Jozy Altidore Hints He'll Miss the Rest of the Gold Cup

Jozy Altidore struggled in games vs. Honduras and Haiti during the group stage of the Gold Cup. Jurgen Klinsmann replaced him at halftime vs. Haiti with Gyasi Zardes and benched him Monday night vs. Panama. Altidore injured his hamstring in May and clearly looked nothing close to 100 percent.

Tuesday morning he tweeted this, suggesting he’ll be replaced on the roster for the knockout rounds. He didn’t cite the injury, but it seems the most-likely scenario …

If Altidore’s tweet is accurate, the two most likely candidates to replace him on the roster are Juan Agudelo and Alan Gordon. Promising newcomer Jordan Morris had leg surgery for a stress fracture in late June, making it highly improbable he’ll be included.

Altidore’s absence creates many different possibilities in the starting lineup at forward. Clint Dempsey is a lock to play somewhere in the attacking third. Aron Johannsson could slide into the starting XI or Zardes could start at striker, as he did vs. Panama — although Klinsmann does seem to like playing Zardes as a left-sided midfielder.

Last year Altidore injured his hamstring early in the United State’s first World Cup game vs. Ghana and missed the rest of the tournament.

The U.S. plays agains on Saturday in the quarterfinals in Baltimore. Klinsmann will announce his lineup for the knockout rounds later today. John Brooks will miss the quarterfinal due to yellow card accumulation so we could see multiple changes.

This is working under the assumption Altidore is off the roster because of his fitness/health. If it’s something else, well, Klinsmann is opening himself up for a lot of media scrutiny …

[Photo via USA Today Sports Images]