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Hamstring injury puts Altidore’s Copa America status in doubt

Photo by Kim Klement/USA Today Sports
Photo by Kim Klement/USA Today Sports

Another year, another untimely Jozy Altidore injury.

The U.S. Men’s National Team could be forced to make a change at forward ahead of next month’s Copa America Centenario after the Toronto FC attacker exited Saturday’s 4-3 loss against the Vancouver Whitecaps with a hamstring injury.

Altidore, 25, immediately told head coach Greg Vanney that he believed the injury sustained was to his hamstring, which has become an area of concern for the veteran USMNT player over the years.

A timetable regarding Altidore’s return is unknown, but given his history with similar injuries it’s easy to be skeptical over the severity.

During the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, and prior to last summer’s CONCACAF Gold Cup, Altidore suffered hamstring injuries. In both cases, his absence hurt the USMNT attack as it failed to

Altidore was selected by USMNT head coach Jurgen Klinsmann as part of the team’s initial 40-man roster, but young players like Bobby Wood, Christian Pulisic and Jordan Morris could become all the more valuable leading up to the tournament in the event that the TFC forward can’t go.

The U.S. must select its final 23-man roster by May 20. Copa America begins on June 3, when the USMNT meets Colombia in Santa Clara, California.

What do you think of this development? Think the U.S. can have a good Copa America without Altidore?

Share your thoughts below.

Comments

  1. Jozy had absolutely no impact during his 30+ minutes (something we cannot afford during the COPA AMERICA)…no close calls no good runs, nothing. Secondly he tried to get his first goal of the season through a penalty and couldn’t even put that away. Thirdly and the most importantly when he LEFT THE GAME Toronto became a different team. In the 36th minute there was a delay in match because of the injury to Jozy Altidore….and with him OFF the field, what do you know, Giovinco scores in the 37th minute and starts attacking like a hold different player.

    Altidore on the field (especially when he really sucks, which is frequently) limits the attacking ability of his team (USMNT or TFC) as he is only taking up space, not making the right runs and more importantly not a threat on goal. Starting for TFC means it WILL BE a low scoring game or Giovinco will do all the work. The one time he gets subbed off early TFC SCORES 3 GOALS (something they haven’t done since the beginning of the season) and Bradley gets an assist. ZERO GOALS IN SEVEN GAMES as the number one striker for the US is pathetic no matter how you look at it. Think about it, you can’t be that unlucky to never be in the right place at the right time over a 570 + minute period (6 starts and being subbed on in the 60th minute). That only means one thing; you are indeed just that bad.

    Reply
    • Landon Donovan went eleven MLS games without a goal from the last two games plus two playoff games of 2013 to the first seven games of 2014 you could also throw in 2 CCL games and three international games giving him a total of 16 games without a goal and only 4 assists. His combined record was 6W-6T-4L (US was 2-1-0), with LA crashing out of the first round of the playoffs and the first knockout round of CCL. This was his run up to WC training, are you saying JK was right to cut Landon? If you will agree to that I will happily agree Jozy doesn’t have a place on our roster if he’s healthy.

      Please make excuses as to why its not the same, go ………………..

      Reply
      • “Landon Donovan went eleven MLS games without a goal”

        Please please please never use Donovan as a comparison when talking about Altidore. When he’s not scoring he is assisting and is one of the best players the US ever had. LD on his worst day (3 weeks after he retired doing nothing) is 10 tens better than “an Altidore”….

      • Landon Donovan:
        2013: 10 goals 9 assists
        2012: 9 goals 14 assists
        2011: 12 goals 3 assists
        2010: 7 goals 16 assists

        Altidore can never be as good as Landon Donovan…ever. we’ll start talking once Altidore can score a goal (He can’t score so I don’t expect him to have the talent to assist on a regular)

      • Are you actually comparing a season player like Atidore with LD? a player in the twilight of his career?

      • I’m curious, Johnnyrazor, if you’ve met the other Johnnyrazor that said the following regarding discussions of Landon Donovan not making the cut for the World Cup:

        “Can we just get past this argument.” and ending with “Let’s all move on.”
        http://sbisoccer.com/2016/05/kaka-oscar-out-of-brazils-final-copa-america-roster

        Apparently you’ve pushed the pause button on wagging your finger to partake in what you request others don’t. Hard to be holier than thou when you’re the one bringing it up, isn’t?

