It’s all going well for Joshua Sargent at the moment. The 17-year-old American striker completed his transfer (to be made official in 2018) from his college team in St Louis to Werder last month and now his U17 national side have made it through to the quarter-finals of the U17 World Cup in India. Sargent is a key component of his national team since the future Green-White is the captain of John Hackworth’s side and has already scored twice in four games for his country.
Sargent is a big attacking hope in US football and is described as modest but ambitious. He has also been labeled as a “leader” by Hackworth. Sargent has backed up this hype in India. In the opener against tournament hosts India, the youngster won a penalty before brushing himself off to convert it from the spot and put his side into the lead. The US won the game 3-0. The Stars and Stripes also won their second match, narrowly beating Ghana 1-0 in New Delhi. Sargent and co. went on to lose their final game of the group stage, going down 3-1 to Colombia but their qualification was already secured.
In the round of 16, the Americans went goal-crazy, with Sargent adding to his tally for the tournament. They trounced Paraguay 5-0. The US boys will meet the winner of the round of 16 clash between England and Japan in the quarter-finals.
Meanwhile, in his team hotel in New Delhi, Sargent had a chance for a quick chit-chat about all things Werder. Luca Plogmann, Pascal Hackethal and the Germany U17s were staying in the same hotel as the American side and so the Green-White youngsters took the opportunity to have a first conversation with their future teammate. The future club comrades could come up against each other later on in the tournament. If both teams win their quarter-final, then it will be Germany vs USA for a place in the FIFA U17 World Cup final.
