Jozy Altidore ruled out for USA's World Cup match vs. Germany
The U.S. men's national team will be without Jozy Altidore for its all-important World Cup group finale against Germany.
Ahead of the clash on Thursday, after which either both teams will go through to the round of 16 or one will be eliminated, the USA has announced that Altidore will miss the game because of his strained left hamstring. Altidore suffered the injury in the 21st minute of the team's 2-1 win over Ghana and it kept him out of Sunday's 2-2 draw with Portugal.
According to the AP, Jurgen Klinsmann has left the door open for a future return should the USA remain alive, saying "we'll have a good chance to have him back again."
The USA is currently in second place in Group G, trailing Germany on goal differential. The Group G winner gets paired with the Group H runner up, while the Group G runner-up will meet the Group H winner.
Without Altidore against Portugal, Klinsmann turned to Clint Dempsey up top on his own, with wingers Graham Zusi and Alejandro Bedoya flanking central midfielder Michael Bradley. Jermaine Jones and Kyle Beckerman lined up behind them.
