Jozy Altidore suffered grade two tear, wasn't ready for Belgium

Jozy Altidore revealed on Thursday that the hamstring injury he suffered in the U.S.' World Cup game against Ghana was a grade two tear and that he was not

Jozy Altidore revealed on Thursday that the hamstring injury he suffered in the U.S.' World Cup game against Ghana was a grade two tear and that he was not quite ready to play in the game against Belgium, despite being listed as an available substitute. 

Altidore spoke about his injury and the U.S.' World Cup performance on ESPN's Mike & Mike radio show. 

"I had a grade 2 tear in the Ghana game. The timetable to come back was realistically very late in the tourney" @JozyAltidore on hamstring

— UNSPORTSMANLIKE Radio (@UnSportsESPN) July 3, 2014

The 24-year-old striker missed the USA's matches against Portugal, Germany and Belgium and called his injury a "terrible moment." 

"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 [the Belgium] game but as it turned out when it got there it was still a bit early," Altidore told Mike & Mike. 

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Altidore also shared his thoughts on his team's play in Brazil: 

"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. "Things happen, you know, circumstances change. We had some injuries and in the end, we just weren't able to get over that last hump in terms of Belgium."

—Molly Geary