Josh Sargent faces relegation with venerable Bundesliga club Werder Bremen
- by Paul Kennedy @pkedit, Jun 13, 2020
Since scoring with his first
touch of the ball in the Bundesliga in December 2018, Josh Sargent has experienced a frustrating two seasons with Werder Bremen in Germany's top flight.
Sargent, who turned 20 in
February, has scored five goals in 34 Bundesliga games, but he faces the prospect of dropping down to the German second division with Werder Bremen.
Werder Bremen sits in 17th place in
the 18-team Bundesliga ahead of Saturday's game at last-place Paderborn. Bremen is three points behind 16th-place Fortuna Dusseldorf and six behind 15th-place Mainz with four games to play.
The bottom two teams go down automatically, and the 16th-place team faces the third-place team in the 2. Bundesliga in the promotion/relegation playoffs.
Sargent scored twice before
Christmas in 2018 but he saw little playing time in the second half of his first season. His poor form cost him a spot on the 2019 U.S. Gold Cup roster.
But after a solid preseason,
Sargent gained regular playing time before a hamstring injury suffered playing for the USA in the Concacaf Nations Cup win over Cuba kept him out of action for the last two months of 2019.
Sargent has been playing regularly since play resumed in May following the shutdown for the coronavirus pandemic, but he has not been scoring. Bremen's goals in two 1-0 wins are the only goals it
has scored in six games.
“It’s really frustrating for us a team," he said on the Bremen website. "We want to create a lot of chances, but it’s just not working for us at
the moment. But we won’t let it get us down. Absolutely, [the Paderborn game is a must-win match]. We have to win. We know how much is riding on this game.”
Bremen has a long
history in the Bundesliga, winning league titles in four different decades (1965, 1988, 1993 and 2004). It was a founding member in 1963-64 and spent just one season, 1980-81, in the second flight
over 57 seasons of Germany's national structure.
Besides four league titles, Bremen has been runner-up seven times, and it has won six German Cup titles. But last season's eighth-place
finish marked the first time in a decade Bremen had a winning record.
“No one at this club wants to go down,” Sargent added. “This club has such a long history, and no
one wants to that the team or the city down. We’ll fight until the end to ensure that that doesn’t happen.”
And he'll become a much better player due to the experience. Can't experience that in the good ole USA
Wallace, that is true. Playing relegation type soccer is not normal soccer for the player is more under pressure to fight, (which is an aspect easily learned playing in the MSL,LOL) makes him not concentrate in what he's good at . But overal I lament the fact that this type of relegation soccer is not what Sargent needs to learn for that is not his game ,which is not why came to Germany to learn. As a matter of fact this type of player should not be learning his game playing in Germany or in England. These two countries are not what our American boys need to be playing in to really learn the game.
Frank, I agree. Your part of the world or Spain are two good places to be.
True, with regard to the Bundesliga, versus Holland, Spain, Italy, even Portugal. What o still maintain, despite the controversial non call up for the Gold Cup, IMO he is still and was our most complete striker/forward. His instincts were honed prior to the Bremen move. He's able to play the target better now and he's capable with both feet and he has soft feet. The struggles at Bremen will make him more hungry. It's hard to score goals as a striker when your team is disjointed and quality passes-service in the attacking third is rare. If GB excludes him because of Bremen's woes, then it's a reminder that he was a defender and doesn't recognize a goal scorer and assist man.
Ships, I lament the fact Sargent is in need of working with a former great goalgetter who trains attackers. He doesn't have that. Who is going to learn the ropes from. At least at Ajax you have always former greats like a van Basten, Kluivert ,or a van Persie, van Nistelrooy, etc that can work with the players....It looks like Sargent is on his own....,
It does appear that way Frank. I hope he is looking and getting opportunities elsewhere. Ajax would be a gift/dream transfer. He has the goal scoring intuition, needs help though. Bremen lacks the needed players.
US Soccer, USSF, MLS, need to understand this aspect and bring over types like I've just mentioned to work all over the US with our better players for we don't have this experitise here. To send our boys to Europe like a Sargent and not getting anything out of it is a waste of talent. I'd rather see Sargent here, working with Zico, Cubillas, a Henri, or like a Zlatan,or whatever and play here then go to Europe . But going to Germany to play , by rolling up his sleeves, take out his dentures, rub Bengay on his legs in order to keep from relegating is not my way of improving things for him...Just look at what we have currently on #9 in the US stable...nothing, we have no solid attackers ....Yeah ,the only thing we can produce goalies who use their hands, but nothing with the feet...
Should have happened long ago, I agree.
He played well today, no goals but heavily involved in the creation. He will remember this scrap for the rest of his career, playoffs or not. If they stay up, would hope they spend on a better defense and midfield. They look good vs Paderborn but against the top 3rd of the table they are a definite step down in quality. Wonder how his German is going--he does not seem a favorite during goal celebrations even when assisting.