EVER SINCE the World Cup, it has been a tough ride for Josh Sargent and the United States national team. At first, he was struggling to get call-ups while sitting behind Ricardo Pepi, Haji Wright, and the newly committed Folarin Balogun. Then as his form picked up, he suffered an ankle injury. When he returned, he was playing well for his club but suffered minor setbacks during international windows that limited his involvement.

This October window, everything is aligning nicely for Sargent. He is in form, he is healthy, and he has a clean slate with the national team under new manager with Mauricio Pochettino.

“It's definitely been very frustrating for me,” Sargent said. “I feel like it's been a lot of the bare minimum training throughout the week, playing on the weekend, getting by, and then having to recover. Then the national team comes around and I'm not in a good place to perform. Or something happens at camp where it's probably the smart decision not to force it and make it worse. It's been very annoying for me coming into these camps and not being able to play. It's been a while since I've been in good health and good form while I've been here and been able to play. I feel really good. There is a new manager so I'm excited to see what I can do.”

The problems with his ankle began last August when he was injured in an early season game for Norwich City. He wouldn’t return until late December. After he returned to the field, he was playing well but still not at 100% and he was missing trainings and occasional games.

He was called up to the Nations League earlier this summer but was forced to withdraw due to injuries. This summer, he was part of the Copa America team but still not fully fit. After some time off following the Copa, Sargent returned to Norwich with its new coaching staff.

In recent weeks, Sargent has been heating up and he enters the international window with four goals and three assists from nine games for Norwich City.  

“It's been a long process, obviously dealing with it,” Sargent explained. “Yes, there have been little things that have come from the original ankle injury, but at the moment, I've had a good run of games. I'm playing 90 minutes pretty much every game now and it feels like it's in a really good place.”

Norwich City has three wins and a draw in its last four games. After a poor start to the season under new manager Johannes Hoff Thorup, the club is up to ninth place and climbing quickly. Along with Borja Sainz who has seven goals, Sargent makes up for a very potent attack that has scored the second most goals this season (16) including 12 goals in the last four games.

With the new system, Sargent is routinely in a good position to score. In his own estimation, he will only continue to get better.

“It's a new manager for us,” Sargent said of Norwich’s season, so far.  “He's come in and given us a lot of new ideas and game by game, I feel like we as a team have been improving and with that, we've been creating more chances. I've been gaining more confidence, and I still think there's room for improvement for me. I've missed some chances that I wish I could have back, but that's the life of a striker.”

Like Norwich, Sargent is also in a position of learning to work with a new manager for the national team under Pochettino. It’s still early going and Sargent only had a few days of trainings under the Argentine manager, but agrees with the sentiment expressed by his teammates that trainings have been intense.

“He said we're going to go over a bit more tactical stuff tomorrow in the next day,” Sargent said. “But just a general message of anything we do, whether with the ball or against the ball he wants it to be intense. If we lose the ball, recover it right away. That's been a big message so far.”

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— Norwich City FC (@NorwichCityFC) October 6, 2024

The U.S. team will host Panama in Austin on Saturday in a rematch of the Copa America group stage where Panama pulled off the upset after a first half red card to Tim Weah. Following that game, the U.S. will travel to Mexico for an away matchup against Mexico in Guadalajara. This will be the first time the two teams have met in Mexico for a friendly since 2012.

That game will be the first important test for Pochettino as he gets his tenure underway. The rivalry between the U.S. and Mexico is always a big deal, but with a new manager for the U.S. and a Mexican team that smells blood and would love to rain on the Pochettino parade, a lot of confidence will be on the line for just a mere friendly.

“With Mexico, it's always an important match for us, but especially with the new manager, both of these games we want to get off on the right page and get a couple of wins under our belt,” Sargent added. “So, it's very important game for us.”