It’s a great question. Larin was notoriously lazy when he played for OC; as many goals as he scored for us, he was one of the most hated players by our fans. Once he went to Turkey, he was required to press/ play defense to even see the field. Forward to now, and he is a complete player. If moving up a level pushes Pefok to work harder and improve his weakness, than that’s great.
It is interesting to see how much the first section differs with the youtuber's analysis of Vazquez -- that he was slow to react and recognize situations. On the one hand, Lowery can be a bit effusive and overly positive ... on the other, he has things like stats and footage. And up next ... Vazquez is a quality hold up guy ... in comparison to the guy who thought Brenden Aaronson would be 50/50 good at it?
He played 15(!) minutes in the stupid friendly. He didn't prove anything as he didn't even have a chance. His place in the camp he deserves based on the whole season, but any talk of Qatar roster is highly premature before September.
Yesh, I don’t think he has had the same chance to show out that lots of other CF candidates have. Hopefully he gets that shot in September.
He didn't get more chances because every time he played, he underperformed. https://www.transfermarkt.us/jordan-siebatcheu/nationalmannschaft/spieler/355369
Pefok lost his spot, because Pepi was scoring and he wasn't. Then, Gregg switched to playing a False 9 and when Pefok was called up, he continued to not score.
Might be a streaky inconsistent striker. Not an uheard thing. Pepi is another one. GB needs to take a lucky guess. Ferreira is very consistent on another hand what's good, and Sargent is unfortunately too. Vasquez looks pretty consistent, but is his ceiling high enough?
Pepi hasn't score in 8 months, that includes the month and half in MLS and all of his time in Germany. His chances to score in a WC is slim at best.
A lot of discussion re: Pefok is that he's somehow established himself as a high-level scorer at Union. I wouldn't be so hasty. He's had two games so far; one against a 2. Bundesliga team (where he scored a tough goal) and another in which he converted a 20% chance against a top-flight team. If anything he's had a not-great beginning to his Union career concealed by some hot finishing.* *(but it's too early to tell.)
Yes and no. He's got an indisputable scoring record at the Swiss Super League and Ligue 2 level. At the first-division (top-five) or continental levels, we're talking per-90 expected goals + assists ranging from .4 to .87. Lot of variation, and some awfully small sample sizes -- he's never convinced a coach to give him starters' minutes at a top-5 league level so far in his career. That should be a pretty curious factoid for Pefok proponents, I would think. I basically think if you have a strong opinion about which forward is indisputably the best, you're exaggerating quite a bit. All the forward options are unproven and flawed; you're basically guessing if you strongly prefer one guy above the others.
Yeah, I think what I meant by that is that when he's in print, he really pushes for the strong point of view, and it's usually positive. In a podcast, he's actually generally very cagey.
He has 2920 minutes across Ligue 1, the B1, Champions League, and Europa League. I disagree that's an ' awfully small sample size'. He has 13 goals and 5 assists in those minutes for a g+a per 90 rate of 0.56, which is good. I have Vazquez and Pefok as the top strikers for the US. I can't say Pefok is 'indisputably' the best, as he hasn't enough minutes with the US. He is unproven with the US, certainly. He obviously is not unproven as a pro.
Striker minutes, USMNT 2022, all competitions: Pepi 641 Fereira 279 Zardes 179 Pefok 140 Sarge 116 Wright 45 Vasquez 0
It all depends upon circumstance. Brooks has been earning good money for a while now. Unless he has been bad with his finances, he could afford to choose a wc over a few measly million...if it was his choice to make. Of course, if he sees his chances for a wc as slim to none, than the big payday is at least some consolation. If I had the chance, right now, I would do like you and take the money but I am not in the same financial boat as Brooks.
Indeed. He was great for 2nd tier clubs and leagues. He scored goals for fun in Ligue 2 for Reims. Not in Ligue 1 for Reims. Now he'll have a chance to prove it on a bigger stage than the Swiss League. And it should be pointed out that Pefok was in our last USMNT camp roster that truly mattered. That was the last do-or-die WCQing window. And he played. I'm not sure I understand this whole thread about how Berhalter doesn't like him or doesn't use him. For the USMNT of late, a guy actually scoring for us...............gets a run in the squad. Pepi scores some WCQing goals? He gets a run. Ferreira scores some goals? He gets a run. If Pefok (or Vasquez) gets a chance at the upcoming camp, and does well...............he could be our starter in Qatar.