Friday Newsletter: Who's the USMNT No. 9?

Feel like I've written that headline before. Plus I answer your Mailbag questions!

I love the FotMob app (not an ad, I really do love it). It allows me to set notifications on my phone for individual USMNT players so that whenever there’s a real-time update—if a U.S. player scores a goal for his club, or has an assist, or is named in the starting lineup—the news pops up on my screen right when it happens.

The app has been busy with U.S. center-forwards lately! Just on Friday afternoon, alerts came up for two more goals scored by Turkey-based Haji Wright in Antalyaspor’s 5-2 loss to Gaziantep. Exactly a week ago, England-based Josh Sargent sent two alerts coming with goals for Norwich City in a 2-0 win over Millwall. Last Saturday, it was Jordan Pefok’s goal for Union Berlin against Leipzig that lit up my phone. And Jesús Ferreira and Brandon Vázquez have been doing it all season long for Dallas and Cincinnati in MLS.

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The No. 9 spot has been a huge problem for the USMNT for a while now, including during World Cup qualifying, as I wrote about in detail in January. No fewer than five of them started in qualifying—Ferreira, Pefok, Sargent, Ricardo Pepi and Gyasi Zardes—and Wright and Daryl Dike have also been in the picture at other times over the past 15 months. Even Jozy Altidore made a move recently to Puebla to try and make a last-ditch claim for a World Cup role.

This year feels a lot like 2010, when there was also a wide-open U.S. center-forward race in a World Cup year and three players emerged to make the team: Hérculez Gómez, Edson Buddle and Robbie Findley.

With U.S. No. 9s lighting up my phone lately, it made me wonder: Is there any chance a big USMNT problem becomes (wait for it) a strength at the World Cup? And what’s the latest handicapping I would give for the candidates to make Gregg Berhalter’s 26-man roster for the flight to Qatar? (I’m not including Malik Tillman in this group, because I don’t think Berhalter views him as a center-forward in his system.)

Let’s break it down:

1. Jesús Ferreira. The odds-on favorite to start up front in Qatar, Ferreira knows Berhalter’s system, has excellent movement and racks up the xG (which Berhalter loves). Ferreira hasn’t finished as well as he should have for the USMNT and isn’t great at hold-up play, but he’s had a productive MLS season (15 goals and 5 assists in 27 games). We spend a lot of time talking about the edge of the USMNT roster selections, and the truth is we should focus more on who’s actually starting. Ferreira is very likely to be the U.S. No. 9 at the World Cup.

2. Jordan. What should we call the U.S. forward for Union Berlin? Pefok? Siebatcheu? Or something else? It’s more wide open than ever after his tweet this week:

   Call me PEFOK @Theosonsmith

   Siebatcheu ? Pefok ? 😂My name is Theoson-Jordan Siebatcheu ! My friends call me Jordy and my best friend is my mum that’s why I play with PEFOK ( or Jordan because she gave me this name and I couldn’t put PEFOK ). It’s easier to say PEFOK than Siebatcheu so now it’s up to you ✌🏾

   So I’ll throw this out there: Why not call him just Jordan? One name only, like a Brazilian. One of the greatest scorers of all time in any sport is a guy named Jordan, and I’m hoping the USMNT forward starts wearing No. 23 with JORDAN on the back. Let’s make this happen. Aside from the goal he scored against Honduras in Nations League, Jordan hasn’t done much for the USMNT; he missed a sitter that could have won the qualifier in Mexico. But he has been productive at club level and has two goals and an assist in three Bundesliga games for Union Berlin, where’s he’s off to a good start.

3. Josh Sargent. Now that he’s finally playing center-forward for Norwich, Sargent is scoring some goals: three, in fact, in the first five games of the Championship season. At his best, Sargent is probably the most technically skilled player in this group and someone who could fit in Berhalter’s system well.

4. Haji Wright. I suspect Berhalter will take only three true No. 9s to Qatar. And while Wright didn’t make a huge impression given the chance with the USMNT in June, his five goals in four Turkish top-flight games so far this season is a statement in itself. I went back and forth on No. 3, No. 4 and No. 5 here, and I don’t think much separates Wright, Sargent and Brandon Vázquez right now.

5. Brandon Vázquez. The Cincinnati forward has had a big MLS season with 15 goals and four assists in 25 league games, which suggests he may well get a call-up for the September U.S. games. But will it be enough time to learn Berhalter’s system?

6. Ricardo Pepi. Man, this bums me out. Unless something changes, I don’t think Augsburg’s $20 million man will be in Qatar. And if that’s the case, that doesn’t mean we’re writing off his career. Far from it. He’s just 19 years old. But Pepi has not scored a single goal for club or country since October 7, 2021, the day he had two in the U.S.’s 2-0 win over Jamaica in World Cup qualifying in Austin. That just won’t work at this level.

7. Gyasi Zardes. The Colorado Rapids man has 8 goals and 2 assists in 25 MLS games this season. And while he started a qualifier for the U.S. as recently as in January against Canada, he doesn’t seem a likely choice for Qatar at this point.

8. Daryl Dike. Injuries have hampered the West Brom forward, who hasn’t been involved for the U.S. since the 2021 Gold Cup. Which is a bummer, because when he’s healthy Dike can be a problem for opposing defenses, and his content game is A-plus.

   MUNDIAL @MundialMag

   We support @DarylDike's washing machine adventures now.

9. Jozy Altidore. You can’t help but feel that the last two years have been a real missed opportunity for Altidore, who’s still just 32. But he hasn’t been able to establish himself as a full-time starter at club level the last couple seasons. We’ll see if he can make a late run into the conversation now that he’s at Puebla, where he has one goal in three league games, but it’s probably too late.

