Top Stories

Jones suffers broken nose, Altidore continuing to make progress

Jermaine Jones of USA is hit in the face with the ball

Photo by Kieran McManus/ISIphotos.com

By FRANCO PANIZO

SAO PAULO — It turns out Jermaine Jones’ hunch was right.

A day after Jones said he suspected having broken his nose in a 1-0 loss to Germany, a U.S. Soccer spokesman confirmed that was indeed the veteran midfielder’s injury on Friday. Jones is expected to be fine for the Americans’ Round of 16 match against Belgium on Tuesday, and like Clint Dempsey (broken nose) will not wear a protective mask.

Jones injured his nose when he inadvertently collided with the back of teammate Alejandro Bedoya’s head in the second half of Thursday’s defeat in Recife. U.S. Soccer’s spokesman said both Jones and Bedoya underwent concussion protocols, but that neither showed any symptoms.

Another bit of news to come out of the U.S. camp on Friday was that forward Jozy Altidore was continuing to make progress in his attempt to recover from a left hamstring strain. Altidore picked up the injury in the Americans’ Group G opener against Ghana on June 16. Altidore was seen running separate from the team but with a trainer on Friday, less than 24 hours after telling reporters he was feeling better.

———-

Worried Jones’ injury will affect his play on Tuesday? Think Altidore sees the field against Belgium?

Share your thoughts below.

Comments

  1. I’m confident JJ will be ready to go Tuesday, just like Clint was a week ago. Jozy is another story with the hammie. I’ve pulled both and know they need plenty of rest. However, for all you younger men out there, I remember when Willis Reed came out of the locker room for the Knicks in the 1970 championship series against the Lakers and Wilt Chamberlain. He was limping heavily having sustained a leg injury in the last game and most people thought he would not play. He scored the first two buckets for the Knicks and inspired them to beat the favored Lakers. Jozy might do that for us.

    Reply
    • It is a nice thought Zamm but basketball has comparatively unlimited substitutions and soccer does not.

      You would be making an extremely expensive gesture; one the US frankly cannot afford and more importantly does not need.

      They are the underdogs and no knowledgeable person will pick them against Belgium.
      They have been missing their best forward since 20 minutes of the first game, have two starters with broken noses and , on paper , are much less talented than the Belgians.
      And if you read SBI, you’ll see that a lot of their own “fans” still think JK does not know what he is doing.

      So the USMNT has all the inspiration it needs for a USMNT against the world, David and Goliath theme for the game.

      Reply
      • Plus, now in the knock out stage we may need players for an extra 30 minutes of play. I can’t see a scenario for playing a questionable hamstring when all 3 subs would be so critical. Perhaps if we’re down 2 goals so there is little to lose in taking the risk. Or he starts Jozy hoping for a quick goal, knowing full well that a sub will be needed at half, or sooner. But still it’s doubtful.

  2. JJ is a physical freak with skills to boot, pun intended. amazing his performances and incredible stamina (superhuman)

    Reply
  3. My unofficial rankings of the eliminated teams:

    32. Cameroon
    31. Honduras
    30. Australia
    29. S. Korea
    28. England
    27. Japan
    26. Iran
    25. Ghana
    24. Russia
    23. Spain
    22. Italy
    21. Croatia
    20. Bosnia
    19. Ivory Coast
    18. Portugal
    17. Ecuador

    Confederation wise, CONMEBOL teams posted a remarkable .777 winning percentage and got 83.3 % thru to the final 16. CONCACAF teams were weighed down by a woeful Honduras and only posted a .542 winning percentage. However,, 75% of the teams in CONCACAF reached the knockout stages, so that is enough to place CONCAVAF as second best confederation. UEFA teams had a .577 winning percentage, but underperformed, getting only 46% through. AFCON lucked out getting 40% of its teams through on a winning percentage of only .300. AFC was dreadful.

    Asia, Africa and Europe should lose spots.

    Reply
    • Ecuador wasn’t very good.. id put them behind Portugal, Ivory Coast, Croatia, Italy and Ghana

      agreed on Asia; although 4 spots for continent that makes up so much of the world’s population and land mass is probably the min. Time for Japan, Korea, China, Indonesia, Australia, India, Saudi Arabia, et all to step up their game

      Reply
      • Yeah, agree on Ecuador. But they did take four points, like Portugal. At a certain level, the math has to factor in.

    • Spain and England should be in slots 31 and 30 respectively with everyone else moving up accordingly.

      Cameroon acted like a Sunday league pickup team and given their talent level Spain and England , massive underachievers, would both be rated lower if not for Cameroons complete and utter unprofessionalism.

      Reply
      • The rank is based in stats: points, goal difference. FIFA will make it official once the cup ends.

      • That is fine but I was thinking more about ranking them in terms of disappointment considering talent level and expectations compared to actual performance.

