Jozy Altidore only would have been available to the US men’s soccer team had it reached the final rounds of the World Cup, the star striker said Thursday morning.
Altidore said on ESPN’s Mike & Mike radio show he suffered a Grade 2 hamstring tear, early in the World Cup opener against Ghana, a 2-1 victory.
Though he was medically cleared to face Belgium in the Round of 16, it wasn’t realistic he could get on the field. US coach Jurgen Klinsmann said Altidore could be available, but he never warmed up.
“The timetable to come back was realistically very late in the tournament,” Altidore said on the radio show. “I honestly thought I was going to be able to help the team sooner rather than later, but it just wasn’t to be. … It was a target of mine obviously when I first got injured to try and get back in that game but as it turned out when it got there it was still a bit early.
“It was a terrible moment for me because I’ve done it before in my other leg in 2011. That was a really bad one and left me out a month. I knew with this one it was similar and I was going to be out a while in terms of the tournament.”