Jozy Altidore injury not serious; good news ahead of important U.S. camp

Good news has arrived out of Europe regarding U.S. striker Jozy Altidore, who has a bruised back but apparently no head injury after Wednesday’s nasty spill.

Looks like Altidore, who was enjoying such a good campaign at Alkmaar in the Netherlands, may miss less time than initially feared.

It’s good news because the United States is less than two weeks from getting into camp in Florida ahead of a busy few weeks of friendlies and World Cup qualifiers.

And it sounds like this is about to be “get serious” time around Camp Klinsmann. That is, everything leading up to now has been about player evaluation, system evaluation and overall analysis of how it all fits together.

But these friendlies and, especially, the coming World Cup qualifiers are being stamped “high priority.” Almost a year into Jurgen Klinsmann’s tenure, we’ve reached the point where it’s about results and not much else. That’s the word coming out of U.S. Soccer headquarters, anyway.

Altidore definitely wants to be on that bus when it takes off. Plus, it’s a beefier bus if he’s aboard.