As I was going over some MLS stuff this morning, it got me thinking about the 2008 campaign and more importantly thinking about Jozy Altidore. The US Full team, U-23 (Olympic) and New York Red Bull forward has been given some time off by new Red Bull coach Juan Carlos Osorio after having been involved with 2 camps before the MLS pre-season even started. Only still 18 years old, Bob Bradley has done an excellent job bringing the extremely talented young star along, starting with camps, then substitutions appearances and finally full games with the Full National Team, but there’s still room to worry.

But with a press corps and fan base that’s always searching for the next “superstar” to put up on a pedestal (see Freddy Adu, Danny Szetela, and how many 1st round MLS Draft picks?) only to break them down when they don’t perform to earth shattering levels (scoring at least 15 goals a season), should we be worried for Jozy?

While having a great, humble head on those broad shoulders, this year will definitely be the toughest in his short career with Olympic Qualification duty, World Cup Qualifying duty, MLS duty and don’t forget his appearance obligations with sponsors. While he’s still going to have to deal with the Summer Transfer Window speculation hanging over his head starting around May-ish, hopefully we can all cut him a little slack, allow him to continue to grow as a person and as a player, and hopefully watch him turn into who we all hope he can be. But let’s let him do it on his terms, not ours.