ESPN FC’s Herculez Gomez joins Sebastian Salazar on Futbol Americas to debate which strikers should make the USMNT squad for the World Cup. Gomez decides who to start, bench and drop out of Josh Sargent, Jordan Pefok, Jesus Ferreira, Ricardo Pepi and Haji Wright.
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34 Comments
Why are they saying Pefok and Haji are similar? They are completely different. Haji is much faster and great on counter attacks, Pefok is good if your team has a lot of possession. Clinical striker in the box.
Sargent hasn't done sh*t when playing for the USMNT…..he's not a national team player. Pepi all the way!
I agree with Herc about Sargent, but if Dike were available, he would be the starter, for me.
Pepi must be on the plane.
I'm going with Sarg Pefok and Wright. Ferreira has done nothing to earn a spot since he didnt do much in qualifying, was bad against Uruguay and Morocco in friendlies and only scored against minnows. We dont have a single good number 9 so you go with whoever is in good club form and whoever is playing in better leagues. Pefok's the easiest choice since he's balling in the Bundesliga. Sarg is another easy choice because championship football is brutal and also a top 10 league in Europe. Wright has been very consistent in 2022, is lighting up the turkish league which is slightly better than mls and on top of that can do a little of everything like Sarg and Ferreira. I wouldnt be against Ferreira getting called up as the 3rd striker but he disappears way too much when the defenders are physical and body his small frame.
But lets be real here, most of our 9s arent going to make a difference against the big boy teams in Qatar. We are not a good team under Berhalter unless we're playing Curacao or Panama.
On current and recent form in no way should Pepi should be on the final squad to the World Cup.
no mls trash forwards please. you people tried to gas up frauds like morris arriola and zardes. 😂😂
Easy choice you go with sargent as the starter pefok as the sub.
What about Dike assuming he can stay fit?
Ferreira, Pefok and Vasquez
Nailed it herc.
It obvious that the USMNT has done everything in its power to cut out Sargent from the competition. He's filling out has the finishing ability and will be physical in the box. The only reason why he hasn't been given the opportunity compared to others is something I'll leave to others to figure out.
Josh, Pfok, and Pepi
Where did Herc get his shirt
With 26 we might bring 4 so Pepi might squeeze in, since some of our wingers could play central as well. So 4 strikers, 5 wingers, 5 midfielders, 4 fullbacks, 4 center backs and 3 goalies and that still leaves an extra defender I guess.
Does it really matter they have no constant scoring threat!!! They barely score in Concacaf, no Landen or Clint, maybe when we host the world cup we will have developed by then.
Pefok, Sargent, Ferreira at the moment
I'm glad I've seen this lads name in the comments, I heard it as Peefuck 😁. Sargent's had an injury at Norwich, but he's scored a few since.
I'm Scottish but I watch a decent amount of MLS, I don't know how you guys view him but I've been impressed with Jesus Ferreira.
It's probably gonna be Sargent. Norwich has it's issues but quite frankly he's had a lot of playing time and he's scoring. The world cup is less than 3 months away…
I’m deep into Ragedy Ann so I go for Sargent
I dunno about Sargent. I think the USA needs the biggest fastest guy because we're not gonna hold possession and set up scoring chances against the bigger nations. We need someone who can hold up the ball and get on the end of Hail Marys and whatnot.
They are all good options depending on the context. Overall though I think our best bet is pefok
The are all trash honestly… we have good players in every spot but forwards.
Can Brandon Vasquez show enough in the next camp?
Americans continually make the same error with their strikers and then wonder why they struggle to get goals out of the position against opposition that matters cycle after cycle. No.
The number 1, 2, 3 important criteria for a striker is finishing chances. Everything else is. DISTANT second. I agree with Herc about Sargents qualities but he’s only recently started scoring and is doing so in the English Second division. We literally have a striker who’s producing the same number of goals in the Bundesliga on top of excelling in the Swiss first division and European competition. How is this even a debate right now?
So our best No.9 option is a guy who scored in 1 game last year and got relegated…💀
Why isn't the former president of Liberia's son, Timothy Weah, included in the conversation?
USMNT's Front-line and Midfield footballers often freak out and lose confidence whenever a scoring opportunity comes along! Sport Psychologist must do a better job. Go USA.
As of now, I'm going with Pefok. No doubt about it.
Team would be a joke if they put trash lil Pepi
Not Pepi! Waaaaay overrated.
Sargent sucked for the US for years. Pefok is too static for US system. But we always pretend none of that matters for these conversations, and then get mad if GGG considers these factors as part of his analysis. Fans are 100% what league does he play in and did he score recently? Or if it is a defender, how many games does he start in what league? That's the beginning and end of their analysis. It's why I don't like soccer fan content and prefer to just watch and draw my own conclusions.
Berhalter is dumb. Put pefok in. I’m not gonna deny that sargent and Ferreira are scoring. BUT THEY’RE NOT SCORING FOR THE #1 BUNDESLIGA TEAM! They’re scoring in so much lower quality leagues compared to the bundesliga. As a berliner and usmnt fan this is a crime