Bedoya out of Mexico clash - FIFA CONFEDERATIONS CUP
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United States midfielder Alejandro Bedoya was ruled out of his team's FIFA Confederations Cup playoff with Mexico after failing to recover from an illness, USA coach Jurgen Klinsmann revealed Friday.
Klinsmann told reporters that Nantes attacking midfielder Bedoya had been laid low with a fever and had not regained fitness. His place will be taken by Hawaii-born 22-year-old Bobby Wood.
"It's a bummer for Ale because he was burning for this game."
Jurgen Klinsmann, USA coach on Alejandro Bedoya.
"Ale can't make it, he got sick, it's as simple as that," Klinsmann told reporters. "He got a fever and he didn't train for two days and he's still not where he should be. He'll be replaced by Bobby Wood. It's a bummer for Ale because he was burning for this game, but it is what it is."
Bedoya's replacement Wood is rapidly emerging as one of the most exciting young prospects in US football, scoring a superb individual goal in a friendly win over world champions Germany earlier this year. The United States face arch-rivals Mexico in front of a sell-out 93,000 crowd at the Pasadena Rose Bowl on Saturday to determine which side from the CONCACAF region advances to the 2017 Confederations Cup in Russia.