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USMNT’s Jozy Altidore talks World Cup and adidas Battle Pack cleats

By Mike Dyce

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The 2014 World Cup is right around the corner and everything about the tournament will be new and fresh. Fresh chances for every nation, new uniforms for teams, they even have a new ball for the tournament and some new stadiums.

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The players are looking to compete on the field and gain an edge in anyway that they can, and shoe companies are releasing new lines of shoes to help their athletes. For those athletes partnered with adidas, they’ve gone the new Battle Pack line. The list of athletes to wear the adidas Battle Pack during the World Cup is an impressive list of names including: Lionel Messi, Mesut Özil, Dani Alves, Luis Suarez, Oscar, Philipp Lahm, Karim Benzema, Javi Martinez and Jozy Altidore.

“The World Cup is the biggest stage in all of sports and Battle Pack will make a bold and disruptive statement on field,” said Ernesto Bruce, director of adidas Soccer for adidas America. “Our designers took direct inspiration from Brazil and injected a never before seen look onto our most innovative cleats. The best players in the world will wear Battle Pack as they chase the ultimate goal of the FIFA World Cup trophy.”

The inspiration he refers to is the black and white design, which was inspired by the war paint of native warriors. The gold stripes represent what every one is chasing, the FIFA World Cup trophy. Messi has his own version of the adizero F50, which features blue and white to represent his nation Argentina.

FanSided talked to United States men’s national team striker Jozy Altidore about the shoes, how they’ll help his style of play and the upcoming 2014 World Cup. Altidore will be wearing the adizero F50, which weighs all of 5.3 ounces. It contains two new pieces of technology SpeedTraxion, which is a new high-speed stud alignment maximizing acceleration and traction, and SpeedFoil, which is a material that combines lightweight, softness and durability for a comfortable and locked down heel.

Mike Dyce: How does the new style of the adidas Battle Pack cleats help your style of play?

Jozy Altidore: I think they’re the best boot adidas has designed yet. I feel like I get incredible touch on the ball, which allows me to play at my highest level. They’re so light, I sometimes feel like I don’t have any cleats on at all. Just a fantastic, durable, extremely well-designed product I recommend for everyone who plays the sport.

MD: You’ll be wearing the adizero F50, why did you choose that boot out of the entire adidas Battle Pack?

JA: I just felt the boot suited me best. The last thing you want to do as a professional footballer is to worry about your equipment. That said, I have the utmost confidence in these boots as I take the field representing the United States in the greatest sporting event in the world.

MD: Did you get to offer any input to the shoes’ design?

JA: Obviously, being an adidas client, I am given the opportunity to express my thoughts about current boots and how they work for me. I hate the utmost faith and trust in the adidas representatives engineering the design and style of boots available, which definitely gives me peace of mind.

MD: Aside from the symbolism behind the black and white design, does it offer an advantage in playing by being visually deceptive for opponents? For instance, neon cleats perhaps stand out more and by not being so bright they could help conceal footwork?

JA: I don’t think color schemes play much of a part in the mental aspect of soccer. I mean, does anyone think it really matters if guys like Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo are wearing bright neon blue boots or standard black-and-white cleats? It doesn’t. They’re going to be amazing and world class regardless. For me, with this latest adidas design, I like the simplistic, yet fashionable/edgy design these boots show. There is almost a psychedelic look and feel to them. There isn’t anything out there that looks similar, which makes it really cool knowing I am one of very few players wearing them for the World Cup.

MD: Do you think you’ll be able to return to your five goals in five games international form after the season at Sunderland, where maybe you didn’t get enough opportunities as a result of the overall team play?

JA: I hope so. I’m confident I can put together a good stretch of matches in our three friendlies pre-World Cup and then have that carry over in Brazil. As a player, you go through these stretches where you have some droughts. It is just part of the game. I had something similar occur with the national team, where I went quite a while before putting together a successful goal-scoring run for the national team last year. That said, I am excited for what lies ahead and looking forward to putting it all together during the most important time of the national team’s schedule.

MD: Do you think the United States can get out of the arguably the toughest group in the World Cup, one that includes two World Cup favorites and a Ghana team that has spoiled America’s World Cups twice before?

JA: Obviously, we have a tough road ahead of us. However, we are more than capable of not only getting out of our group, but making a deep run in Brazil. Any one of the four nations we are placed with can win the group, so hopefully we can come out of the gate hot and put together a positive performance in the opening match against Ghana. That match is going to dictate so much of our success in Brazil, so it is important to start strong and make some noise early on at the tournament.

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