        In that case it would be more Cameroon #1, Spain #2, England #3 and so on.

  4. Altidore’s absence is the biggest impact on Michael Bradley. Clint Dempsey as well. If Altidore can’t go, I’d like to see Wondo up top with Dempsey back in the hole.

    Reply
  5. If only he and Dempsey would wear masks, we could have two masked men out there at the same time. That would have to be a World Cup first.

    Reply
  6. Jurgen has achieved what most realistic USMNT fans were “hoping” for: qualification into the round of 16. Thank you Jurgen. And generally, he has been spot on with his decision-making. The only minor quibble I have is with the Brad Davis inclusion. And if that is the only quibble, that’s awesome. Other than that, Green has yet to see the pitch so we can’t yet judge his inclusion.

    Reply
    • To add, I would still consider it a disappointment if we don’t make the quarterfinals. Anything after that is just gravy.

      Reply
  7. On to the quarter finals. The Nelgium game is a mere formality. There’s no way we lose to a country that puts mayonnaise on French fries.

    Reply
  8. Hey to all those JK haters out there. I want to say a HUGE Congrats to the USA and to JK himself as the coach.
    So far he is pulling all the right strings. I think we may still see Dix and Green before this is over?

    Lets all not forget who has already left the bldg.. the big 3 Spain ; Italy, England, That said the little Comcacaf of the US Costa Rica and Mexico still standing..?

    I think that says a lot about how far soccer in these parts has come?

    Reply
      • It’s the World Cup. If they under-perform against us, they have no excuse and we can still feel like the team has made progress. What losing team didn’t under-perform?

      • last I checked we didn’t play these teams. England, Spain or Italy. Costa Rica can claim some fame there. Good for them.

        Does this mean Costa Rica’s domestic league is actually better at developing talent than the Premier League, Seria A, or La Liga? Pretty obvious answer there.
        Soccer is a game of chance. Costa Rica had the balls fall right and took their opportunities. The World Cup has become March Madness. There is an advantage to being the “mid-major”. You’re players have been playing together for a lot more years (less talent to challenge for spots). The underdog gets revved up for the game, and on occasion pulls off the shocker.

      • “The underdog gets revved up for the game, and on occasion pulls off the shocker”

        “Shockers” are a staple of the World Cup .

        The format (four year spread, group play leading to knock out games, rotating geographic locations, compressed time frame, limited rosters) guarantees at least one or two every tournament.

        And in spite of the increased globalization of the game and the internet, most people still basically follow either the teams in their regions or the “Big Boys” and therefore often don’t realize just how well a low profile team like Costa Rica ,for example, is playing leading up to the World Cup.

      • In a world where Soccer Blood is confusing the leagues in those countries with their national teams.

  9. jeez, this has been a bruising group of games. as much as i would love to see Jozy back, it’s not worth it if he is not completely recovered. he really needs to be 100% fit going into the new EPL season. especially after seeing how well Jones did playing, at times, the target man role against Germany. he was the furthest forward out of Bradley and Beckerman and he was clearly the target guy transitioning out of defense on multiple occasions…which he did very well with. he had multiple headers won that he laid off to Dempsey to try and start an attack. may be something to seriously consider against Belgium.

    Reply
  10. In my experience it’s easy to tell if you have a broken nose. You move it with your hand and the pieces scrape against each other.

    Reply
  11. Ruud van Nistelrooy commented that 21 days was probably the minimum time for recovery from a hammie of the gravity indicated by the way Altidore pulled up and grimaced, etc. – so the Belgium game will be exactly 2 weeks (14 days) after the injury. There is an outside chance he has recovered enough to give it a go v. Belgium – but it could also be rash to put him on the pitch, and he might end up being subbed out in the first 10-20 minutes like what happened to Diego Costa in the Champions League final. I pray for a miracle. It would be great to have his hold up play and his nose for goal back on the field.

    Reply
    • Might be a good ploy to put him in the starting lineup, just to fake ’em out. But it’s not truly worth it if he needs to be subbed at 15 min. But nothing wrong with sending smoke signals…

      Reply
  12. A strained hamstring is a month recovery minimum, more realistically 2 months. Jozy should concentrate on getting fully fit for the upcoming club season, his World Cup was over the second he went down.

    Reply
  13. Didnt Romania dye all the player’s hair blonde in the 1994 world cup? We should do the same thing and break all the boys noses, it would be great sign of team spirit and unity

    Reply
      • I’d like to see us play Uruguay, two of our players in plastic seethrough face masks and then they roll out Suarez to the sideline on a dolly with the whole Hannibal set of restraints and mask. Fava beans, nice chianti.

    • Yeah at some point between the Nigeria friendly and the Ghana opener Beasley broke out the bic and shaved off the old man hair. Was watching the Ghana game with some random people at work and I was about to speculate that this may have been tactical, hoping to confuse the opposition players tasked with tracking Bradley.

