Jozy Altidore scored a real goal for Sunderland in a real competition. And it was good. It was damn good.
He got the ball from 18 yards, turned with a step back to create space, and fired a great shot into the side netting. It showed skill, awareness and power.
IT WAS EVERYTHING WE WANT JOZY TO BE.
Altidore is still a long ways off from cementing his place at Sunderland. He needed a competition like the Capital One Cup just to get a start and was dreadful off the bench last weekend, but maybe this can be a turning point. The American certainly needs a confidence boost and scoring a goal -- and a good one at that -- could go a long ways to giving him that.
So Altidore is still second (or really, third) choice, but at least he's on the scoresheet now. At least he looks the part of a Premier League player, even if just on one goal.