Haji Wright and Coventry City witnessed their season come to a heartbreaking end on Wearside.
The Sky Blues suffered elimination from the EFL Championship promotion playoffs on Tuesday after losing to Sunderland 3-2 on aggregate. Frank Lampard’s squad forced extra time late in the second half at the Stadium of Light, but Dan Ballard’s last-gasp header in the 120th minute sent the Black Cats to Wembley Stadium.
After a goal-less first half, Coventry City tied the match on aggregate thanks to Ephron Mason-Clark’s 76th minute goal.
Wright had a golden opportunity to win the tie in regulation, but skied his header attempt wide of the net.
The Sky Blues would eventually watch Sunderland book their spot in May 24th’s final after Ballard headed a corner kick off of the crossbar and into the back of the net.
Wright, who played the full 120 minutes, had the fewest touches of any player in the match (17). The U.S. men’s national team forward led Coventry City with 12 goals during the regular season, but was unable to find the back of the net in the two-legged playoff series.
Sunderland will prepare for a showdown with Sheffield United, with the winner joining Leeds United and Burnley in the Premier League this August.
I see a lot of people being negative about HW’s performance, and you’re not necessarily wrong, but I think their needs to be more context provided. Sunderland played deep in their own half the entire match, with an eye towards counterattacking to create and score goals. There was NO space for balls to be played into Haji in their attacking third, and if there was Coventry didn’t attempt them. So, suffice it to say he was starved of service, something we see alot of teams do to the USMNT
Yesterday, in the Midweek preview SBI said on Haji Wright:
The U.S. men’s national team forward started and played the full 90 minutes in the first leg, however struggled to create many opportunities. Wright failed to register a shot on target and lost the most duels of any player in the match (9).
I thought the recap was unnecessarily negative. But, after the second leg, maybe it was just accurate. And, maybe Haji is Championship caliber. That isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but it aint gonna help the US compete in the world cup.
It was disappointing to see him held without a goal in the series and also get bottled up by the Sunderland backline in the second leg.
Did you watch much this season. He very rarely played at a target forward. He played on the left wing where he was always a handful
According to Transfermkt
Haji played
CF: 10 app 8g 1a
LW/LM: 15 app 4g 0a
So that narrative maybe isn’t completely accurate.
Last season
CF: 16 appearances 9g 4a
LW/LM/Rw: 22 appearances 7g 4a
Just to show his numbers are pretty consistent.
Wright had a chance to win it at the end of regulation and missed very wide on what appeared to be an open header. I couldn’t tell if a defender had nudged Wright enough to lose his balance, or if Wright simply lost his bearings. He’ll be losing sleep over that one.
From what I saw on looking at the replay, the ball was maybe an inch or two behind him so that to get the right angle he would have had to shift his head or upper body and get to be more lined up with the goal. When he hit the header he was not square with the goal. He hit the ball pretty squarely when his position required him to hit it more at a glancing angle.
Haji Wright was absent in this game……an absolute no show. Didn’t look confident, available or sharp in front of goal……..and didn’t look dangerous at any point during the game. Coventry had majority of the possession, better pass %, more passes in the box and chances….but Wright was no where to be found
I agree. Very disappointing from a US supporters view point as he didn’t look that interested.
Alf,
How is it that he wasn’t that interested?
No offense, but we are talking about a professional here. He was interested. He just didn’t have the ability to make a difference . . . either due to the position (see comments above about target forward v. outside) or he just wasn’t on his game. It happens sometimes, but I find it hard to say that a professional with a potential game at Wembly on the line
“wasn’t interested.”
I agree. Very disappointing from a US supporters view point as he didn’t look that interested.
sorry.
Not interested? Maybe having a bad day. Here’s an example. My baseball team has an All Star closer who had successfully closed 10 games in a row, plus 4 in a row to finish last season. He has been virtually unhittable. The day before yesterday he came in with a 2 run lead, and he was unhittable. However, he couldn’t find the plate, He inherited a runner, walked the bases full and then walked in two runs. With all those walks I think he only got 3 or 4 strikes. Maybe Wright wasn’t feeling well or just having a bad day. One should hesitate to reach conclusions unless you have full information.