Berhalter talks USMNT strikers after Balogun, Pepi both score in Oman rout

Berhalter has to be liking what he’s seeing as both No. 9s were on the scoresheet

The U.S. men’s national team could have the sort of “good” problem that every team in the world wants: multiple in-form strikers.

Tuesday’s comprehensive 4-0 win over Oman saw Folarin Balogun open the scoring after 13 minutes, while Ricardo Pepi snuck a 79th minute effort into the bottom corner to give the USMNT its third goal on the night.

Balogun now has two goals in his four USMNT caps, while Pepi scored in both of the team’s games in this window. This comes right after the duo secured moves to better situations at club level that both bear some similarities.

Balogun was one of the best strikers in Ligue 1 last year, which encouraged Monaco to put up €40-plus million to seal an August transfer from Arsenal. Pepi, meanwhile, joined PSV in an €11 million transfer after the 20-year-old impressed on loan in the Eredivisie last season with strugglers Groningen.

With both players settling in at their new clubs and having success with the USMNT, it was no surprise that head coach Gregg Berhalter took multiple questions about the two options in this camp at the No. 9 position.

“You always want your forwards scoring goals. Our job as teammates and as coaches is to put them in a position to score goals,” Berhalter told reporters in a post-match press conference. “It’s important that they both scored. As far as we see the competition, it’s twofold, right? It’s what they do for their clubs each and every week, and what they do for us when they’re in camp.”

Focusing on Pepi first, Berhalter didn’t particularly even focus on the goal, instead citing his play in pressing situations and a near-assist in the game’s final minutes.

“I thought from a pressing standpoint, Ricardo did a great job,” said Berhalter. “It’s really good to see him playing full of confidence. That move he had, and the pass to Weston [late in the match] would have been a fantastic goal. All you really want is your players to be confident, and Ricardo certainly is.”

Asked about Balogun later in the press conference, Berhalter said that he feels the USMNT’s other players are only just starting to figure out where to look for the former Arsenal man.

“I think we’re still trying to figure out the best way to utilize Balo, because we know he’s high quality,” explained Berhalter. “He made a number of good runs behind the back line today that we didn’t pick up on, so he’s still integrating that side of it. And for us, it’s again, all we want to do is put the forwards in position where they can score goals.”

Berhalter expanded a bit on how his system is designed to create the kinds of chances that Balogun (and Pepi) tend to do well at converting. “That’s our game. That’s our game model. That’s how we play: to get our forwards chances, we need to get low balls in the penalty box. We need them to attack in space between the center backs, runs behind the backline, all those things will help create chances for them.”

With October friendlies against Germany and Ghana looking like a more stern test for the USMNT, Berhalter will be hoping that both players maintain or even improve on the confidence and finishing form they’ve shown of late.

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