Jozy Altidore could return for round of 16

The United States advanced to the knockout stage of the World Cup on Thursday with a 1-0 loss to Germany and a Portugal win over Ghana. Very few expected Team USA to survive the Group of Death, and their chances looked even more slim after forward Jozy Altidore went down with a hamstring injury against Ghana in the first game of group play.

Now, with the US likely set to face a quality opponent in Belgium in the round of 16, there is some hope that Altidore could return to give the US offense a boost. US coach Jurgen Klinsmann said before his team’s match against Germany that Altidore has not been ruled out for the entire World Cup.

“Jozy is recovering really well,” said Tuesday, via The Associated Press. “This game comes still too early for him. But we’re working on him. We’ll get him back in this tournament, as we said, so once this game hopefully is done successfully, we’ll have a good chance to have him back then in the team.”

Altidore has been diagnosed with a hamstring strain, so he’s not dealing with a tear or anything too serious. The US struggled at times offensively against Ghana and Germany. They could use another player who knows how to put the ball in the net, and Altidore would help fill that need. Hopefully he is able to return to full strength — or close to it — by Tuesday.