Josh Sargent has been reduced to only 30 minutes for the U.S. men’s national team since the 2022 FIFA World Cup, but after another strong goalscoring run with Norwich City, the Missouri native is ready to show new boss Mauricio Pochettino what he can do.
Sargent is back in USMNT camp ahead of Saturday’s home friendly vs. Panama and next Tuesday’s trip to Mexico. The 24-year-old has picked up this season where he left off last campaign by scoring four goals and adding three assists in nine EFL Championship appearances this fall.
Despite having a new club manager in Johannes Hoff Thorup, Sargent has quickly adapted to the Danish coach’s tactics and formations in England.
“It’s a new manager for us,” Sargent said Wednesday to media. “He’s [Thorup] come in and given us a lot of new ideas and game by game, I feel like we as a team have been improving and with that, we’ve been creating more chances. I’ve been gaining more confidence, and I still think there’s room for improvement for me. I’ve missed some chances that I wish I could have back, but that’s the life of a striker.”
Sargent was sidelined for three months last season due to an ankle injury, but proceeded to rebound in a major way. He led the Canaries with a career-best 16 goals, helping Norwich City reach the promotion playoffs before suffering a disappointing exit at the hands of Leeds United.
Several English clubs were reportedly linked with Sargent’s services over the summer, but he decided to stay at Carrow Road and remain a key piece of the plans for the 2024-25 campaign. While his past ankle injury forced him out of USMNT action at times, Sargent is confident to provide his best in this month’s window before the CONCACAF Nations League quarterfinals in November.
“It’s definitely been very frustrating for me,” Sargent said. “I feel like it’s been a lot of the bare minimum training throughout the week, playing on the weekend, getting by, and then having to recover. Then the national team comes around and I’m not in a good place to perform, or something happens at camp where it’s probably the smart decision not to force it and make it worse. It’s been very annoying for me coming into these camps and not being able to play.
“It’s been a while since I’ve been in good health and good form while I’ve been here and been able to play,” he added. “I feel really good. There is a new manager so I’m excited to see what I can do. I’m playing 90 minutes pretty much every game now and it feels like it’s in a really good place.”
Folarin Balogun’s shoulder injury has opened the door for not only Sargent, but Haji Wright, Ricardo Pepi, and Brandon Vazquez to make the most of the opportunities this month. Sargent’s 25 caps make him one of the two senior strikers in the current group (Ricardo Pepi has 30 caps) despite going close to five years without an international goal (November 2019 vs. Cuba).
Pochettino’s hiring has brought plenty of excitement and expectation to the program and Sargent knows that winning both matches this month will be the perfect start under the Argentine manager.
“With Mexico, it’s always an important match for us, but especially with the new manager, both of these games we want to get off on the right page and get a couple of wins under our belt,” Sargent said. “So, it’s [a pair of] very important games for us.”
