State of the USMNT strikersGOAL
Ryan Tolmich

State of the USMNT - Strikers: Folarin Balogun and Ricardo Pepi locked in battle for World Cup starting gig

With the 2026 World Cup just months away, GOAL looks at the state of the strikers vying for spots next summer.

At the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, all eyes were on the U.S. men's national team strikers. They were largely unproven and, as it turned out, fairly ineffective. Yes, that group did some good things off the ball and, yes, they held it up a few times to make good things happen, but the U.S. strikers ultimately didn't do what strikers are put onto the field to do: score goals.

This time around, there's no shortage of goal scorers. So, as the U.S. prepares to host the World Cup on home soil next summer, Mauricio Pochettino has some big choices to make, ones that are vastly different than the ones his predecessor Gregg Berhalter had to make a few years ago.

Throughout the team’s fall run, the U.S. saw encouraging signs from forwards Folarin Balogun and Haji Wright, even while missing Ricardo Pepi for much of that stretch - a player who could still emerge as the starter next summer. The group offers both top-end quality and legitimate depth. More importantly, it offers goals, and goals ultimately define success or failure at a World Cup.

As 2025 comes to a close, GOAL is looking at the state of the USMNT, analyzing the positional battles that will ultimately define next summer's team. Next up: Strikers.

Previous State of the USMNT: Goalkeepers | Fullbacks| Center backs| Defensive midfielders| Attacking midfielders

  • United States v Paraguay - International FriendlyGetty Images Sport

    The Starter: Folarin Balogun

    When you score goals, you get the praise, and Balogun has earned plenty of praise in recent months.

    Since returning to the team this fall, he's scored against Paraguay, Ecuador, and Japan, reasserting himself as the guy at striker. That's all led to a good run of form with Monaco, too, as he's now scored four goals since the start of November while reclaiming the starting gig for the Ligue 1 side. Balogun is clearly confident, and you can see that whenever he's on the field.

    When you combine that confidence and Balogun's natural ability, you get one heck of a striker. Pace, intelligence, finishing ability - Balogun has it all, and that's why he's in this spot as things stand.

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  • Ricardo Pepi USMNT vs Jamaica HICGetty Images

    The Backup: Ricardo Pepi

    Back in January, Pepi was putting up the type of numbers that would make him the USMNT's starting striker. An injury halted that progress. He's back now, though, and the scary thing is that he somehow might be even better than he was before missing all that time.

    Pepi hasn't missed a beat since returning for PSV. He's got five goals in his last six games in all competitions, including a Champions League finish against Atletico Madrid. In the league, he has seven goals in less than 700 minutes. When Pepi plays, the ball tends to find its way into the back of the net. It's been like that ever since he found his footing with PSV.

    It was translating to USMNT success before his injury, but after missing the bulk of Pochettino's rebuild, Pepi still has some points to prove with the national team. Is there enough time to prove them? Possibly, and keeping up this goalscoring rate on the club level sure would help.

  • Haji Wright USMNT HICGetty Images

    In the Mix: Haji Wright, Patrick Agyemang, Josh Sargent

    All eyes on the Championship then, yeah?

    The third striker spot will almost certainly go to someone from England's second division, and the big question is which one? It comes down to form, then, as it almost always does, and races defined by form always go down to the wire.

    Right now, Wright likely has the inside edge due to his two-goal performance against Australia. He also has the added bonus of being a versatile player, having shown with Coventry City that he can do a job as a winger, too.

    Agyemang, meanwhile, is the least experienced of this group, but is growing by leaps and bounds at Derby County. He's had no issue adjusting from MLS to the Championship, making an immediate impact for his new club. At a World Cup, you need players of different profiles for different situations, and Agyemang's physicality at 6-foot-4 could see him earn a spot as a "break in case of emergency" option.

    And then there's Sargent, who has seemingly fallen down the pecking order. His struggles with the USMNT continued with his most recent appearance against South Korea, as he continued a goal drought dating back to the last World Cup cycle. Then, after a scorching start to the season, Sargent slowed down for a while, but to his credit, he has picked it all up over these last few weeks. The path back for Sargent isn't complicated. It requires goals, and lots of them, and we know that's easier said than done.

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  • Damion Downs-usa-20250629(C)Getty Images

    For the Future: Damion Downs

    The last few months haven't been great for Downs. His move to Southampton hasn't really worked out as playing time has all but evaporated. When you aren't playing, you aren't in the USMNT mix so, just months after playing his way into that mix, it seems he's fallen out of it.

    Downs is still just 21, however, so there's no reason to write him off yet, even if he is in a tough spot right now.

    Just last season, Downs led FC Koln in goals with 11 in all competitions. Just this summer, he scored a game-winning penalty for USMNT against the legendary Keylor Navas at the Gold Cup in a knockout stage win. There's clearly something there, even if that it isn't really showing itself right now. Because of that, Downs is still worth keeping an eye on as he evolves as a striker.

  • Folarin Balogun, USMNTGetty

    The Big Picture

    There are essentially two tiers here: the Balogun-Pepi tier and then everyone else. Those two are quite clearly battling for the starting gig, while the rest of the striker group is battling for a spot or a role at the World Cup.

    The race between the top two strikers, then, is one of the big storylines on the road to next summer. Both have proven capable goal scorers, which means that this is a good problem for Pochettino to have. Gone are the days when the U.S. was scrambling for a No. 9. At the moment, there are at least two that are more than capable of starting any World Cup game and, at the very least, not being out of their depth.

    So what does it look like when World Cup time arrives? How do Balogun and Pepi compete with one another - or perhaps even complement each other? Who joins them, and in what role? The striker position still carries its share of questions, but they are far better questions than the ones this team faced heading into 2022.

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