Marca had a great spot on Jozy today. Here is a general English equivalent.
Altidore is the 'ambassador' of Villarreal in the U.S.
When Villarreal purchased the rights to Jozy Altidore in June, it was already known that the arrival of the biggest promise in American soccer went beyond purely sports. In addition to a player with a tremendous potential, he provided a way to enter a market like the U.S., which is increasingly interested in football.
The U.S. player, through the 'The New York Times', has become the leading exporter of Spanish football and, more specifically, the Villarreal product.
Through a blog, the Hatian-heritaged footballer has provided to the American public an account of his experiences since his arrival in Spain and tries to explain to the public what life is like as a yankee playing football in our country.
The things he describes as unusual in his blog may come across as unusual, as they are normal for us. After their first few days of preseason, he tried to explain the siesta. Altidore expressed it like this: "Everyone lies down after eating, and you hear nothing from everyone's rooms. I love the siesta." In the same way he highlighted strange aspects of team breakfasts: "They have prepared eggs, and other light things."
Altidore, who confirmed in his blog the possibility of being loaned in December, and that his dream is "to confront Henry," is already a media icon in his country by becoming the spokesperson for Adidas football. With casual style, his constantly references Pires: "He is 17 years older than me, like Edmilson. But they are very open with me; it must be in their culture, and they make the effort to explain things to me. I felt like a family."
He is impressed by the impact of football in Spain. "It's everywhere and you realize it is different than in the United States. It's the first thing before everything. The players are treated as royalty. This is more important than basketball," he says.
--Victor Franch