OPENING THE MAILBAG

Please explain how Thomas Tuchel was able to be on the sidelines for last week's game against Leeds after receiving a red card the previous week? Was there a pending appeal? Will he eventually have to serve the suspension?

Hamou Johnson

Tuchel was allowed to be on the sideline due to an appeal, but he will now have to sit out a game. I thought Tuchel’s remarks this week were a little bizarre. He was in the wrong more than Antonio Conte was on the day of their tussles.

After watching the new VW commercial with Christian Pulisic: Is Roy Kent in the top 10% of most recognizable soccer players in the USA? Top 5%? Top 1%?

Andrew DeSalvo

Ha! At this point, I think there’s a decent chance Roy Kent would get recognized more walking down a U.S. street than Pulisic would.

It's been over eight years since a men's World Cup featured the USMNT. What, if anything, do you think will be different from 2014 and earlier in terms of the broader U.S. media's approach to the USMNT?

Justin O

When you say “broader U.S. media,” I take that to mean the non-soccer media. I think there will be significant coverage at times from that group, but I do think it will hurt that the World Cup is taking place in November-December compared to June-July for the 2014 event. There’s just so much more happening in the U.S. sports calendar in November and December that I think that will be an issue. Even recently, I was thinking to myself how few “mainstream” U.S. sports shows on TV discuss soccer like they would other pro sports. Colin Cowherd is one of the few hosts in that realm who can actually talk about the USMNT and sound like he pays attention.

Any thoughts on Malik Tillman and James Sands after their performance for Rangers this week? Will they make USMNT for World Cup?

Michael Stone

Tillman and Sands were terrific as Rangers earned a spot in the men’s UEFA Champions League group stage. My sense is Tillman has a slightly better chance than Sands to be on the plane to Qatar, but Sands is putting himself in the discussion with his performances. And the chance to play six Champions League games in a group with Ajax, Liverpool and Napoli is absolutely huge. If they perform well in that company, it would be hard to keep them off the U.S. team.

Looking ahead to 2026, and let's say Jesse Marsch is the USMNT Coach, can he deploy this frenetic style he is using with Leeds? It's like they are running at 1.5 speed. And would we have the talent to play such a style?

Bob Lowe

It’s a good question, but let’s keep something in mind here. The choice for who will coach the USMNT at World Cup 2026 will likely be decided by January 2023, which is only five months away. Unless the U.S. fails badly at the World Cup, I think it is likely that Berhalter will continue as the U.S. coach. The guy who hired him, Earnie Stewart, just extended his contract with U.S. Soccer, and I think Stewart will be hesitant to make a coaching change. And once you choose a coach in January 2023, there’s almost nothing in the next three years that would put the U.S. coach on the hot seat, unless it’s just a disastrous Gold Cup performance perhaps.

When I asked Marsch about it for my recent story on Leeds United, he said this:

“That job, it’s massively attractive. Not now, and not six months from now. But I was in Salzburg 13 months ago, right? And lots happened. It feels like I’ve lived a lifetime in the last 13 months, so I would obviously never say no to the possibility of what it would mean to coach the national team. It’s just hard to picture where I’m at right now and that timeline for six months from now really fitting. Impossible.”

To answer your question, yes, I do believe the USMNT players are well-suited to Marsch’s high-pressure style. Brenden Aaronson and Tyler Adams already play in it at Leeds, and players like Christian Pulisic and Gio Reyna have played in something like it at Dortmund. I actually think the style is a great fit for the American player and the identity over the years of the USMNT.

If Seattle fails to make the MLS playoffs for the first time in club history, can we just chalk it up to injuries and a CCL-win hangover and move on? Or did Schmetzer actually fail to prepare his club for the full season and/or fail tactically somewhere along the way? Remember, this is a club that many experts picked to win the league title before the season.

David Hirning

Maybe I’m being too soft on the Sounders, but I think the injuries have really been a nightmare this season, and we’re seeing how important João Paulo was to the team in his absence especially. (Having Cristian Roldan out now isn’t great either!) I like that there’s pressure on the Sounders about the more-than-expected losing, but winning CCL this year really did matter, and I think they earned some credit with that.

Why are American coaches, fans and journalists so opposed to letting a real 10 play as a 10? These types of players are always benched or labeled luxury players or criticized for not playing enough defense, even though the U.S. has a perpetual problem of creating scoring chances and scoring.

colinreese

I honestly don’t think the decline of the No. 10 role is an American thing; it’s global, and it’s part of the modern game. There just aren’t as many No. 10s as there used to be, which is a bummer for me. It is interesting, though, to hear it when the expression does come up. When I spoke to Brenden Aaronson recently about the positions he plays at Leeds, he included “the No. 10” as one of the spots, i.e., the attacking central midfield role. Marsch’s system has so much energy that sometimes you don’t think about there even being a “No. 10” in it, but that’s the terminology those Americans use.

The National Women’s Soccer League title game will be aired nationally in prime time for the first time in the 10-year-old league’s history. The women's game is gaining momentum. Thoughts?

Michael Richard

That’s a great move by Ally and CBS to get that game on network TV in prime time. Man, I wish there were more companies like Ally that would be so committed to spending on women’s soccer. It’s been a great year for the growth of women’s soccer at the club level and at the national team level in the case of the Euros. With World Cup 2023 on its way, I’m bullish on what’s to come.

In your mind, if the World Cup was to start today, who would start in goal for USMNT and why? What’s your current depth chart at GK?

Michael

I’m just channeling what I think Berhalter would do, and I think Zack Steffen would be his starter (despite his up-and-down play). Steffen is playing regularly at club level in a way that Matt Turner is not at Arsenal. If I had to pick the three keepers that Berhalter would take at this point, it would be Steffen, Turner and Ethan Horvath, with Sean Johnson close behind for the third spot.

Have a great weekend!