The USA Men’s National Team Cannot Score to Save Their Lives
The two goals of the friendly matches before the World Cup were to build confidence as a team and figure out the final roster spots before the team travels to Qatar. With somewhat mild matchups against Japan (ranked 24th in the world) and Saudi Arabia (ranked 53rd in the world), the USA accomplished neither of those goals and struggled to do anything offensively. Falling to Japan 0-2 and tying a much inferior Saudi Arabia team 0-0, the USA only managed to get two total shots on goal across both games. Additionally, they were outshot 26-11 in these two friendly disappointments.
In the last seven matchups against teams going to the World Cup, the USA has only one win. In those seven games, the USA has also failed to score a single goal in 6/7 games. Aside from their lone 3-0 win against Morocco, their offense has been non-existent against good teams:
0-0 vs Saudi Arabia
0-2 vs Japan
0-0 vs Uruguay
0-2 vs Costa Rica
0-0 vs Mexico
0-2 vs Canada
Pefok is Dominating the Bundisliga and Berhalter Needs to Take Notice
Jordan Pefok, sometimes referred to as legal name, Theoson-Jordan Siebatcheu, has been taking the Bundisliga by storm. In 6 games with FC Union Berlin, he is second on the team in goals (3) and tied for first in assists (3). Pefok has been one of the biggest reasons as to why Union Berlin is 2nd in the league in goals for and why they sit atop of the standings with 5 wins, 2 draws, and no losses. The 6’3” 26-year-old striker is creating goal-scoring opportunities at will in one of the best soccer leagues in the world, something no one else on the USA MNT roster has been doing.
This national team season, Jordan Pefok has only seen the field for Team USA three times, and has only had the luxury of starting once in the 1-1 draw against Canada in the World Cup Qualifiers. Despite his incredibly hot start to the 2022-2023 Bundisliga, he was also left off the roster for the two most recent friendly matches. Instead Berhalter opted to invite strikers such as Jesus Ferreira, Ricardo Pepi, and Josh Sargent; who all produced absolutely nothing for the red, white, and blue in their two friendly matches. Jordan Pefok has seen little time with the national team this year, but he might be the only hope that the USA has in order to be competent at the Qatar World Cup.
