USMNT: Josh Sargent showed development in Werder Bremen win

USMNT striker Josh Sargent again started for Werder Bremen. After some poor performances this season, he showed signs of development here.

It has been a difficult season for U.S. Men’s National Team and Werder Bremen centre-forward Josh Sargent. The young striker, who is largely seen as the future of the position for the USMNT, inheriting the mantle from Jozy Altidore, has scored just three goals all season and only once since October.

Of course, two months were missed due to a global pandemic and Sargent also suffered a torn muscle in December and missed several weeks as a result. Nevertheless, he has now gone 564 Bundesliga minutes with just one goal. He is yet to score since play resumed in mid-May, despite having played in all four matches, starting three of them.

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Nevertheless, while Sargent’s struggles illustrate a young player who might be competing at a level that is currently above his talent, his individual performance in Bremen’s critical 1-0 victory over Schalke on Saturday was a step in the right direction.

Sargent did not score again, and he had zero shots in the 70 minutes he spent on the pitch, which is hugely concerning for a centre-forward, but his all-around play was much-improved, and as Bremen were able to control the match more against a hapless Schalke, he influenced proceedings to a far greater effect.

Sargent was the most-fouled Breme player on the pitch. Five times he won a freekick for his team, which portrays the type of work-rate he put in as the lone centre-forward. He ran the channels when necessary, recovered loose balls, put his body between the defender and the ball, and attempted to offer a focal point for the more creative Bremen midfielders to play off of.

All in all, he had 31 touches, which is not bad for a lone striker who played just 70 minutes, and completed 60% of his passes. He created two chances, a sign of his improving link-up play, he won three aerials up against the physically imposing Schalke back three, and his defensive numbers were excellent, including two tackles, one interception, one block and two fouls. He was extremely industrious.

Sargent is desperately missing that elite quality. His touch is still a little loose in tight areas, his dribbling limits the threat he poses, especially when he pulls into space, and it is never very encouraging when a striker takes no shots, perhaps portraying that his movement off the ball could be better to find more dangerous spaces in and around the penalty area.

But while this season has been underwhelming for the 20-year-old, playing north of 1,000 minutes in a top-five European league is a major step ahead of many other USMNT stars. And this was a definite step in the right direction.

Sargent has work to do. He needs to get sharper in his movement and improve his technical skill with the ball at his feet. But his industry, work-rate, hold-up ability, and improved physicality were on show against Schalke. This was his best performance since the restart.