Tag: Haji Wright

Wright wants to make Man Utd ‘feel the pressure’ in FA Cup semifinal

The USMNT striker is hoping to capitalize in Sunday’s FA Cup semifinal

Haji Wright knows his Coventry City side will be major underdogs in Sunday’s FA Cup semifinal against Manchester United, but said that “anything can happen” in one game.

Coventry will travel to Wembley Stadium as it looks to keep a Cinderella run going in the cup competition.

Already, Coventry has produced a memorable upset by defeating Wolves 3-2 in a wild quarterfinal last month.

The Championship side was down a goal late, but knocked out the Premier League outfit with a pair of stoppage-time goals. U.S. national team striker Wright scored a dramatic 100th-minute winner to send his side to Wembley.

Now Coventry finds itself in the final four among a group of Premier League giants. Chelsea will face Manchester City in the other semifinal on Saturday, meaning Wright’s side would need two straight huge upsets to lift the FA Cup.

Though the odds are stacked against his team, Wright said he is hopeful that Coventry can put a struggling United side under pressure.

“It’s one game, it can go in either direction,” Wright told ESPN. “They’re a big club, have a lot of great players but I think we are going to get opportunities. Hopefully, we can make them feel the pressure a little bit. Anything can happen in one game.”

United is winless in four straight matches, dropping to seventh in the Premier League table. The pressure will be huge on the Red Devils as they look to avoid a demoralizing upset against lower-league opposition on a big stage.

Wright, meanwhile, has hit the ground running in England after joining Coventry from Turkish side Antalyaspor in the offseason, scoring 17 goals so far this term.

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Sargent returns with another Norwich goal after missing USMNT duty

The USMNT forward continued his incredible campaign with a goal vs. Plymouth

Josh Sargent’s incredible season continued on Friday, as the Norwich City striker fired home another goal in his side’s 2-1 comeback win over Plymouth.

Sargent scored his 14th goal of the campaign midway through the second half, equalizing the match off a well-worked routine from a corner kick. Seven minutes later, the Canaries took the lead for good thanks to a Plymouth own goal.

With the win, Norwich made it seven straight victories at home and maintained its spot in the sixth and final playoff position in the Championship table.

Sargent’s 14-goal haul is made even more impressive by the fact he missed four months of the season with an ankle injury. Despite all that time on the sideline, only five players in the Championship have more goals this season than the Missouri native.

After receiving his first call-up since the 2022 World Cup, Sargent was forced off the U.S. men’s national team roster this month with an ankle injury.

The 24-year-old didn’t end up missing any club matches, however, as he was able to return in Norwich’s first game following the international break.

Meanwhile, Sargent’s replacement on the USMNT roster, Haji Wright, also found the net on Friday, as the Coventry City striker scored his 14th of the season in his side’s 3-1 win over Huddersfield.

Watch Sargent’s goal vs. Plymouth

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USMNT calls Aaronson, Wright up for Nations League as injury replacements

Snubbed no more, Aaronson and Wright will get their shot at the Nations League

The U.S. men’s national team has had to make a pair of changes, with Gregg Berhalter adding Brenden Aaronson and Haji Wright to his squad for the Concacaf Nations League.

The duo will join up with the USMNT after Luca de la Torre and Josh Sargent had to withdraw from the team with injuries ahead of Thursday’s semifinal against Jamaica in Arlington, Texas.

De la Torre was forced to withdraw with what U.S. Soccer called a quadriceps strain, while Sargent — whose superb recent form earned him his first call-up since 2022 — will miss out due to ankle irritation.

The recall comes at a critical time for Aaronson. The New Jersey native said he is enduring “the toughest year of my life” on Saturday, shortly after what was arguably his best single-game performance with Union Berlin. Aaronson scored the winner in a 2-1 victory over Werder Bremen, just two minutes after notching his first assist of the year.

Wright, meanwhile, is flying high. The USMNT recall comes a day after the Coventry City striker notched a stunning stoppage-time winner to send the Sky Blues through to the FA Cup semifinals. The Californian has eight goals in Coventry’s last 10 matches.

