Jozy Altidore at The Boca Raton Tribune offices.
This have been a great week for the City of Boca Raton.
On Sunday night Ariana Grande was named the New Artist of the Year at the American Music Awards in Los Angeles. Today, soccer star and Boca Raton native, Jozy Altidore was named the 2013 United States Soccer Male Athlete of the Year.
The U.S. Soccer Athlete of the Year award is the highest honor awarded to soccer players in the United States. Online votes registered on ussoccer.com counted for 50 percent of the total votes, while the other 50 percent was represented by votes compiled from members of the national media and U.S. Soccer representatives, including National Team coaches and members of the U.S. Soccer Board of Directors.
The Male Athlete of the Year honor is the first for Altidore. He becomes the 22nd different player to earn the award since its inception in 1984. Altidore also becomes just the second player to win both the Young Male Athlete of the Year (won in 2006) and Male Athlete of the Year honors, joining Landon Donovan who won Young Male Athlete of the Year in 2001 and earned the Male Athlete of the Year award on four occasions (2003, 2004, 2009 and 2010).
Altidore set a U.S. MNT record by scoring a goal in five consecutive matches from June 2-Aug. 14. His eight goals in 2013 were a career best and tied for a team high. Three of Altidore’s goals were game-winners during the Hexagonal. He finishes off the year with 21 goals and 66 caps in his MNT career, and is now tied for sixth on the all-time goalscoring list with Bruce Murray.
Altidore, who moved to Premier League side Sunderland in the summer, scored 31 goals in all competitions last season for Dutch club AZ Alkmaar. He signed off from Holland with a game-winning goal in the Dutch Cup final.
