Altidore in Spain

No, not for the match today, but permanently, for Villareal.

Can I just say how excited I am to have young American talent going to La Liga again?

I've known Jozy since he was fifteen and playing ping-pong with Dan Kelly at the U17 World Cup in Peru in 2005 (which means the Times is wrong about him joining the squad after his rookie season in MLS; he was done with the U17s by then). What struck me at the time was that his parents weren't along for the trip - although he was the youngest one there. Yet Jozy was fine, a sign of his early maturity.
Granted, I'm based on the West Coast, but I never really bought into the rumors that Jozy was getting big-headed on his own press.
He seemed distracted, definitely. It's hard to focus in the here and now when you're thinking about someplace else. I think that happened to Guzan a little bit when his Aston Villa transfer fell through. Plus, Jozy is competitive enough to get easily frustrated when things get worse - an injured Angel and Reyna left him with little help on his club. A young player can be a great complement to the core of a team, but asking Altidore to carry the squad was more than a bit much.
It will be interesting to see how New York copes with his time left with the squad as well as his departure. It might give Juan Carlos Osorio a chance to restructure, or completely cripple the rest of the season to lose his young gun and have injured vets left.