Rank the USMNT forwards

Discussion in 'USA Men: News & Analysis' started by xbhaskarx, May 19, 2022.

?

The 4 strikers on a 26-man WC22 roster:

Poll closed Aug 19, 2022.
  1. Jesus Ferreira

    58 vote(s)
    80.6%
  2. Ricardo Pepi

    49 vote(s)
    68.1%
  3. Gyasi Zardes

    4 vote(s)
    5.6%
  4. Jordan Pefok

    23 vote(s)
    31.9%
  5. Josh Sargent

    29 vote(s)
    40.3%
  6. Matthew Hoppe

    5 vote(s)
    6.9%
  7. Daryl Dike

    20 vote(s)
    27.8%
  8. Haji Wright

    27 vote(s)
    37.5%
  9. Nicholas Gioacchini

    1 vote(s)
    1.4%
  10. Brandon Vazquez

    9 vote(s)
    12.5%
  11. Jeremy Ebobisse

    3 vote(s)
    4.2%
  12. Malik Tillman

    8 vote(s)
    11.1%
  13. Cade Cowell

    0 vote(s)
    0.0%
  14. Miguel Berry

    0 vote(s)
    0.0%
  15. Brian White

    0 vote(s)
    0.0%
  16. Mason Toye

    0 vote(s)
    0.0%
  17. Sebastian Soto

    1 vote(s)
    1.4%
  18. Jozy Altidore (you are Bruce Arena)

    0 vote(s)
    0.0%
  19. Tim Weah or Jordan Morris (not as one of the wingers)

    18 vote(s)
    25.0%
  20. Folarin Balogun (switch to US)

    7 vote(s)
    9.7%
Multiple votes are allowed.
  1. gogorath

    gogorath Member+

    None
    United States
    May 12, 2019
    He's not going to get exiled for missing that. Pefok didn't get dropped just for that -- he just really didn't fit anything else asked of him AND didn't score.

    Sargent does everything else Pochettino wants; he's going to get more chances to prove the scoring, I think.

    It's still ridiculous to drop a player with Sargent's skillset permanently because of one game of PT in the last two years.
     
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  2. Yowza

    Yowza Member+

    DC United
    United States
    Oct 23, 2019
    Arlington
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    If he keeps doing well in Norwich, he’ll get another look, but I doubt he plays in Mexico. I see Pepi with the start and Vazquez off the bench, seeing as it’s in Mexico, he’ll get a chance to show there.
     
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  3. The Clientele

    The Clientele Member+

    Portland Timbers
    Jun 25, 2005
    Portland, Oregon
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I’m making a knee jerk and uninformed observation. I admit it.

    Yet, from all these years watching the team and soccer in general, I’ve come to the conclusion some players simply have an “it” factor. Others don’t.

    I’m coming to the conclusion Josh simply doesn’t have what it takes to be a difference maker for the National team.
     
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  4. The Clientele

    The Clientele Member+

    Portland Timbers
    Jun 25, 2005
    Portland, Oregon
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I don’t think it was too easy to miss. I think, given the pace of the ball and angle, it was sort of tough.

    But for the love of all that is holy-moly, you’ve got to at least put it on frame.
     
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  5. LouisianaViking07/09

    Aug 15, 2009
    Just phenomenal that Sargent is playing the best football of his career this year and yet still can't score or assist when in a NT shirt. He still deserves starts of no doubt.

    Having Pepi, Balogun, Wright, Vasquez and Sargent; gotta think we are safe. Just hoping to see Pepi, Sargent and Wright all starting in a top 5 league next season.
     
  6. Pegasus

    Pegasus Member+

    Apr 20, 1999
    Club:
    FC Dallas
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Pepi was one of the five sent home along with McKennie, Pulisic, Steffen and one other. All but Pulisic are for small knocks. Pulisic was for rest. Not sure how Pepi got hurt. Seems he would want to play Mexico badly.
     
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  7. gogorath

    gogorath Member+

    None
    United States
    May 12, 2019
    I wonder if the ball to the face swelled up badly once the adrenaline went.

    Marlon Fossey was the other player with a knock.
     
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  8. RossD

    RossD Member+

    Aug 17, 2013
    Club:
    Colorado Rapids
    We have a bunch of players who are topping out at the Championship level. That's nothing to be snide about. But that level of player isn't going to be a difference maker or win you big games. "Continue trying" infers there is some difference maker out there, but we just haven't found him. We don't HAVE a difference making 9 in our arsenal and we won't for a very long time. Pepi could turn into that guy but that's years off.
    If we want to do anything in 2 years we need 5-6 more guys playing at Pulisic's club level. if that isn't their Pooch isn't doing anything special with this team.
    Our talent isn't at the elite level mostly due to the fact we don't have the concentrated infrastructure that European and SA club soccer have created in their countries. And we ain't ever getting there. And that's ok. That's a fact, not a problem to "solve".
    There's like 700 professional clubs in Western Europe.
     
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  9. gogorath

    gogorath Member+

    None
    United States
    May 12, 2019
    It's not bad at all to have 3+ guys performing well at second tier leagues, and several have real upside. Plus Balogun at the lowest of the top flights, but still top flight. They all have strengths and weaknesses, but this is the deepest striker crew we have probably ever had, right?