        Sidenote: It was a dumb comparison, too.

      • Actually no he wasn’t, he had 2 assists over those eleven MLS games in which he had no goals.

        The only delusional one here is you. The last few days you’ve constantly spouted the stats from Jozy’s start to the season as proof he and I quote “sucks”. You’ve quoted several times an article about how he was named something like 38 worst striker signing in the EPL. Here’s the quote from LD’s time at Bayern,

        “Bayern president Uli Hoeness’ verdict was even harsher. “Our amateur team coach told me [Donovan’ wouldn’t even play in his reserves,” Hoeness said” That’s he wouldn’t even play on U19 reserves ouch.

        Does this prove Jozy is just as good as Landon or better? No of course not who would ever say that not even Jozy’s mom, but it does show that even the greatest American field player of all time also had periods were he didn’t score and his team struggled because they depended on him.

        Landon Donovan 16 game stretch without a goal including Nats, CCL, MLS 4 assists
        Jozy Altidore last 16 games including his MLS and Nat games including his 8 to start the season 6 goals and 3 assists. When faced with nearly the exact same stats (Jozy’s are better but Landon didn’t get to play St V&G so that’s 2 goals and an assist) and an even worse critique of his big European move you come up with a completely different result. Your Jozy gets to much time argument, LD has the 2nd most caps all-time, almost all starts. In fact in Nat games Jozy scores a goal every 2.73 games LD scored a goal every 2.75. Is an assist every three games the only difference between Greatest of All-Time and sucks? Because if that is your definition you should probably stop watching because every USMNT player sucks.

      • Louis Z and Old School: Bizzy wanted to hand pick a tiny portion 8 games of Jozy’s career as proof, I am just showing him the fallacy of the argument because it can be used to outlaw almost any player. And Old School it was the JG vs LD argument not Altidore, but I take your point and accept my lashing.

      • Johnnyrazor
        You being delusional explains why you do not see Altidore as a pathetic striker. maybe you missed it because your standards are just low and like all your arguments you will not but your word where your mouth is.
        – If LD went on an 11 game drought how does that compare to a 2 season drought in the EPL (LD score 2 in 10 games), and being labelled as the worst striker in the EPL?
        -How do you explain a 16 game goal drought from: USMNT vs Jamaica on Jun 19, 2011 in the Gold cup to USMNT vs Jamaica Jun 7, 2013 in the world cup
        -How does that compare to 0 goals for the start of a season where Altidore has looked dead beat, flat and lost on the field. Altidore is and never will be a Landon Donovan

        Landon Donovan:
        2013: 10 goals 9 assists
        2012: 9 goals 14 assists
        2011: 12 goals 3 assists
        2010: 7 goals 16 assists

        2005–2014 LA Galaxy 247 (112)
        2009 → Bayern Munich (loan) 6 appearances
        2010 → Everton (loan) 10 games 2 goals (in just 10 games scored more goals that Altidore scored IN 2 SEASONS!!!)
        2012 → Everton (loan) 7 appearances (playing for an MLS team and was loaned out to a mid-table EPL team for a second time, do you think Altidore will ever be considered for even a Championship league team?!!!! lol)

        2000–2014 United States 157 (57)
        Like I said before you talk about Altidore let him score a goal first

      • So first you hand pick stats that you think support your opinion and when you are shown that it would also support the exclusion of someone you like, you abandon your argument of “what has he done lately” and instead go to what did he do three years ago (see next paragraph you’ll need a new argument again).

        By the way you were off by 5 months and 5 games, he scored against Slovenia in Nov. 2011(by the way LD went goalless in 11 games for the Nats in 2006, so he didn’t score from the GC in 2005 until Jan. 2007 hmmm familiar time frame). And how did Jozy atone for that gap of eleven games, with 7 goals in 5 games. During his time with Sunderland July 2013 to Jan. 2015 he scored 8 goals in 16 USMNT matches, I could care less about Sunderland or Toronto, does he score for the Stars and Stripes, he most certainly does and quite consistently over the past four years. 4 goals in the last 6 and 6 in the last 10.