Despite the injury news, Berhalter had a series of options to sort through, particularly in replacing Sargent. Brandon Vazquez has been thriving since completing a winter transfer to Monterrey, while Jordan Pefok has started 10 straight for Borussia Mönchengladbach. If a wide attacker had been preferred, the list of players vying for a spot would have to include Kevin Paredes, Cade Cowell, Alex Zendejas, and Griffin Yow.

If Berhalter had concerns about the balance of his squad going too attack-heavy, Gianluca Busio, and Aidan Morris could have all been in the mix as well. Another option, Lennard Maloney, remains out for Heidenheim with a knock.

Updated USMNT Nations League finals roster

Goalkeepers (3): 22-Drake Callender (Inter Miami; 0/0), 18-Ethan Horvath (Cardiff City; 9/0), 1-Matt Turner (Nottingham Forest; 37/0)

Defenders (8): 2-Sergino Dest (PSV; 32/2), 23-Kristoffer Lund (Palermo; 3/0), 16-Mark McKenzie (Genk; 13/0), 13-Tim Ream (Fulham; 55/1), 3-Chris Richards (Crystal Palace; 14/1), 5-Antonee Robinson (Fulham; 39/4), 12-Miles Robinson (FC Cincinnati; 28/3), 19-Joe Scally (Borussia Monchengladbach; 8/0)

Midfielders (5): 4-Tyler Adams (Bournemouth; 36/1), 15-Johnny Cardoso (Real Betis; 9/0), 8-Weston McKennie (Juventus/ITA; 49/11), 6-Yunus Musah (AC Milan; 33/0), 7-Gio Reyna (Nottingham Forest; 24/7)

Forwards (7): 11-Brenden Aaronson (Union Berlin/GER; 38/8), 20-Folarin Balogun (Monaco; 8/3), 17-Malik Tillman (PSV; 8/0), 9-Ricardo Pepi (PSV; 22/10), 10-Christian Pulisic (AC Milan; 64/28), 21-Tim Weah (Juventus; 35/5), 14-Haji Wright (Coventry City/ENG; 7/2)

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Last-gasp Wright winner sends Coventry to FA Cup semis at Wembley

Coventry City stunned Wolves in the FA Cup quarterfinals on Saturday to secure a trip to the semifinal round at the iconic Wembley Stadium. And U.S. men’s national team forward Haji Wright’s last-second dagger was the knockout blow. Fresh off his …

Coventry City stunned Wolves in the FA Cup quarterfinals on Saturday to secure a trip to the semifinal round at the iconic Wembley Stadium.

And U.S. men’s national team forward Haji Wright’s last-second dagger was the knockout blow.

Fresh off his omission from USMNT Nations League roster, the striker continued his strong campaign with a 100th-minute winner.

An all-time classic for Coventry unfolded on Saturday at Molineux. The Championship side led 2-1 in the 83rd minute before Premier League outfit Wolves equalized and then took the lead in a five-minute span.

But Ellis Simms equalized for Coventry at the 97′ mark, and was followed up by Wright three minutes later. The 25-year-old unleashed a curling effort that found the back of the net, sparking wild celebrations.

As the first quarterfinal match to take place over the weekend, Coventry have some waiting to do to see who they face in the next round. Plenty of time for both USMNT and Coventry supporters to take in and celebrate his heroic effort.

Reaction from both sets of fans can be found below:

The Americans Abroad Five: Turner makes Premier League bow at Emirates — against Arsenal

Turner probably envisioned making his Premier League debut at the Emirates Stadium, but not exactly like this

Matt Turner probably envisioned making his Premier League debut at the Emirates Stadium, but not exactly like this.

Just days after completing a transfer from Arsenal to Nottingham Forest, the U.S. national team No. 1 made his debut for his new club. Coincidentally, it came at the home of his old club.

Turner failed to see any Premier League action in his lone season with Arsenal, but the 29-year-old now looks like Forest’s top choice in goal — at least for the time being.

It seems like he’ll get plenty of save opportunities as well. Turner made five saves from seven shots against the Gunners, as Forest fell 2-1 to the title-chasers in week one.

After some time on the beach, the Americans Abroad Five returns for a whole new season this week. What better way to begin than checking in with an old friend in a brand-new locale?

