Jacksonville, Florida: Jozy Altidore ended a six-month scoreless streak with a pair of goals, leading the United States over Nigeria 2-1 on Saturday night in the Americans’ World Cup send-off match.
Altidore tapped in Fabian Johnson’s cross in the 31st minute to stop a 27-match scoreless streak for club and country with his first goal since December 4 for Sunderland against Chelsea.
He doubled the lead in the 68th, running onto Michael Bradley’s looping 30-yard pass over the defence. Altidore took a touch with each foot as he cut inside Nigeria captain Joseph Yobo, then beat goalkeeper Vincent Enyeama with a right-footed shot from 12 yards.
The US were undefeated in their send-off series for the first time since 2002, beating the African champions following a 2-0 victory over Azerbaijan and a 2-1 win over Turkey.
Making their seventh straight World Cup appearance, the Americans head to Brazil on Sunday night and open June 16 against Ghana, the team that eliminated them from the last two tournaments.
Tim Howard made his 100th international appearance, becoming the 15th American to reach the century mark and tying Tony Meola for second-most appearances by a US goalkeeper, two behind Kasey Keller.
Victor Moses converted an 86th-minute penalty kick for Nigeria after he was knocked over in the area by Matt Besler.