        Check out the 4:08 mark.
        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NkRgCGdfRzI

      • you abandon your argument of “what has he done lately”
        Johnnyrazor, this is what this whole discussion has been about. What has Altidore done lately to warrant a call up?? Scored goals? Nope. Setting up his teammates and bagging assists? Nope. What happened to the days where your league play determined your National team future? If that was the case Jozy Altidore would never see the field for the USMNT, unless he is converted to a winger or something. Jozy is a striker in a league inferior to the EPL and Bundesliga and in 7 league games he zero goals and 1 assist? He can never be a Dempsey so why should he be picked ahead of a striker sort after by a Bundesliga team?? Especially when you are not even dangerous in LOWER league

      • Example of what we need from a striker:
        “Manneh leads Whitecaps to big road win vs. TFC in shootout”
        MAN OF THE MATCH…”Kekuta Manneh looked vibrant all game…”
        In a game where you had Michael Bradley, Sebastian Giovinco, Will Johnson, Pedro Morales etc Manneh rises to the challenge and deliver an awesome performance (the first goal and what lead to the next goal pure speed, the third goal was just Quality/class). That’s the performance we need from Jozy.
        What we don’t want is:
        MOMENT OF THE MATCH…”While Sebastian Giovinco scored just minutes later, Jozy Altidore‘s missed penalty kick after the half hour mark proved costly for Toronto”.

        http://matchcenter.mlssoccer.com/matchcenter/2016-05-14-toronto-fc-vs-vancouver-whitecaps-fc/details/video/65419

    • And according to your whoscored ratings that you love so much Jozy had a better game than seven of his teammates including Babouli who came on as his replacement.

      Reply
      • what part of the game, the whole game, was Altidore effective? I know you are delusional about Altidore’s skills and scoring ability but please enlighten me

      • Johnnyrazor, Altidore sucks. So how about this: How about you start talking and comparing him to other players when Altidore can score a goal (which only means you mouth will be closed for a long time….just FYI)

      • Didn’t say he was effective? You however, made the claim that he was the soul cause of his team’s struggle which the impartial ratings service you like to use didn’t agree.

      • Is he not part of his team’s struggles? What has he done to contribute to the success of his team? Has he scored goals (that’s laughable), has he set up other goals (hmm….1 assist in 7 games, nope don’t think so), so what is he contributing to the team apart from occupying space on the field. Sebastin Giovinco has to pick up ALL THE SLACK. Shut down Giovinco and the whole TFC attack is shutdown (Altidore’s presence on the field means nothing). As the player that is suppose to score and win games he is a pathetic excuse for a forward. So yes he is a cause of his team’s struggle.

      • Bizzy: if you are going to blame them being down 2-0 on Jozy and not the back line who was dreadful you definitely didn’t watch the game. That would be like blaming Bobby Wood for the Ruiz goal in Guatemala.

      • Johnnyrazor,
        I know you dont understand it but “The best defense is a good offense”….and with Altidore up front the is no offense…..get it? If you can’t put away chances, if you are an option up top you are taking away the possibility of scoring because right when you pass to Altidore instead of Giovinco that play is no longer a goal. It showed when Altidore left the field.

        Wood is always running at players, making good runs, setting up teammates….and the result? Signing with Hamburg SV in the Bundesliga (do you think Altidore is sort after right now but ANY club in a top league…lol)

  2. Rubio Rubin played very very little for his club this year. It is possible, though, like a lot of things. For example it is also possible that you all refrain from wild irrational speculation until the tournament starts. Unlikely, but possible.

    Reply
  3. roll with the wood and Dempsey and bring in morris as a sub. Does anyone know if they can replace some one on the 40 man roster due to injury, I would like Rubio Rubin if it was possible

    Reply
    • No you can’t name anyone not on the 40. Rubin has played 45 minutes over three games since returning from injury in March, not sure he would be the best candidate if you could add new people.

