Jozy Altidore, Christian Pulisic win top USMNT awards
Jozy Altidore has been named U.S. Soccer Male Athlete of the Year for 2016, making it the second time he has nabbed the United States men's national team's top honor.
Altidore missed Copa America Centenario through injury, but he was excellent at the start and end of the year. He scored a pair of goals in friendlies, then another against Guatemala in a crucial March World Cup qualifier. Once he returned from injury in September, he scored three goals in the team's two qualifiers that month, helping the Americans get to the Hex.
Bobby Wood was the runner up for the award, and just barely missed out on the honor. Altidore finished with 32 percent of the vote and Wood with 30, as the two strike partners led the way for the Americans in 2016.
Christian Pulisic also picked up an award, taking home U.S. Soccer Young Male Athlete of the Year. Seeing as Pulisic became a regular for Borussia Dortmund, playing in the Champions League, and emerged as a clear-cut starter for the U.S. in a year he turned 18, there was no doubt he would win this award.
Pulisic got 86 percent of the vote, with Jordan Morris and Andrew Carleton each picking up an astonishing five percent each. That Pulisic didn't win it unanimously is a bit befuddling, but he won the award all the same.
