Josh Sargent’s lengthy wait to get back on the field for the U.S. men’s national team will unfortunately continue.
Sargent has been ruled out of the USMNT’s home friendly vs. Colombia on Saturday due to a foot injury, head coach Gregg Berhalter confirmed to reporters Friday. The American forward has not featured for the USMNT since the 1-0 group stage win over Iran at the 2022 FIFA World Cup.
“We’ve been training with Josh in the gym and on the field and he’s not going to be fit to play in the Colombia match,” Berhalter said Friday in his pre-match press conference. “We’ll have to see if he makes it for the Brazil match and then we have a decision to make in regard to the Copa America roster.
“He has a nagging foot injury that we’ve been unloading him, then giving him some more and testing him to see where he is at,” Berhalter added. “For us it’s about how do we get him ready and prepared in a good way and then make a decision if he is available.”
Sargent, 24, is coming off a career-best year with Norwich City, totaling 16 goals in 30 appearances. The Missouri native missed three months during the first half of the season due to an ankle injury, but enjoyed a productive second half in David Wagner’s squad.
13 of Sargent’s 16 goals came this year, helping Norwich City finish in the top six of the EFL Championship. However, even Sargent couldn’t help the Canaries avoid a 4-0 aggregate loss to Leeds United in the promotion playoffs, which eventually saw Wagner released as club manager.
Folarin Balogun, Ricardo Pepi, and Haji Wright will all fight for opportunities in Saturday’s match at Commanders Field, while Berhalter also hinted at the possibility of potentially adding another attacker to the mix if needed.
“Right now we have 27 guys in camp, so there’s also the likelihood that we just stick with the 26 if Josh can’t go,” Berhalter said. “The other option would be to look outside this player group and look for someone on the preliminary roster to replace Josh and that is a bridge we will cross when we get to it.”
The USMNT faces Colombia on Saturday before hosting Brazil on Tuesday in Orlando, Florida. Berhalter’s squad will open their Copa America schedule on June 23 against Bolivia before also taking on Panama and Uruguay in Group C play.
Sarg is the type of player that needs to be protected from himself. He goes hard without thinking all the time. In the WC, v Iran he jumped and forgot both of his feet; injuring himself. This is not an exaggeration or a diss. Players like this will always be injured until they figure out how to be productive and not get injured. Sargent is a large human being with dense muscles. (Dike, CCV, Vasquez & NFL players need a different workout/training routine than what we see in soccer. Soccer players on average are 5’9’ less than 170 lbs). Most times the coach will step in and manage minutes for players like this. Sargent will be in the Copa America even if injured. Canaries won’t be full on preseason so GB can drag out his decision at CF as long as he wants.
sorry, no, historically the US has left off hurt players unless it’s simply chronic (wegerle) or the world cup (AJ). this is not the playoffs or the world cup, the upside isn’t worth the risk. historically you would be on a plane back to stl or norwich.
No one here appears to be a doctor and as far as anyone has said no one here has seen his scans or exam reports. Norwich’s medical staff has to sign off on all call ups. They clearly communicated with the US medical staff and set up a return to play plan. Josh didn’t meet the benchmarks to be able to play.
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Gregg clearly brought an extra striker knowing this was a possibility. Hence why he brought 4 strikers.
I would love to see him on the field for the USMNT, but I would love it even more if he gets healthy and has a good season with Norwich in the Championship, or an EPL team next season.
Yeah. I understand the guy wants to play because it’s Copa America and that’s the second-biggest event the US can play in after the World Cup, but it’s not worth setting his career back.
The guy needs to sit. And heal up. Not spend his summer running on a bad foot.
Well I would say it’s time let this man heal up. The USMNT has plenty of options for striker.
this is absurd. this is not the world cup. it sounds like dude reported with his ankle hurting. you then put him on a plane back to st. louis or england or whatever. heal up and enjoy your offseason. for NT games you don’t train him on the side and see if you can get him fit. you call a fit person.
dude does this over and over. barely calls the limit. people get hurt. he either ends up short or calling someone from out of camp the day before we play. and there isn’t so much roster competition as assurance. copa roster deadline is after the friendlies — not before. to me this is poor planning.
IV,
You’re being a drama queen. More than likely Gregg brought him in to have our fitness people give him a once over and gather data, something that’s alien to you.
I’m on record as saying they should have left Adams home but he is demonstrably a lot less fit than Josh who, at the end of the day , managed to keep playing and keep scoring. And there is a lot of money attached to what Gregg does.
Josh is one of Norwich’s most valuable commodities. I’m sure Josh is dying to play and it is very important to his market value that he play if it is at possible.
If I’m Gregg I tell Josh , okay but our fitness guys have to run the rule over you first and we’ll see where we are.
Josh’s sale price may well be affected by what Gregg does.
Gregg needs hard data. He can’t afford to make a snap decision based on no information. It would be ignorant and unprofessional to do that.
IV can do that but Gregg can’t.
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V: you want to revisit the pro-GB malarkey after how the game went?