🔬 Surveying the USMNT's center-forward options ahead of 2026 | OneFootball

It was so nearly a summer of celebration for Mauricio Pochettino and the United States Men's National Team, with the host nation coming up short in the final of the 2025 Concacaf Gold Cup against bitter regional rival Mexico.

An early strike from Chris Richards was cancelled out by Raúl Jiménez and Edson Álvarez as El Tri secured back-to-back tournament wins, ultimately leaving more questions that need answering by Pochettino before the 2026 World Cup.

On the surface, a run to the final with a squad that many fans and pundits alike deem to have been, at best, a 'B-tier' outfit, is hardly a sob story worth lamentations.

But apart from a tournament-opening 5-0 thrashing of Trinidad & Tobago, each of the subsequent five fixtures were decided by a one-goal margin, while the US also needed to rely on shootout heroics to get past Costa Rica in the quarter-finals.

More frustrating is the reality that despite the US ending the tournament with 13 goals, budding midfield pair Diego Luna and Malik Tillman led the side with three goals each, with Richards' two goals level with Patrick Agyemang's total tournament tally.

This, expectedly, threw further questions into the fire when it comes to who the US can look to as their attacking focal point up front.

And it is arguably the most important question of all for the Stars and Stripes (outside of the goalkeeper debate), given the realities of tournament play.

To have any chance of pulling together what could hopefully be described as a successful World Cup campaign, most nations can always fall back on a key goalscoring threat at center-forward.

England relies heavily on Harry Kane (and others), France can boast Kylian Mbappé, Spain increasingly turns to Mikel Oyarzabal in that role, and Ronaldo still starts centrally for Portugal.

Further still, the likes of Sweden and Norway are grateful to have Alexander Isak and Erling Haaland, and even Mexico can be confident with Jiménez leading the line.

At current, no such figure truly exists for the United States, and the hope across the upcoming 2025/26 club season is that someone, somewhere, will find form before the world's focus once again shifts to American shores. But who will it be?

Patrick Agyemang

Let's stay with the aforementioned Agyemang to start the discussion, with the 24-year-old recently securing a summer move to Championship outfit Derby County.

His story is one worth diving into, but despite his rapid rise at MLS side Charlotte FC, and what is currently a solid goal return of five goals in 12 appearances for the US, his inconsistency in front of goal has left many fans frustrated while routinely debating just how good he could become once he goes through a period of heavy refinement.

Brian White

Then there's Brian White: a key attacking catalyst for the Vancouver Whitecaps under Jesper Sørensen.

White, 29, is already in his prime years as a footballer and has looked the real deal in the Pacific Northwest since leaving the NY Red Bulls and smashing 56 goals in 128 appearances in MLS over the last four-and-a-half seasons at BC Place.

His form in front of goal for the Whitecaps has yet to make the jump to the international stage, however, with White hitting the back of the net on just a single occasion in eight appearances, while likely completely ruling himself out of the conversation.

Damion Downs

The third center-forward in the US team for the Gold Cup was youngster Damion Downs, with the 21-year-old German-born striker riding his wave high after a very solid season with 2. Bundesliga outfit FC Köln.

Confirmed to be on his way to the Championship in a move to Southampton, Downs is another potential diamond in the rough for Poch. Though hitting the match-winning penalty against Costa Rica will gift him some grace, it is far too soon to truly include him in the current debate.

And now we come to some of the star names of the US National Team pool; players that Pochettino was unable to call upon this summer, but is near-guaranteed to have at his disposal less than twelve months from now.

Monaco's Folarin Balogun, PSV's Ricardo Pepi, and Coventry's Haji Wright are all sure to be considered, while Norwich's Josh Sargent could have a pathway to turn Poch's head in due course.

Perhaps the most surprising aspect is the fact that Pepi boasts the best strike rate of those mentioned, with 13 goals in 33 appearances (0.39 goals/match) that easily eclipses that of both Balogun and Wright (0.29 goals/match).

Sargent, who had long been one of the great hopes for the national team program, has never been able to find his feet in a US kit, managing just 5 goals in 28 appearances (0.17 goals/match).

With Pepi now back in training with PSV after recovering from a long-term knee injury, should the 22-year-old get back to the type of form that saw him hit 11 goals in 18 Eredivisie appearances before getting crocked, that could, along with once again featuring in the Champions League, be enough for his CV to top the pile on Poch's desk.

Balogun struggles to see consistent minutes along the French Riviera, and despite Sargent's consistent rate of return at Carrow Road, he seems very much outside of the current planning process.

All told, football is always a waiting game.

As endless possibilities that can, and likely will, present themselves over the coming months, finding a reliable striker to lead the line would go a long way in quelling fan angst ahead of the World Cup while applying a bit of aloe on current wounds inflicted by El Tri.

📸 Tim Warner - 2025 Getty Images