USMNT: Josh Sargent and the succession of youth
The USMNT will play two international friendlies in September. Josh Sargent could be set to lead the line. He represents the succession of youth that Gregg Berhalter must now enact.
International friendlies don’t matter. Well, let me re-phrase that. The results of international friendlies don’t matter. The whole point of a friendly is that it is ‘friendly’. It provides opportunities for coaches to experiment with their teams, such that they can determine their best systems and personnel for the games that do matter.
U.S. Men’s National Team head coach Gregg Berhalter used his first few friendlies excellently. While his personnel selection was sometimes a little frustrating, he used different systems and positions, including the much-discussed hybrid right-back role, in search of what would work best for his side when the CONCACAF Gold Cup came around in the summer. This is what friendlies are for.
They are also for bleeding young players who are seen as the long-term future of the team into the senior set-up. When results are on the line and qualification for a World Cup is required, it is difficult for a manager to throw a 19-year-old into the mix. But in a meaningless friendly, these opportunities abound.
For the USMNT, Berhalter has a raft of young talent poking their heads above the water, all of which could lock down positions for the next decade or so. Tim Weah’s move to Lille is extremely exciting, Paxton Pomykal has been superb in MLS for FC Dallas, while the leading trio of Christian Pulisic, Weston McKennie and Tyler Adams will be the crux of the USMNT throughout the Berhalter era and beyond.
And then there is Josh Sargent. The flame-haired missed out on a Gold Cup place by a whisker. He was not a part of the under-20 USMNT squad earlier in the summer, so it was widely assumed that he would be a part of the senior Gold Cup squad. And then he wasn’t. Instead, Gyasi Zardes and Jozy Altidore went in his place.
Berhalter explained the decision by stating that Zardes and Altidore gave the USMNT a better chance to win now. And that may have been true, but Sargent gives the USMNT a better chance to win in two, three, four years time.
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The decision to omit Sargent was largely criticised at the time, especially given the divisive nature of the players who played in his stead. However, this time around, with two friendlies against Mexico and Uruguay looming, what better chance to throw the 19-year-old into the deep end and see if he can handle top-level international football?
Playing for Werder Bremen in the Bundesliga and beginning to break into the first-team set-up, Sargent is now competing at a standard far and above what most of the USMNT players are. Bar those that play in the Bundesliga alongside and a select few across Europe, Sargent is playing at the highest club level in the squad. And at only 19, that is quite the achievement.
His troubles in breaking into Berhalter’s thinking speak to a larger problem. Berhalter now needs to dispense with the old guard and shift towards a more youthful generation. The time of Michael Bradley, Altidore and Zardes, Wil Trapp and others should come to an end.
Next. USMNT: 3 immediate takeaways from September roster. dark
The USMNT needs youth and vibrancy. Plans for the long term should be implemented in the here and now, and Sargent as the leading centre-forward is emblematic of this necessary shift.