photo by Kim Klement/USA Today Sports
By FRANCO PANIZO
A familiar injury has reared its ugly head again for Jozy Altidore, and it will cost the Toronto FC and U.S. Men’s National Team forward a chunk of time at a bad time for both teams.
Altidore is expected to be out of action for 4-5 weeks after being diagnosed with a hamstring strain. The 25-year-old striker picked up the injury in the first half of Saturday’s 1-1 draw with the New England Revolution, and was subbed out in the 21st minute.
The timetable of his recovery means Altidore will be out of action until late June or early July, which is just before the start of the U.S. Men’s National Team’s CONCACAF Gold Cup title defense. Any setbacks could put his availability for the regional competition in jeopardy, and even if he remains on schedule, he will have to work hard to catch up in the match fitness department.
Altidore, who suffered a hamstring injury at the World Cup last summer, has had his ups and downs in his inaugural season in Toronto. He has five goals in eight starts for Toronto FC, including having scored three goals in three matches before the New England match.
The injury will rule Altidore out of the U.S. team’s upcoming friendlies in Europe against the Netherlands and Germany in early June, meaning Jurgen Klinsmann will once again be without his full-strength squad.
The injury is a big blow for a TFC side that was counting on him to continue to produce goals as the club looked to climb up the Eastern Conference standings after a slow start to the season.
What do you think of this development? How do you see Toronto FC faring without him? Worried he might not be sharp enough for the Gold Cup? Looking forward to seeing Aron Johannsson be given a chance to start for the U.S.?
Share your thoughts below.
Bring up Charlie Davies. He is playing well right now!
I would love to see this, too.
Bornstein is playing well right now as well.
We need to move on from jozy, explore new players,new blood. He is no top class talent, let him work his ass in MLS and earn his respect.
We gotta move on people.
I tend to agree. He’s an excellent player for the US when he’s healthy and in-form but how many actual games for the MNT has that been true? A dozen? Maybe?
Back of the line for Jozy in my opinion.
If there was a “top class” talent to move on to then I’d agree, but I don’t see it. Fact is no one is doing anything Jozy hasn’t done better. Jozy scored more at AZ then Aron has and more in MLS then Juan has. I understand because Jozy’s been in the system for so long there’s this, desire to move on. However he’s only a year older then Aron and a couple older then Juan.
We a need young blood, a crazy runner like Suarez or a tough good player like muller.
We just need new young blood, who is given trust and support.
Look at Mexico,our nearest example. Their forwards play like crazy, they give everything they got but they got skills and game, not like Dempsey.
Dempsey and altidore need to take it to the next level, I’m terms of skill and none ball movement, no more thug attitude.
Yes, we need players as good as Suarez and Muller. Let us know when you find them. Thanks.
Yes, while we’re at it, I’d like a Ronaldo and a Bale on the wings, but I’d like them to actually get along. I’d like a young Didier Drogba up top, a healthy Vincent Kompany and a non-doucherocket, likeable version of John Terry as my centerbacks. Also, let’s order up some Barca-type wingbacks, and a Pirlo as my holding mid. And of course, we want a Messi, let’s get one of those, too, please.
Simple as pie. Why are we COMPLICATING this? Just go find those guys.
There aren’t a whole lot of Mullers and Suarezes around. Get realistic. And only 2 Mexican, I believe, have scored more goals in top flight European leagues than Dempsey.
Is it time to start a Jordan Morris band wagon? Seriously, AJ looks to be coming on and showing the ability he hinted at before the WC. And as long as Dempsey remains healthy, we should be okay through the group stage.
Speaking of injuries, counting on Aron Johannsson is almost like counting on Greg Oden. I don’t doubt his ability, but I doubt his ability to stay healthy.
Door is open for Morris at the GC. Vs Netherlands and Germany idk I think he might be a little out of his league, plus finals and end of the school year keggers right?
he’s probably also tired from bangin every sorority girl since the MEX game. (“yea that was me on TV; wanna see my blacklight in my room?”)
What will we do without our talisman?!
The team will undoubtedly struggle in their pre-gold cup friendlies without a tried and true target man. However this opens up an opportunity for a different type of striker to become a reliable alternative for the manager. I expect the red hot Aron Johannsson or Juan Agudelo to become the strike partner with Clint Dempsey. If all goes well, this should hold the team over until our regular scoring dynamo is back in action.
Get well soon Josmer.
“The injury will rule Altidore out of the U.S. team’s upcoming friendlies in Europe against the Netherlands and Germany in early June, meaning Jurgen Klinsmann will once again be without his full-strength squad.”
if losing one forward is that important, it speaks volumes about (a) the incompetence of our other forwards, or (b) the failure in management to integrate other options.
i, for one, am hoping it’s the latter. excited to see who can step up and challenge jozy for the starting spot.
Hmmm — any way to blame Klinsmann for this one?
Probably.
Well, considering this is the same hamstring that was overtrained just before the WC….
