‘Best Foot Forward’: U.S. Men’s Striker Role at World Cup Still Wide Open

Josh Sargent was sitting on a plane heading back to the United States following another stellar season with English club Norwich City when the email from U.S. Soccer popped up on his phone.

The 25-year-old striker, who had 15 goals in 32 appearances for the Canaries in 2024-25 — easily the best strike rate in the second-tier Championship division — read the message, which informed Sargent that he would not be part of the national team’s roster for the Concacaf Gold Cup, the national team’s last competitive games before next summer’s 48-team soccer extravaganza. 

“I was like, ‘Damn, OK,” Sargent said when we chatted at the USMNT team hotel in New Jersey last week, before the Americans lost to South Korea in the first of two 2026 World Cup tuneups this month.

Sargent desperately wanted to participate in the Gold Cup. But the Qatar 2022 veteran went scoreless in his first three starts under U.S. coach Mauricio Pochettino, including a shocking 1-0 defeat to Panama in March’s Nations League semifinals.

Instead, Sargent used the summer to rest. He started the new campaign with six goals in Norwich’s first five matches, earning a recall to the squad this month and a start against South Korea. 

Sargent’s vexing struggles at the international level continued on Saturday. He failed to register a shot in 62 minutes before making way for Folarin Balogun. He has now gone 17 games without a goal for his country.

Scoring goals has always been a problem for the USMNT. The striker position is historically the program’s shallowest position. To wit: the men’s scoring record is shared by Clint Dempsey and London Donovan, who spent most of their international careers on the wing.

With neither Ricardo Pepi (who just returned from a long-term knee injury) nor Patrick Agyemang (still recovering from hernia surgery) in camp this month, Sargent and Balogun know what’s at stake.

“I never take coming into camp for granted,” Balogun told me. “I always want to put my best foot forward.”

The New York-born, London-bred Balogun is auditioning for his first World Cup roster. A former England youth international, the 24-year-old switched his international allegiance a few months after the Americans and Three Lions played to a scoreless tie in Qatar.

Balogun, who plays for French Ligue 1 power and UEFA Champions League entrant Monaco, was one of few bright spots in an otherwise dismal U.S. performance versus the Koreans.

“My mind naturally wanders to the opening game of the World Cup, and just the atmosphere,” Balogun said of the co-hosts’ June 12 curtain raiser at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles. “It’s almost like a freeze-frame, like a perfect image in my mind. But I’ve taught myself in the past not to fixate on that, because there’s stuff that needs to be done in order for that image to take place.”

Stay healthy, for one. Balogun missed most of last season with shoulder and ankle injuries. The latter forced him to withdraw from the Gold Cup squad.

“Initially, the plan for me was to use the Gold Cup as an opportunity to get more games and to build up fitness and sharpness,” he said.

But the unwanted break might have been a blessing.

“I think it’s put me in a position where mentally and physically, I feel refreshed,” said Balogun, who became the only American to eclipse the 20-goal mark in one of Europe’s Top Five leagues when he accomplished the feat for Ligue 1 side Reims two years ago. “My goal for this season is to reestablish myself as the player I think I can be.”

‘Don’t Really Have Room for Error’

With Pochettino likely to name just three pure center forwards to the USMNT’s final 26-man World Cup roster, the competition for places will be fierce. In addition to Agyemang, Balogun, Pepi and Sargent, Coventry City striker (and 2022 World Cup goalscorer) Haji Wright and others will also vie for those spots.

Still, there’s a camaraderie among all the candidates. There has to be.

“The coach made it pretty clear: Of course we all want to play, and he expects there to be good competition,” Sargent said. “But once a striker has chosen to play, he fully expects everybody to put that stuff aside and fully back that person and do the best they can to support them so they can perform well for the team. It’s a big message of putting the team first.”

“I try to keep it pretty simple,” Balogun said. “Try to do the right thing all the time, and off the pitch just be a good person before anything. It doesn’t matter if it’s another striker. With any teammate, it’s just showing respect and treating people as you’d want to be treated.

“And even on the pitch, if I’m playing with another striker and I feel he’s in a better position to score than me, I believe doing the right thing is just passing the ball,” he added. “That’s just how I’ve always gone about my life and my work.”

Balogun or Sargent, or both, will get another chance on Tuesday. The latter, in particular, needs to take advantage.

Unlike in England’s rough and tumble second division, scoring chances at the highest level are rare. Sargent scored twice in his most recent match for Norwich, but admitted that he could’ve had four.

“You don’t really have room for error,” he said. “It makes it even more important. When you get that chance, you’ve really got to take it.”

Despite Sargent’s international drought, faith in his nose for goal remains inside and outside the U.S. dressing room.

“I’m still a believer that Josh Sargent can do it at this level,” USMNT great Tim Howard said on his and Donovan’s podcast after the defeat to Korea.

“I’ve known that he can score goals since he was 15, 16 years old,” said U.S. teammate and fellow St. Louisan Tim Ream. “You look at what he’s doing at his club, the types of goals that he scores — they’re all different…it’s a matter of putting his head down and continuing to work and doing the things that he’s good at.”

The same goes for Balogun, who could start versus the Blue Samurai. Mostly, he’s just happy to be back.

“Representing my country is what brings me the most pleasure,” Balogun said. “I also want to give back because I feel like the team, the staff, and even just America as a country has shown so much faith in me.

“It’s a huge opportunity.”

Doug McIntyre is a soccer reporter for FOX Sports who has covered United States men’s and women’s national teams at FIFA World Cups on five continents. Follow him @ByDougMcIntyre.

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