Altidore Keeps U.S. at No. 1 for World Cup Qualifying

Jozy Altidore's three goals helped the U.S. Men's Soccer Team defeat Trinidad and Tobago 3-0 to show America they are the team for us to cheer for.

Over the weekend the U.S. soccer team nearly lost to El Salvador, a team that has not qualified for the World Cup since 1982. 82nd ranked, El Salvador was in control of the entire field for the first 60 minutes of playing time. The U.S. came back in the final 30 minutes to squeak out a 2-2 tie.

The previous game against El Salvador gave the team a much needed taste of reality. Coach Bob Bradley's team needed to see that even though they are the dominant team in the region, there is no room for slack.

However, the team that showed up to play tonight, against Trinidad and Tobago, proved their talent. The 19 year-old Jozy Altidore, scored a hat trick putting in all three of the United States goals.

Landon Donovan played to his full potential again, providing all three of Altidore's assists. If Donovan can keep his game consistent he is a beautifully talented player. It seems like his playing overseas on the German club, Bayern Munich, has kept his skills strong. But the U.S. will need Donovan to play consistently well in order to fully utilize him.

With this win, the United States was able to retain their number one spot in the final round of their grouping, with seven points. The top two teams of the group will play one another, with the U.S. playing in Costa Rica on June 3rd.

After the game against Costa Rica, the United States team will come back home to Chicago. Their game against Honduras at Solider Field will be their last game before they make the flight to South Africa for the FIFA Confederations Cup, the pre-World Cup tournament.

The United States has played well in most of their qualifying matches thus far. If they are able to keep the veterans like Landon Donovan, Clint Dempsey and Frankie Hedjuk in the game making touches on the ball, and keep the young guns; Jozy Altidore, Michael Bradley, Sacha Kljestan, and Jose Francisco Torres, playing strong and collected, the U.S. team should do better than past years in the FIFA Tournament.

Although as fans we don't expect them to make it to the final game or have decisive wins against the big boys of World Cup, the strength of the new young players, combined with the talent of the veterans give the team a good chance of making a run at some of the more dominant teams of the tournament. This is our team!

Feel free to leave comments about what you think regarding the World Cup and how the U.S. team is doing.