The United States World Cup team made it to South Africa just a few days ago and already they have an injured player – just nine days prior to the commencement the team’s opening game. Starting forward for the U.S. team and one of the youngest players for the U.S. team, Jozy Altidore from Villareal suffered a mild sprain injury to his ankle during practice this past Wednesday.

20-year-old Altidore did not participate in Thursday’s practice with the team and his status is considered to be on a day-to-day basis right now. However, Altidore was taken to the hospital and admitted for X-Rays. The X-Rays turned out to be negative, though. Since the X-Rays were negative, it seems that Altidore just has a mild sprain to his ankle.

On Friday, Altidore will have to undergo a fitness test to see if he will be capable of playing this Saturday, June 5, against Australia in Johannesburg. This will be the last friendly for the team and last chance for improvements before their opener for the 2010 World Cup against Europe on June 12.

At this time, Altidore, who was on loan in Hull last season, is still expected to be a starter for the opening game in nine days; however, depending on the results of his fitness test tomorrow, this probability could change. If he is unable to participate then the team has up to 24 hours before the start of their opener to get a replacement.

However, the question lingers – is there a forward that can replace him? The only possibility of forwards that I can think of is Brian Ching and he didn’t make the final roster cut due to a hamstring injury that he was still experiencing.

What do you guys think?

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