TORONTO – It’s official: Jozy Altidore has played his last game for Toronto FC in 2018.
Altidore will miss this weekend’s regular season finale at home against Atlanta United FC after sitting out Sunday’s 2-0 road loss to the Montreal Impact due to a nagging ankle injury.
The club confirmed that Altidore, 28, will undergo surgery on Thursday to remove a bone fragment from his right ankle.
Monday’s announcement hardly comes as a surprise. TFC coach Greg Vanney revealed last Friday that Altidore has been looked at by doctors and the team was expected to make a decision about the American forward’s immediate future.
Altidore was a key figure in Toronto’s historic, treble-winning campaign in 2017, scoring 17 goals and tallying six assists in 31 games across the regular season and playoffs.
But 2018 has been a different story. Altidore missed much of the early portion of the year after having foot surgery, and he’s dealt with this ankle issue for the past several weeks.
As a result, he’s been limited to just 13 MLS appearances – although he’s still managed to score a respectable seven goals. In total, Altidore bagged 13 goals and tallied three assists in 24 appearances in MLS, the Canadian Championship and Concacaf Champions League this season.
Not being able to call upon one of his best players for the majority of this year has left Vanney frustrated.
“Jozy has proven to be a pivotal player in our team for a variety of reasons. Not just on the field, but I think even with his personality when he’s in there,” Vanney told reporters last week.
“Whatever we do in this off-season, it’s to try to get him as prepared as we can and ready to go for [2019] so that hopefully it can be a full year. That’s important because last year we had a good, solid year from him.”
Toronto has already been eliminated from playoff contention, but Sunday’s match does have meaning for the Reds. Atlanta enters the game with 69 points, and can break the record for most points in a single MLS regular season (69, established by TFC in 2017) with a draw or a win.
[relatedlinks]
