Jozy Altidore injury update: ‘Full of hope he comes back’ Klinsmann says
By Mike Dyce
The United States men’s national team opened up their 2014 World Cup campaign with a win over their nemesis, Ghana. It was a thrilling win that required a late goal from defender John Brooks to walk away with three points.
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And the United States did not walk away completely unscathed.
Captain Clint Dempsey took a kick to the face breaking his nose. Defender Matt Besler left the game early with pain in his hamstring. The biggest injury was forward Jozy Altidore exiting the game early in the first half with a strained hamstring. That injury could be detrimental to the American team, and everyone is patiently waiting to find out if he’d be available for their second game of the tournament against Portugal on Sunday.
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USMNT head coach Jürgen Klinsmann is being patient with Altidore, and waiting to see how the injury plays out before making a decision. Klinsmann did sound optimistic as well.
“With Jozy, we have to see how he reacts in the next couple of days,” Klinsmann said, via Sports Illustrated’s Planet Futbol. “We are full of hope he comes back in this tournament.”
When asked about what the team would do tactically to compensate for Altidore missing the game, Klinsmann didn’t tip his hand.
“I don’t want to go too deep into details,” Klinsmann said. “Obviously we want Portugal to guess a little bit as well, but when one of your key players is not available it does change certain things. Absolutely it does. Jozy is a very strong, key player in our group so we’ll think about the right way to handle the situation. We can still field 11. We’re not a man down … We’ll make it very difficult for Portugal in Manaus and we’ll find solutions.”