Altidore revealed Thursday on ESPN’s “Mike & Mike” radio show that his injury in the USA’s opening win over Ghana on June 16 was a grade two hamstring tear. The Sunderland forward said he suffered a similar injury in 2011 that kept him out for a month.
Although Altidore returned to jogging and light training in the buildup to the USA’s round of 16 match against Belgium, he was an unused substitute in the Americans’ 2-1 extra-time loss.
“The timetable to come back was realistically very late in the tournament,” Altidore said. “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.”
