruption in the second-half with substitutions – some forced upon us, some we wanted to do. But it's still a very good end to the week playing against a good Belgian team here. Arguably even stronger than the Norwegian team we played last week and I've got to be more than happy that we've come out with another victory."

"[Gary] Cahill I suppose is slightly more of a concern for me because it is a jaw injury. We're desperately hoping the CT scan doesn't show any fracture and it's just going to be a bruising situation, which will be bad enough, but won't stop him taking part in the tournament. As far as John's [Terry] concerned he felt his hamstring a little bit. Again it wasn't a major thing when he came off but we still need to scan it just to be 100 per cent sure."

Suffice to say, if Cahill has broken his jaw, he won't play any part in the tournament.
19:35 BST
And another point from today: Eden Hazard wasn't great. Don't think you can judge him on one performance though. What do you think? Is it just a case of too much hype around the Chelsea-bound Belgian?
19:32 BST
We're getting plenty of people saying it was boring. PLENTY. But Spain scored seven goals in eight games at the World Cup and I didn't hear too many of their fans complaining. Or as Fran Stinchcombe points out on Twitter: "If we had lost but played free flowing attacking football would these people still have moaned?"
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