      Reply
  4. What I find peculiar about the whole “Jozy sux!” — “No, he doesn’t!” debate is that Jozy has obviously been out of form because of his hamstring all year. He looked great in preseason (even Bizzy was willing to admit that Jozy looked good, and the “Lazy Out-the-door” crowd was keeping really quiet). Then he tweaked the hamstring in preseason with Toronto and missed the opening of the season, has not been entirely right in the games he has played (neither as ineffective as his critics like to pretend, nor as good as his supporters might prefer to believe), and now he is down with the same injury. I think it is fair to worry about his reliability — nobody wants JK to keep repeating the same same errors from the world cup (bringing a clearly injured Johannsson as the only backup plan for an injury-prone Altidore) or the Gold Cup (trying to hitch the offensive wagon to a clearly injured and out of form Altidore, only to send him home as injured and out of form after the group stage), and for this reason I would say we should go with plan B now unless Jozy forces his way back into the conversation, not play the game of wish upon a star. But to pile on Jozy for being injured, even suggesting that he is just pouting, seems silly to me.

    Reply
    • Thanks for your thoughtful comment. I completely agree – maybe put Jozy on the back burner considering his repeated injuries and give the other options a longer look for this tournament. Don’t build your whole lineup around Jozy.

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  5. This could end up being the best thing thing that ever happened to the USNT. Somebody out there is only a couple of Copa America goals away from replacing Altidore permanently.
    We are not talking Zlatan here. The bar is as low as it can possibly be.

    Reply
    • I don’t think the “bar is so low” remark will matter with JK, whoever is going to take Jozy’s place in the pecking order has to be head and shoulders better than Jozy, otherwise, Jozy will retain his place in the pecking order.

      Reply
      • What makes you think that someone has to be head and shoulder better than Jozy for him to lose his spot? Name anyone (obviously other than Dempsey) you think was even on par with a healthy Jozy prior to Wood/Morris starting last fall. What, Wondo? Twellman? Zardes? AND, BTW, even if one of those guys is better and gets a spot, you take what 4/5 strikers… You show me the list of people you take ahead of a healthy Altidore last year… because I swear if you are annoyed at JK because he didn’t take Fafa Picault to the bloody gold cup, you are insane.

      • Turk, because JK loves Jozy and for him to give up on him as a starter he has to be forced into making that call and the only way that is going to happen is if another player is head and shoulders better than Jozy.

      • To me the #9 that we haven’t seen in a USA shirt is probably the best pure 9 that we have to replace Altidore and that player is Bjorn Johnsen Maars. He is 6’4, he is as fast as Jozy, way better aerial game, deadly at finishing, superb passing game and possesses an arsenal of moves of a Johannssen. You could say he is our poor man’s version of Ibrahimovic.

      • You have pretty much the worst case of backup quarterback syndrome I have ever seen if you are seriously suggesting Johnsen as the guy we should send out there in the Copa America. Impressive in his youtube highlights, I will have to assume.

      • I’m seriously saying Maars is a better all around CF than Jozy. Check out Maars vids and you will see what I’m talking about.

      • I’m not the one making the original statement. Maybe Wood, maybe Morris, but their international resumes are very thin, so you can’t make a judgment. At least Jozy is our third leading all time scorer. His injury history certainly makes him problematical for the future. If there is one thing I preach, it is don’t jump to conclusions when you are lacking basic information. Regarding Morris and Wood, for example, we have one in his first ever professional season and the other who had one good season in a second division. This hardly makes them guaranteed international stars or even stalwarts. Another thing I harp on is that too often people here over estimate just how good our players are when compared to the international players elsewhere. Top teams like Argentina and Germany have strikers who can’t make their teams yet are probably way better than any US player. Here’s a wonderful example at another position that’s easy to see and evaluate. Diego Valeri has been one of the best in MLS since he came here, would be better than any playmaking mid we have, and has, I think, 4 caps for Argentina. This is basically true for any top 10 team. In sum, it would be short sighted to dump a healthy Jozy given our player pool. The key word is healthy.

  6. One it was an obvious penalty both defenders foul him in the box although I think Parker only fouls him because the first defender trips him into Parker.

    My first reaction was that Jozy just asked out because he missed the kick.

    Watching the PK a few times it looks pretty clear to me that something is wrong, you can have a lot of fair criticisms of Jozy, but the power behind his shot isn’t one of them.

    The Toronto defense lost them the game not Jozy’s missed PK or “ineffectiveness”.