The Americans Abroad Five: Fulham wins the Yankee Doodle Derby

Like it’s been for so much of the season, Fulham’s Americans had a good day and those at Leeds did not

The preponderance of Americans in the Premier League this season meant games like Saturday would always be on the horizon.

Fulhamerica versus Leeds United States of America. The Yankee Doodle Derby. The game that we here at the Five had been salivating over for weeks.

Four Americans started, two on either side. Two more could’ve been involved were it not for injury (Tyler Adams) or getting sacked (sorry, Jesse Marsch).

In the end, like it’s been for so much of the season, Fulham’s Americans had a very good day and those at Leeds did not.

The marquee matchup for fervent Americans Abroad trackers like ourselves leads off this week’s Five.

The Americans Abroad Five: Reyna and Dortmund miss their chance

If this was a turning point, things appear to have taken a turn for the worse.

How different could Gio Reyna and Dortmund’s season have turned out had last week gone better?

We won’t know the answer to that for a few weeks, but Dortmund’s past two matches did have the feeling of a turning point.

If so, things appear to have taken a turn for the worse.

On Tuesday, Dortmund was bounced from the Champions League by a Chelsea side coming into their match in relegation form. That was followed by a damaging draw in the derby against Schalke — a team that actually is in a relegation battle.

Reyna got a rare chance to impress against Chelsea and though views on his performance are mixed, the one person whose opinion actually matters doesn’t seem to have rated him highly.

Let’s kick off the Five with a look at a disheartening week for Reyna and his club.

USMNT’s Haji Wright bags brace in Antalyaspor rout

Fit enough to start again, Wright was in top form for Antalyaspor

A fit-again Haji Wright is just what Antalyaspor needed.

The U.S. men’s national team striker scored twice and added an assist as his side cruised past Kayserispor 4-0 on Saturday.

The win is especially helpful in the extremely tight race to avoid relegation in the Turkish Süper Lig: despite jumping into a tie for ninth place with the victory, Antalyaspor is just five points above the drop zone.

Wright opened the scoring with a classic bit of target man play. First, he checked to the ball to connect with Alassane Ndao, and then spread play over to the left as Kayserispor never got the chance to adjust. Güray Vural’s cross was just out of reach for Ndao, and Bünyamin Balcı’s back-post shot crashed off the post.

Fortunately for Antalyaspor, Wright kept his run going, and the rebound gave him the easy job of just guiding the shot through some chaos and into the back of the net.

Wright then added an assist early in the second half, with some distinctly un-“big lad” play. Throwing a series of moves out near the endline, he put Kayserispor defender Dimitrios Kolovetsios in a blender before teeing Fredy up for a close-range tap-in.

Wright’s dominant performance got an appropriate exclamation point in the 68th minute, as he made it 3-0. Fredy’s incisive ball in behind for Ndao opened the door for the winger to drive in a cross, and despite being 15 yards from goal, Wright powered his header into the bottom corner past a despairing Bilal Bayazit.

Wright among Turkey’s top scorers

The outstanding performance was huge for Antalyaspor, who had to do without Wright (whose 12 goals have him in fourth in the Golden Boot race) for six games due to a thigh muscle strain suffered in early January.

Wright was able to play nine minutes off the bench in Monday’s 3-1 loss at Kasimpasa, a game in which Antalyaspor scored just their second goal in their previous 492 minutes of play.

However, Wright was fit to play 71 minutes against Kayserispor, and based on the result, Antalyaspor couldn’t have been happier to have him back.

It’s not clear whether Wright has a long-term future at the club though. Back in January, the team’s vice president Emrah Celik said they’d had talks with eight teams over a possible winter transfer, and given that Wright just keeps scoring, that move seems more likely to materialize this summer.

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USMNT player ratings: Adams, McKennie, Ream help secure World Cup draw vs. England

A smart adjustment from Gregg Berhalter ends with an impressive draw

The U.S. men’s national team stepped it up against England, securing a 0-0 draw in which they had the better of the game’s few chances.

The USMNT may have been slightly disappointed with one point against Wales, after dominating in the first half and leading until the final stages, but it’s hard to have too many serious complaints after they held the Three Lions to virtually no serious chances.

We’ll have deeper analysis in the future, but during the World Cup we’ll be giving a quick breakdown of each USMNT player’s performance.