Funny, below I was talking about how many players, but you are correct, it could be applied to how many times injured now on one player.
All these injuries, and injuries do happen in a running sport, are not violent injuries. They are repetitive use or strain type injuries.
IF there is something to be learned, we need to learn it.
I was actually sorta joking. The WC, after all, was ten months ago.
Pulled hammys are no joke. 😉
In all seriousness, the complaint about JK is over training, now there are all sorts of these injuries popping up.
Pretty sure JA was at the US training a number of times this year. The same training that has left Jones, Bradly and Dempsey diminished for the MLS season.
Not saying anything is proved.
Not saying I don’t want them to train hard, I want an in shape team.
But questions have to be asked by JK and anyone that cares.
Pulled hammys are no joke. 😉
Yes, please tell us more about your vast knowledge of injuries from a professional athletes perspective.
Quit whining and go back to your armchair.
One thing you COULD learn is that some players are more susceptible to injury than others. Michael Bradley went through the same world cup regimen as Altidore and plays on the same club team and must go through the same training there as Altidore, but he’s still playing 90 minutes.
Maybe one could consider that Jones,Mikey, Clint and Jozy have all put a lot of hard mileage on their bodies in the last couple of years.
Did you all really expect these guys to go injury free as they aged ?
Wrong. Its the right one, hurt the left in WC. If you are going to try so hard to blame JK at least get facts right
HA! GOTEEEM! HA!
Quite a coincidence. How many is that now?
he is the face of “when cracking (rupturing) under pressure” we will never know how he does in the big stage. theres always an excuse from him. no good service at sunderland, they didnt like him at villareal im over it. lets MTV it and say NEXT…
hyperbole is pure comedy
TFC has no luck at all. I feel bad for them at this point.
and yet we trust them with 2 of the most important US national team players..
That is just not how the relationship works between club and country.
beto,
You have that backwards.
Mikey and Jozy are TFC employees . They are paid millions of dollars. It is TFC who entrusts THEIR 2 most important guys to the USMNT hoping that they don’t screw them up.
The USMNT is a part time job
..
Well aware, just kinda a joke about how much of bad luck club TFC is and now their bad luck is shared with the USMNT
Getting a tie was their luck. They were outplayed all the way. I know JK will not look at him but Charlie Davies is a better choice then Juan A in the forward spot and more dangerous than Jozy will ever be
Someone pointed this out yesterday but the fact coaches can swap out players after the groups stages of the Gold Cup gives Jozy a little extra time to get fit if necessary. The US shouldn’t have any trouble getting out of that group without him.
One guy I think could really make a push in his absence is Juan Agudelo. I’ve always been a big Jozy booster – I think he’s quality, and a really quality big striker who has improved by leaps and bounds and never got a fair shake with Sunderland – but I’ve also always felt if anybody in our pool had the quality to unseat him it was Agudelo. Agudelo is physically as imposing as Altidore, or very close, and has a much better first touch and is much more technically adept.
While we’re grabbing Agudelo, we might as well reach in and grab another Revs guy in Teal Bunbury…I think it’s time Bunbury got another look, this time as a winger. Oh, and let’s keep calling Lee Nguyen too, just to totally cheese off Robert Kraft this summer when half his roster is at the Gold Cup.
why stop there Tierney, Rowe Davies and Ferrell have been pretty good too. lets call the entire American – New England Revs squad and start them at Gillette Stadium vs Haiti.
but ya Jozy is vital to this team but wouldn’t mind seeing Agudelo, Johannsson, Rubin, maybe one of the U20 standouts, others challenge his spot.
Ahhh, the Miguel Herrara School of Team Building.
We could go the marketing route and appoint our team by popular vote a la Brazil. Aguadelo would probably get a decent chunk of votes.
In any event we should definitely start by emulating the NFL and get a reality tv show based on our striker pool. I mean can we really know a guy until he completes the ‘Top Ten Strikers of the World’ survival challenge?
In all seriousness, I know it would piss off the Revs but you can make a legit argument that every one of Jones, Nguyen, Agudelo, Davies, Tierney and Bunbury deserve a call up to the initial Gold Cup camp. Don’t think all of them would or should make the final 23, but for that initial 35-man roster?
– Jones and Nguyen will be there.
– Agudelo is a natural choice to slide in for Jozy.
– Tierney is arguably the best left back in MLS right now, and if we play the 4-4-2 diamond, he fits the mold perfectly. Defends well, gets into the attack to provide width and gives consistently excellent service.
– If my choice is Ibarra or Bunbury (and realistically, it is), I’m taking Bunbury 10 times out of 10.
– Davies plays exactly the kind of high pressure, run your ass off, give everything for the team style that Wondo does, with that added bonus that, you know, he’s not Wondo.
“Davies plays exactly the kind of high pressure, run your ass off, give everything for the team style that Wondo does, with that added bonus that, you know, he’s not Wondo.”
haha +1