    If Jozy took himself out because of frustration he shouldn’t be in the Copa roster, if he’s injured and can heal in time he still should. Many a striker greater than Jozy miss PKs see Clint Dempsey.

    Reply
      • And JK sent him home which people don’t like to talk about because it doesn’t fit with the JK plays him because he has a man crush with him.

        We have around 2 and 1/2 weeks until the Copa and if he can be ready to go 30 minutes off the bench by June 7th his still a good option, if there’s even question he’ll be able to play he shouldn’t be on.

        Enjoy your “discussions” with DLOA about Sunderland.

      • Yes, JK sent him home thus it didn’t work out to include him in the first place. Why would we want to relive that when he is in bad form and coming off an injury? If we need a spark off the bench Morris and Pulisic are what I’d rather go with anyway. Anything to stop trotting out this donkey and MAYBE get some better production.

  7. Anyone that watched the game would attest to the following. Altidore imeffective in the match. Altidore awarded a soft penalty. Altidore bounced righr up, off of the pitch, grabbed the ball emphatically to take the penalty. Unfocused, Altidore approaches penalty kick a fraction early, before whistle, which allows him to proceed. Altidore hits a pathetic PK, easily saved. Altidore goes to ground, and indicates injury, after poor PK. Mommy, I am having a bad day, and wanna go home. Clearly not a man we need in the USMNT pool at this time. His heart is not into it, and JK needs to move on….End of story.

    Reply
    • It’ll be interesting to see how long he is out with his ‘injury’. My guess is he makes a miraculous recovery in time to provide the hold up play we desperately will need against Columbia

      Reply
      • Like Fabian against Mexico? See below, I thought it was a mental injury at first too, but I don’t know how anyone can make a claim to that watching on tv even if you have a sports medicine degree.

        Guys like Jozy and Fabian who have had hamstring issues in the past are hypersensitive to those types of injury. Usually they have tried to play through them in the past and injured it worse so now if they feel any twinge they want out immediately whereas a player who hasn’t had those problems will play on and maybe be fine.

    • If that is trully what happened then yeah we don’t need his services on the USMT. JK was surely watching that game and I’m wondering if he had the same impressions?!?!

      Reply
      • Duh, if you are JK, you talk to the TFC medical staff and get a professional medical opinion. People assume he screwed up the PK and then faked an injury. Have they even considered the possibility that in his run up on the PK he pulled his hammie and that is why the kick was so poor? I have seen it happen all the time in sports where a player will get the injury during a play and then fall down. People believe what they want to believe and don’t even consider the possibilities. All of a sudden you have a bunch of people here who are medical experts. My opinion is that we don’t know and you need to hear from the team medicos before making any conclusions.

  8. You never wish a player an injury and I wish him a speedy recovery.
    With that being said yesterday (DLOA and Johnnyrazor) continues to prove that Altidore sucks and shouldn’t be a first option for the USMNT. First he had no impact on the game, secondly he tried to get his first goal of the season through a penalty and convincingly missed it. Thirdly and the most important when he LEFT THE GAME Toronto became a different team and Giovinco became a different player. An the result? THREE GOALS AFTER BEING TWO GOALS DOWN. I’m sorry Altidore isn’t a striker/goal scorer or provider.
    Kekuta Manneh has said he wants to play for the USMNT upon getting his citizenship and he looked really really good last night.

    Reply
    • Although his citizenship is supposed to come through in September, he may not be cleared by FIFA until Dec. 30 2017, basically because his move to the United States was for soccer he must live in the US for 5 years after his 18th birthday. If European offers pick up he may decide waiting another whole year to play for the US is just too much and except the call ups he’s been getting from Gambia.

      Reply
      • Play for US and get a pretty good shot at the WC or decide you can’t wait another year tops and suit up for….Gambia. Plus he’s been up front about his plans all along.

      • Bryan- He’s played for Gambia at the youth level and has said he just wants to keep his options open until he can make a choice, but that he would be honored for either country. If it was purely a national team choice the US would be easy to make, but certainly no guarantee that he would make the team for 2018 and then by 2022 he’d be 27 or 28 and no lock either (His best season is 7 goals and 6 assists).

