IRENE, South Africa — Jozy Altidore and Oguchi Onyewu are fit enough to play in the United States' World Cup opener against England this weekend should U.S. coach Bob Bradley decide to use them.
Altidore resumed full practice on Tuesday, six days after the forward sprained his right ankle in practice. His missed Saturday's 3-1 exhibition win over Australia.
"Cost him a couple days, but from the start we knew that this was very minor," Bradley said Wednesday. "The fact that he's back in regular training certainly means that he's available for whatever role we choose for Saturday."
Onyewu tore his left patellar tendon Oct. 14 during the final World Cup qualifier against Costa Rica. The defender didn't get back on the field for AC Milan during the remainder of the season.
He played in all three World Cup warmups, but saw limited action. He started against the Czech Republic on May 25, entered at the start of the second half four days later versus Turkey, and came in as a 61st-minute substitute against Australia.
Speaking before the team's next-to-last workout in Pretoria ahead of the opener, Bradley was pleased with the team's health.
Defender Carlos Bocanegra appears to have recovered from sports hernia surgery May 5, playing in the last two exhibitions. Jay DeMerit also played in the last two games after getting over an abdominal strain.
"The overall fitness is, I think, quite good. Some of the players that were a little behind, I think the work continues to move them in the right direction," Bradley said. "The fitness program that we put our players through to prepare for the World Cup I think has every player in our 23 ready to play 90 minutes if asked. It's a credit to (assistant coach) Pierre Barrieu and it's a credit to the players, because they worked incredibly hard."