In past points of his managerial career, Mauricio Pochettino could upgrade his squad via the transfer market. When Tottenham sold striker Roberto Soldado in 2015, his replacement came two weeks later: Son Heung-min. It’s a facet of the job completely absent in his role with the US national team, though he’d be forgiven for wishing a similar market was available ahead of this summer’s World Cup.
With provisional World Cup squads due 11 May and Pochettino wanting to avoid a “cruel” scenario of bringing players over for the final friendlies in May and June only to leave them off of his tournament squad, the window for hopefuls to make an impression is nearly closed. There are positional battles across the pitch; there’s no ironclad starting goalkeeper, a likely opening (or two) at center back beside Chris Richards, and multiple midfield places.
Much like 2022, however, the biggest question resides up top. No role on the field is more directly affected by recent results; A striker in form can force questions of a national team mainstay who isn’t bagging goals for their club.
“My message is we are watching everything,” Pochettino said in October. “I promise you no one right now is guaranteed to be on the final roster for the World Cup. All the guys feel they need to fight to be there.”
At this point, nearly all USMNT hopefuls are settled into their club situations. The winter transfer window has closed across Europe, leaving few avenues for players to make a dramatic late switch. For the six strikers closest to earning one of three or four openings on Pochettino’s 26-man roster, each minute carries significant stakes.
Folarin Balogun
Just a few months ago, Balogun seemed to be the clear starter. The Arsenal product’s one-time switch to the US in 2023 was supposed to end the search for Jozy Altidore’s successor as the program’s talisman. To date, the Brooklyn-born forward has scored eight goals in 23 caps, impressing Pochettino with his movement and interplay. Balogun has excelled in moments with the US when the ball is played to his feet, either launching an upfield scamper or showing his turn-and-shoot prowess in closer proximity to goal.
“His work ethic is amazing in the way that he always is available in every single aspect of the game, with and without the ball,” Pochettino said of Balogun in October. “I’m so pleased with his performance.”
Now the bad news: It’s been a challenging season for Balogun at Monaco. the 24-year-old has just four goals in 1,085 league minutes and eight in 1,917 minutes across all competitions. His last goal came against Galatasaray in a Champions League tie on 9 December; in Ligue 1 play, he last struck on 8 November.
It’s the sort of rough patch that has happened too often since he became Monaco’s record signing – and one that seemingly reopens the door for alternatives to start for Pochettino.
Ricardo Pepi
Balogun’s primary challenger, PSV Eindhoven’s Ricardo Pepi, caught Fulham’s eye as he scored in five straight Eredivisie matches from late November through 10 January.
That day’s match, against Excelsior, saw Pepi exit with a forearm injury. While the injury didn’t scupper Fulham’s interest, PSV rebuffed offers reportedly exceeding $40m due to their inability to find a suitable replacement. Nonetheless, Pepi likely won’t return until mid-March, complicating his hopes of landing on Pochettino’s squad for next month’s friendlies against Belgium and Portugal.
That window is crucial for many reasons. It’ll be the team’s first camp in over four months, as well as their final window before the preliminary squad deadline. It also comes on the back of a transformative fall in which Pochettino experimented with a 3-5-2 to provide greater defensive stability. Six of the November window’s seven goals came from non-strikers, with Balogun providing the exception against Paraguay.
For Pepi, who missed so much of 2025 with injuries, it would also be a chance to make up for last opportunities to impress Pochettino. If he misses that camp, he could be on the outside looking in for a second consecutive World Cup.
Patrick Agyemang
Balogun and Pepi are the only two US strikers playing in Europe’s biggest leagues, with the three closest challengers all plying their trade in the second-tier EFL Championship. Of those, Derby County’s Patrick Agyemang is an example of how more consistent minutes and more patience during their rough patches can, when stars align, result in more goals to turn Pochettino’s head.
Agyemang was a breakout sensation this past summer thanks to his direct dribbling style in possession and his tireless work rate. The move from MLS’s Charlotte FC to Derby wasn’t smooth, as the 25-year-old scored just twice in his first 13 Championship appearances (10 starts).
Fortunately for Derby and his national team prospects, he’s finding his scoring touch at a crucial time. Agyemang has seven goals and an assist in his last 13 Championship appearances, all starts and most coming at center forward. He’s helped the Rams surge into the promotion battle, and enters February as the USMNT pool’s form striker.
His purple patch is also helping close the gap between his goal output and that of another forward looking comfortable in the Championship.
Haji Wright
The only active striker to have scored for the US men at a World Cup, Wright began the season in brilliant form, powering Coventry City to the top of the table with eight goals in their first nine league fixtures. That form continued with the US, with Wright bagging two goals against Australia in October.
“The last few seasons of my career I’ve been battling little niggling injuries and it’s been hard to play pain-free,” Wright said after that game. “This is the first season in a few years now where I’m playing completely pain-free.”
Welp. Wright suffered a calf injury in mid-November, though, missing three games. Since then he’s bagged just two goals in the league, though the fact that that both strikes came in the back half of January gives some hope that he’s getting closer to top form.
Josh Sargent
January could hardly have gone less to plan for Josh Sargent, despite scoring Norwich City’s opener on New Year’s Day against QPR. He’s been a healthy scratch for each of the Canaries’ last four fixtures, as Norwich waits for Toronto FC to meet its valuation for the 25-year-old. MLS is one of the few top circuits with an open transfer window, leaving a North American move possible through 28 March.
Still, there’s urgency for Sargent to hit the ground running if he gets his desired move. He’s done little to impress on international duty this decade, with five goals in 29 caps to date. His most recent international goal came on 19 November 2019 against Cuba. To put it another way: the Knives Out film franchise has released three instalments since Sargent last scored for his country.
Pochettino referred to Sargent’s omission from last summer’s Gold Cup squad as “a football decision”. With his Norwich tenure seemingly at its end, he’s running out of chances to flip that assessment.
Other options
Of the five frontrunners, only Agyemang is in an ideal club situation to stay in form between now and the summer. And yet, some combination of these strikers is most likely to fill Pochettino’s World Cup depth chart. If not, he will probably revisit the players who made his Gold Cup squad.
Brian White offers considerable physicality in the final third. The Vancouver Whitecaps man is an ideal line-leader who can hold up play and spray through balls up the channel for his wingers, or do thankless work near the box to create hairy opportunities to strike.
Damion Downs, another Gold Cup selection, was loaned from Southampton to Hamburg last month after 14 goalless Championship appearances. He stepped right into Merlin Polzin’s lineup, playing 226 minutes across three starts but again failed to score. His pace and ability to find space makes him one to watch, but the 21-year-old is likely a firm outsider for this summer’s squad.
Pesky injuries are preventing several hopefuls from giving Pochettino recent cases for inclusion, but the unsettled nature of the position means any good run of form won’t go unnoticed.
