Nations League: USMNT suddenly has options at striker — and tough decisions for Gregg Berhalter

The U.S. men’s national team suffered through the 2022 World Cup cycle with a glaring weakness at soccer’s most prominent position: striker.

As a young USMNT coalesced into a solid, dynamic unit, head coach Gregg Berhalter searched for a reliable No. 9, and never really found one.

Now, 15 months later, at the onset of a critical year, Berhalter has the opposite problem: By 2022 standards, he has a few too many worthy options.

It’s a good problem, of course. It’s a welcome departure from the days of choosing between Jordan Pefok and Jesús Ferreira. Pefok, ironically, is now an every-game starter in the German Bundesliga — and isn’t even sniffing USMNT rosters, because the position is increasingly deep.

Berhalter on Wednesday named a 23-player roster for the Nations League finals that spoke to that depth. He typically chooses two players at every position, plus a third goalkeeper. This time, he picked three strikers: Folarin Balogun, Josh Sargent and Ricardo Pepi.

Berhalter excluded Haji Wright, who’s found a groove in the English Championship, with six goals since the start of February.

He excluded Brandon Vazquez, who’s starting and starring at Monterrey, the top team in Mexico’s Liga MX.

He excluded Pefok and Ferreira, and probably never ever considered any other MLS forward.

He excluded several notable wingers, including Brenden Aaronson, to fit all three strikers among the 23.

The roster, for a March 21 semifinal against Jamaica and a potential March 24 final, is, on the whole, perhaps the USMNT’s most talented ever. Sixteen of the 20 outfield players are employed by clubs in UEFA Champions League or top flights in England, Spain, Germany, France and Italy.

One of the 16, somewhat surprisingly, isTyler Adams, who returns to the fold for the first time since the 2022 World Cup, after a hellish year recovering from a hamstring injury. He is back in training at Bournemouth. He has not yet played in a competitive game, so his Nations League minutes will be limited. But his presence completes a midfield that is better and deeper than ever before.

USMNT roster for 2024 Nations League

Goalkeepers (3)

Drake Callender (Inter Miami)
Ethan Horvath (Cardiff City/WAL)
Matt Turner (Nottingham Forest/ENG)

Defenders (8)

Sergiño Dest (PSV Eindhoven/NED)
Kris Lund (Palermo/ITA)
Mark McKenzie (Genk/BEL)
Tim Ream (Fulham/ENG)
Chris Richards (Crystal Palace/ENG)
Antonee Robinson (Fulham/ENG)
Miles Robinson (FC Cincinnati)
Joe Scally (Borussia Mönchengladbach/GER)

Midfielders (6):

Tyler Adams (Bournemouth/ENG)
Johnny Cardoso (Real Betis/ESP)
Luca de la Torre (Celta Vigo/ESP)
Weston McKennie (Juventus/ITA)
Yunus Musah (AC Milan/ITA)
Gio Reyna (Nottingham Forest/ENG)

Forwards (6):

Folarin Balogun (Monaco/FRA)
Malik Tillman (PSV Eindhoven/NED)
Ricardo Pepi (PSV Eindhoven/NED)
Christian Pulisic (AC Milan/ITA)
Josh Sargent (Norwich City/ENG)
Tim Weah (Juventus/ITA)

USMNT’s striker options

The most important recent development, though, is the emergence of depth up top.

When Balogun committed to the U.S. last spring, he was a savior and automatic starter; now, he has competition.

Pepi, rebounding from his World Cup snub and year-long goal drought, was actually the USMNT’s most prolific striker of 2023. He scored seven times for the national team in just 367 minutes last year, for an absurd goals-per-90 rate of 1.72 — albeit inflated by sub effects.

Balogun and Pepi have been the one-two punch ever since last year’s Nations League finals in June. But Sargent, the USMNT’s first-choice striker in Qatar, could not be ignored. He returned from an ankle injury in December, and won a starting spot at Norwich City in January. Over the past two months, he has scored eight goals in 10 starts, and propelled Norwich into the playoff places in England’s second tier.

Balogun, meanwhile, has been struggling in France’s Ligue 1. After a hot start to his stint at Monaco, following a $43 million summer transfer, he has only two league goals (and two assists) since the October international break.

Pepi, on the other hand, is struggling to even get on the field at PSV in Holland. He has started only one league match, and logged only 362 minutes, all season.

Sargent is playing the best soccer of the three, but at the lowest level. So there are options, but also questions: Is Balogun still at the top of the depth chart? Who’ll be the first forward off the bench? Could two of the three ever play together? Could one of the three play on the wing in a pinch? (The roster features only two natural wingers, Christian Pulisic and Tim Weah.)

They are imperfect options, and tricky questions. But they’re far better than the ones that were being floated two years ago.

In Qatar, the USMNT’s lack of a clinical finisher haunted them. Less than halfway through the march to the 2026 World Cup, the progression of the player pool has already lifted their ceiling.