      Then I realized I was at work. Eff that place. I will have to make do with making a bizarre Soda Popinski crack at Jim Cramer, which will be understood by few and enjoyed by none.

      Reply
  14. GOOD NEWS ON ALTIDORE! However, does anyone know what time frame is, for a hamstring strain, to go from jogging to full out sprinting?

    Reply
    • I played soccer in HS with a strained/torn hammy. It is absolutely brutal and an injury that needs at least a month off (depending on severity of course) to heal. Hammies are bad because when you start healing you can jog with no pain and think you’re better but then when you need some explosion, you re-injure yourself.

      I couldn’t imagine him being ready for Belgium, but perhaps against Argentina he could play some role.

      Reply
      • True that, but it is totally in the USMNT interest to make Belgium thing that Jozy might be returning if only to get them to waste some time planning for him.

      • Belgium coach Marc Wilmots: “hey, did hear that Jozy Altidore is running again? should we spend some time planning for his ret?”

        Assistant Coach: “well, our centerbacks know him quite well from the Premier League and he didn’t do anything at Sunderland”

        Wilmots: “well, Sunderland were playing on their heels and gave him no service because they typically were overmatched by the skills of their opponents and did not create many chances, but US vs Belgium… oh never mind, what’s next”

        Assistant: “How to stop Brad Davis’s speed, Wondolowski’s aerial prowess or Bedoya’s pint point crosses”

      • Tell us more about this injury, I haven’t heard this story before. Don’t leave out any details, I want to know all about your high school injury. Maybe Ives can get you an audience with Jozy’s trainers so your related issue can be of help in the world cup.

      • After a long work week made all the more exhausting with soccer emotional drain… I can’t stop laughing at what I’d like to believe I would otherwise see as a sophomoric joke.

      • Glad I’m not alone. Matter of fact, it’s been a while since somebody has thrown down one of these

        8=========D

        Too long.

        In closing, there’s an old man down the road who is Belgian (or so I’m told). Anybody feel like doing some burnouts on his lawn?

      • I pulled a hammie once and after a month thought I was healed and went out to run a 10k. Within a mile I had re-injured it and had to take 6 weeks off. They can be very tricky.

      • Some of us played HS soccer but most of us are smart enough not to equate the two. Puling a hamstring in HS and having your gen prac telling you stay off it is just a bit different than the apparatus that Jozy has. Please tell me you get that.

      • You’re right, Jozy is a GOD who plays INTERNATIONAL FOOTBALL with access to the BEST doctors in the world and equipment that is years before it’s time that us mere mortals would never have access to and could solve injuries we would struggle with our entire lives, because we are NOT professional athletes. What was betamale thinking??? Professional athletes are a breed unlike other human beings with a completely different anatomy and rule of physics being applied.

      • atpdc, don’t worry, I get it!!! I’m with you on this one!!! Hopefully, he will respond with a “I get it”….Good thing you put that down. We have to make sure he gets it.

      • More importantly, what is “it” anyway? I was not entirely satisfied with Faith No More’s explanation.

    • Played many years and pulled it a ton of times. Takes a long time and usually you re-injure it (repeatedly), thinking you’re already healed. Just as noted above…

      Reply
      • Had the same experience. Takes a long time. I expect a substitute role if anything from Altidore on Tuesday. Starting him could be a waste of a later substitution in a huge game.

      • I would think you would have to start him or nothing. I’d hate to bring him on as a sub, pull his hamstring five minutes later, then have to sub for him.

    • My experience pulling a hammy twice and a calf once is that you’re not jogging without twinges or anything for 2-3 weeks and even then you’re risking a pull when you try to explode.

      Also, one of the reasons people often re-pull is you basically sit idle for weeks and then have to build fitness back up. Let’s say you get him back, how much do you expect him to run?

      I think there is a limited disinformation use to this malarkey — Belgium has to think about their preparation more — but if we actually play him we’re nuts.

      Reply
      • That and the root cause of most hamstring pulls like the one Jozy had with no contact are an imbalance between the quads and hamstring strength. The stronger quads simply put are able to pull the hamstrings. That makes the hamstrings even weaker, making re-injury likely until they are not only fully healed, but strengthened as well.

    • torn hamstring takes @2 months if you are under good care of the physio’s. Jozy would become a bad substitution risk if he tried to start. There’s no way that he’s fit enough to be successful, He’d actually take away from the team instead of helping us, especially since he’d only be playing at less than 3/4 fit.
      Juan Uribe just back to Dodgers after 8weeks. Matt Kemp was in and out of the lineup all last season because his hammy’s would never heal because he kept trying to comeback at less than fit. Most frustrating injury ever for a runner.

      Reply

Leave a Reply to Paul Cancel reply