    There's a significant portion of our fanbase that seems to think scoring must be done by the striker. And I agree that we need the striker to be dangerous and they need to sink their chances at a good rate ... but our best attacker is our left winger and some of our best other offensive players are at CM and RB and RW.

    It's okay if our primary goal scoring comes from wing. Or we have CMs scoring consistently. It's okay to have Bobby Firmino there in the middle.

    Folarin Balogun has 5 goals and 4a assists in a little under 1,100 minutes for the US. And people think he's been terrible.

    Give me a goal scored or assisted every 120 minutes, anyday. I don't give a shit that half of them are assists. Once he learns to flop less, he'll also draw a ton of pens (and should have 2-3 already, frankly).

    I don't know why for some Reyna passing to Wright for a goal is somehow more valuable than Balogun passing to Reyna for a goal.

    Balo is at a goal/assist every 118 minutes.
    Pepi is at a goal/assist every 104 minutes.

    Donovan is somewhere around 112.

    So they are doing okay.
     
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  10. dspence2311

    dspence2311 Member+

    Oct 14, 2007
    I don’t know how anyone can say with confidence that any player under 28 has topped out. Success is a so correlated with “fit” — with a system, coach and teammates — and personnel alternatives.
     
  11. grandinquisitor28

    Feb 11, 2002
    Nevada
    It's also worth noting that in the case of say, Sargent, and Wright, they picked the championship, at least in part, for the EPL, not the championship. Wright could have played on the continent in a big 5 league, indeed he already has, all be it sparingly, and was up for potential options when he decided to leave Turkey, but I think its pretty clear he joined Coventry City as a stepping stone to try to make the jump to the EPL. To me, it's always more advisable to just play on the continent, and go from there, but it's his life. In the case of both of these guys, they are not championship level guys, they are big 5 guys playing in the championship because their Championship Clubs just missed out on promotion in Wright's case, and in Sargents, got relegated, and haven't quite been able to get it done since. Both of them could walk into plenty of clubs on the continent w/no trouble at all (and its 1000% what I'd prefer) but they appear to want to take their chances at making it in the big money EPL, rather than playing for a midtable or relegation fodder side in Germany, or Italy or whatever.

    So to me anyway, saying, "Championship is their level," isn't really helpful because the Championship is weird as hell. It's a promotion league with a bunch of weird af sucker, and incredibly different priorities between the varying teams, some clubs clearly trying to get promoted immediately, some simply trying to "stick," and avoid relegation as a priority and as a result, you get wildly different approaches, styles of play, and actual quality that's distinctly different from what you would see in the big 5 leagues in a general sense. Some of Championship soccer is flat out horse ---, period (remember Barnsley ball with Dike? Sort of a morphed Dump and Chase Hockey/Soccer they played and the ridiculously incompetent reffing that created a Hack a Shaq environment for Dike? The Championship is a mess of a league because the massive riches if you get promoted are so damn enticing, and the tumble down that can happen if you blow it can be so catastrophic that you just get incredibly stupid, totally erratic soccer.

    It's why I don't want our players there, or in England, in general. The soccer is ---- and the fans are even worse. I think its clear that Sargent and Wright are Big 5 level Strikers/Wing Forwards, but almost certainly not premiership level options, but they offer a ton to a team trying to get promoted, and doing so relatively on the cheap.
     
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  12. LouisianaViking07/09

    Aug 15, 2009
    I would enjoy seeing Sargent return to the Bundesliga with Wright taking his chances in say Serie A or La Liga but i'd imagine quite rare for someone to go Championship to La Liga/Serie A.
     
  13. gogorath

    gogorath Member+

    None
    United States
    May 12, 2019
    I can't see Wright in La Liga -- the style of play is basically the opposite of his in general.

    The obvious fit is the Bundesliga, but I think that time may have come and gone. Haji is 26 and he has his strengths and weaknesses. He's coming off three straight years of pretty similar production ... I think if folks were coming for him, they'd have come. Maybe on a free at a point if he doesn't mind taking a prove it kind of deal.

    The money is probably going to be best for him in the Championship and Turkey.
     
  14. xbhaskarx

    xbhaskarx Member+

    San Jose Earthquakes
    United States
    Feb 13, 2010
    NorCal
    Club:
    San Jose Earthquakes
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    My current forward rankings, top 12...

    1. Balogun
    2. Pepi
    3. Sargent
    4. Wright (#2 LW)
    ===
    5. Vazquez
    6. JMorris
    7. Downs
    8. McGuire
    9. Pefok
    9. White
    10. Agyemang
    11. Dike (don't forget about him)
    12. Ferreira
     
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  15. xbhaskarx

    xbhaskarx Member+

    San Jose Earthquakes
    United States
    Feb 13, 2010
    NorCal
    Club:
    San Jose Earthquakes
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Jonathan David, a 24 year old forward born in Brooklyn New York... gotta win those dual nats
     
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  16. xbhaskarx

    xbhaskarx Member+

    San Jose Earthquakes
    United States
    Feb 13, 2010
    NorCal
    Club:
    San Jose Earthquakes
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Vazquez to Bundesliga pls

     
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