Our scale:

  • 1: Abysmal. Literally any member of Pro Soccer Wire’s staff would have been been able to play at this level.
  • 6: Adequate. This is our base score.
  • 10: Transcendent, era-defining performance. This is Maradona vs. England in 1986.

USMNT forward Pepi misses World Cup roster despite red-hot form

Pepi’s outstanding form with Groningen wasn’t enough for the USMNT

The U.S. men’s national team will go to the World Cup without one of its most in-form goalscorers.

Ricardo Pepi, who has rediscovered his form in recent months after a loan move to Groningen, was surprisingly left off the USMNT roster for Qatar. Pepi has five goals and two assists in his first eight appearances since making that move, and had been a regular call-up for Gregg Berhalter even while struggling through his first European season at Augsburg.

That burst of success in the Eredivisie, and the restored confidence that came with it, seemed to secure his place on Berhalter’s roster. Instead, the USMNT head coach delivered a shock, dropping Pepi and calling on Jesús Ferreira, Josh Sargent, and Haji Wright as his three strikers.

“In the case of Ricardo, you know, that was a really difficult conversation that I had to have,” Berhalter told ESPN moments after the news dropped. “It’s always difficult when a guy helps you get to the World Cup, he scores three goals in World Cup qualifying, [and] isn’t going to be a part of the program.”

“It’s more about who we did add that we felt good about,” added Berhalter, preferring to highlight what the other strikers did to secure their places over critiquing Pepi’s play. “Josh is competing in the Championship, he played in the Premier League last year. We’re playing Wales and England, both teams are stocked with players from those leagues. Haji Wright is in great form with his team in Turkey, scoring nine goals already so far. And Jesús has been good for us, and a guy who really understands the game plan and how to execute it.”

Wright ‘in great goalscoring form’

Berhalter didn’t quite hone in on what Pepi had been missing to fall down the depth chart so late in the process, but he did give some insight into how Wright managed to climb above him.

The Antalyaspor striker wasn’t even seen as Pepi’s biggest challenger, with most of the signs pointing towards Pefok being the next man up. Wright has been very consistent in the Turkish top flight, but his last appearance with the USMNT saw Berhalter openly declare that he hadn’t capitalized on his opportunity. While Berhalter chalked the situation up to it “not being [Wright’s] night,” the choice to haul him off at halftime was widely read as the end of the California native’s World Cup hopes.

Speaking to reporters after announcing the roster, Berhalter explained some of what gave Wright the advantage in the end.

“We felt like Haji is in great goalscoring form,” said Berhalter, adding that while Wright is possibly less physically strong than Pefok, his speed was a factor in the decision. “Haji has pace. He’s got the ability to go one-v-one. He’s got finishing with his head, both feet. He’s performing really well in the Turkish League.”

Berhalter was so bullish on Wright’s form that he even drew a direct comparison between the USMNT man and Belgium striker Michy Batshuayi.

“Let’s not forget that the starting striker from Belgium also plays in the Turkish League and has five goals, and Haji has nine goals. And the Belgium guy’s probably playing for a better team, also. So I mean, this is not an easy league to score goals in, and he’s doing a good job.”

Batshuayi does in fact suit up for Fenerbahçe, the Istanbul-based giants that are currently five points clear atop the Turkish Super Lig table. Wright — who has nine of his club’s 19 league goals this season — and Antalyaspor are eight places and 13 points further down the table.

It’s not a totally even comparison. Batshuayi has only appeared in seven games since moving to Fenerbahçe a little over two months ago, and between league games and Europa League contests has scored a goal for every 75 minutes played, as compared to Wright’s rate of 117 minutes per goal. But even still, drawing a line between the two players clearly serves to highlight just how strong Wright’s form is in Berhalter’s eyes.

Berhalter added that the nature of this World Cup, with a lack of pre-tournament friendlies and prep time, made him place more weight on individual form than he might have otherwise.

“We don’t have three games before the World Cup now. We have a week of training, and that made it extremely difficult,” said Berhalter. “If we would have made the decision mid-September, Jordan Pefok would have probably been a lock to be in, based on his form in Union Berlin. But since then, it’s a different story. Now Haji’s come on more.”

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