Chris Wondolowski compared the United States playing without Jozy Altidore to Portugal missing Cristiano Ronaldo.
While there are many tiers separating Altidore and Ronaldo, the former does play a role for the United States in which they lack alternatives.
He explained: "Jozy is a special player – that's like saying 'Hey, go be Cristiano Ronaldo'.
"You can't necessarily replace certain aspects of it, but I think that both Aron (Johannsson) and I bring different styles, different sets of skills that I think are useful.
"And I think that's what we have to go do is incorporate those skill sets, and fit into the game plan as well.
"We're going to have to do certain things that Jozy did, and incorporate our styles as well."