51ºÚÁÏ

The numbers look bad for Josh Sargent. He hasn’t scored for the U.S. national team in six years, covering 16 games. He was on the U.S. roster for the 2022 World Cup, played in the first three games but didn’t score, putting a header off the post in the game against Wales. For someone whose job in the lineup is to score goals, that’s a lot of zeroes.

Sargent knows both sets of numbers very well, and he also knows the importance that falls on the U.S. national team’s two friendly matches in the September window. The United States plays South Korea on Saturday in Harrison, New Jersey, and then plays Japan on Tuesday in Columbus, Ohio. The opportunities to impress U.S. coach Mauricio Pochettino as he enters the final phase of assembling his roster for next year’s World Cup are growing smaller. The goals Sargent scores in England will get him in the door and get him a look, but it will be the goals with the national team that will earn his spot.

“I’d probably be lying if I said I didn’t think about it,� Sargent said of his national team struggles on a U.S. Soccer conference call this week. “Of course, I know it’s been a while. I’m doing so well at the club level at the moment, I just keep reminding myself how well I’m doing there. I know I can score goals, and I know it’s a matter of time that I’m going to score for the national team, so just going to put my head down and keep working hard, and I know the goals will come.�

This is the first time Sargent has played for U.S. since March, when he started the semifinal game of the CONCACAF Nations League and the United States lost to Panama 1-0. He wasn’t called in for either the team’s summer friendlies or for the Gold Cup, as a run of four losses in a row forced Pochettino into reconsidering his roster options. For the first matches for the United States since the Gold Cup ended with the U.S. losing to Mexico 2-1 in July, Sargent was called in.

“I understand,� Sargent said, “and kind of just took it as rest up during the offseason, and kind of hit the ground running with Norwich to make sure that I’m back into the next camp. And I think I’ve done a very good job of that at the club level, and I think that’s why I’m here. And again, hopefully I can keep performing and do that here as well.�

“We really need to understand when we call, when we don’t call, the reaction,� U.S. coach Mauricio Pochettino said when he announced the roster. “How they show their character and their capacity to fight for a position on the national team and this competition I think can be only positive for the final roster for the World Cup. That is why I think we add new faces in this roster and it seems fair that all the players that we are going to call or were calling in the past have the chance to show their quality and convince us they deserve to be in a place on the national team.�

“I don’t think anybody really worries about (the goal-scoring drought), to be completely honest with you,� said U.S. defender Tim Ream, who like Sargent went to St. Dominic High in O’Fallon. “I’ve known that the guy can score goals since he was 15, 16 years old, and following his path and his career so far. And, yeah, it’s not something that we’re worried about. You look at what he’s doing at Norwich and the types of goals that he scored, they’re all different. So full confidence in him. It’s just like he said, it’s a matter of putting his head down and continuing to work and doing the things that he’s good at. And the goals will definitely come.�

But time is running short. There are only three more windows for camps and friendlies before the World Cup and at some point, Pochettino has to stop auditioning and start playing who he’s going to play next summer.

Sargent was linked in the transfer window with two clubs, Wolfsburg in the German Bundesliga and Sunderland in the Premier League. Norwich reportedly had a deal in place with Wolfsburg, but Sargent turned it down to stay in Norwich, where he has played since 2021.

“A lot of decisions had to be made, not just for myself, but for my family,� he said. “Overall, I think I’m in a good spot at Norwich. I’m at a place where I know I can score goals, which, of course, is important going into the World Cup. I’ve had a good start to the season, so hopefully I can continue that form all throughout the season and keep scoring goals.�

Besides the two 51ºÚÁÏans playing for the U.S. national team, there’s one other local angle to the game: newly acquired City SC forward Sangbin Jeong was called in by South Korea for the match. Jeong has made one appearance with the South Korean national team. He’s one of two MLS players called in for the game, though there is way more attention on the other one, Son Heung-Min, who recently joined Los Angeles FC after a long career in Europe, including at Tottenham Hotspur in the Premier League, where Pochettino was his coach.