Altidore: 'I Had a Grade Two Tear'

• ESPN FC, Thursday, July 3, 2014 3:19 PM

In an interview with ESPN’s Mike & Mike radio show, USA striker Jozy Altidore revealed that he suffered a grade two tear to his hamstring in the USA’s opening World Cup game against Ghana, and would only have been available to play in other games had the Americans reached the later stages of the tournament.

"I had a grade two tear in the Ghana game," Altidore said. "The timetable to come back was realistically very late in the tournament. 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 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.”

The 24-year-old Sunderland striker added that he and his fellow squad members had mixed feelings about their campaign, which saw the USA progress through the so-called "Group of Death" but be sent home after the first knockout round against Belgium. "I think we performed well but, at the same time, if you go around and ask some of the guys, we definitely felt like we could have went a little further," he said.

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