        Right now he lives in Pt. Roberts, WA which is actually on the edge of Canada and surrounded on the other 3 sides by water just so he can keep his US residency. If he were to start getting offers from European sides he might decide its worth it to skip the USMNT (since it would slow his citizenship and eligibility process not being a current resident) right now his base salary is only $82,000 with GComp. at $112,000.

  9. I saw something completely different. I saw a guy who is struggling mightily step up and miss a PK and then beg out of the game. Sorry,….hate to be negative but I think that is what is going on.

    Talk all you want about all the ‘little things’ Koxy is doing but he can’t score,…he knows it and when his weak PK was saved,…he was crushed and wanted to run away. It’s over Johnny! Put a fork in him. BTW – I’m sure his teammates have lost confidence in him as well.

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  10. I’m wondering with being able to change the roster due to injury up to 24 hours before the first game if Altidore makes the roster and then they play it by ear with a replacement in camp and ready to go

    Reply
    • Its been time for a long time but Klinsmann has a blind spot over him. If JK is smart, he’ll forget him for copa and hope for the qualifiers. Taking him to copa could very well kill him for the qualifiers.

      We really don’t need him and he’s not producing for his club. So why would he even be in the running?

      Reply
      • I don’t know why Jozy can’t get it together for his club. However, he typically shows up in a US jersey. That isn’t to say that he is an outstanding, proven finisher for the USMNT. It’s more to suggest where others fade (e.g. Bradley), Jozy is up top — and in back — putting in a decent shift. We have no unicorn to turn it around for the US. Maybe in time Wood or some other youngster will prove his replacement. But, until then, we have to make the best of a bad situation. Here’s to hoping Jozy has a speedy recovery.

      • Guys like Wood and Morris are young and recent developments. It is not like the US has a lot of great strikers being held back by Jozy’s presence.

  11. Really sad. He has put in the work to slim down and improve his movment and has turned into a solid unslefish forward anchor. No on else in the pool is as stong and fast up top.

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    • I would along with the “strong” comment but “as fast?” Please, he is not that fast, Morris or Wood are way faster.

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    • and has turned into a solid unslefish forward anchor.

      Is this the new label for not scoring goals? Because he isn’t Emile Heskey and scoring some goals would be preferred.

      Reply
      • HESKEY! That is a name I haven’t heard in a while… I remember how much my british friends hated that he always came… they thought he was a total waste… good player, but just couldn’t score! haha, that brings back memories.

  12. If history is any indication, look for Altidore to still make the team and try to recover as an unused bench player.

    Reply
    • Exactly. JK is going to take him anyway, burn a roster spot. He’s got excuse #1 ready for when the Usmnt fails at the Copa. “altidore is day to day and might be back for the round of 16” – I can hear it now.

      Same old song and dance.

      Reply
      • but why even take that gamble considering his history with this particular injury in the last 2 years?? If it was a precautionary thing I’d be on board with him being on the team but anything other than that he should be replaced in my opinion, or you run the risk of it happening again and another WC scenario

      • I know you are joking, but only players on the 40 man roster can be used as replacements.

  13. Obviously, I don’t want Altidore to be hurt, but this does open up the ability to see how the young guns work with each other. I like the idea of a 4-3-3 with players like Pulisic, Wood, and Morris leading the line, or something to that effect. However, highly unlikely as the teams we are playing will certainly make Klinsmann bunker, so I do expect to see 3 DM’s instead. In either case, one thing is certain, the younger players are going to be used in order to take over Altidore’s spot, assuming he can’t play. We better not waste a roster spot on Altidore with the expectation that he “may” play at some point. However, if the injury timetable is shorter than what we have seen in the past for Altidore, then I am happy to keep him included. I am not a major fan, but it is hard to argue his goal scoring rate, regardless of the competition he is playing against. But, it seems the younger players get their shot, so let’s hope they can live up to the hype that has been circulating around them of late.

    Reply
    • My worry/concern with Jozy being injured is that JK will now turn to the POS that is Wondo instead of using the young guns (Pulisic, Morris, etc….). I expect this to happen based on JKs history and apparent love affair with Wondo.

      Reply
      • That’s so funny since Bizzy has been griping for days that Wondo is the best we have because he scores in MLS and that JK never gives him a fair look.

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