Americans Abroad Five: Injury pendulum swings both ways for USMNT

Injuries are always a fact of life for Americans Abroad, but players’ health becomes increasingly important as a World Cup approaches.

This week saw differing fortunes for a handful of players, with one major injury taking place and two other players coming back after spells on the sideline.

This week’s Five leads off with one particularly encouraging return after almost two years of injury hell.

Paredes back after injury nightmare

It has been an extremely rough 18 months for Kevin Paredes, but the Wolfsburg winger is finally back on the pitch.

Paredes made his first appearance of the season on Sunday, Jan. 11, coming on in the 77th minute as Wolfsburg was demolished 8-1 at the hands of Bayern Munich.

The Virginia native looked like a big part of the USMNT’s future during the 2023-24 campaign, as he made 28 Bundesliga appearances and scored three goals while still just 20 years old.

But Sunday’s game was just the third for Paredes since that season, as a foot injury limited him to only two appearances last season. After a setback in preseason, Paredes underwent surgery on the same troublesome foot in August.

Still only 22, time is on the winger’s side as he attempts to get his career back on track.

Pepi goes down — again

January has not been kind to Ricardo Pepi lately.

Last year, Pepi’s sensational season was ended by a severe knee injury in January. Twelve months later, the PSV striker once again suffered a serious injury that will keep him sidelined for a while.

This one was particularly gruesome, if not as damaging as last year’s. Pepi broke his forearm after scoring against Excelsior, a diagnosis that anyone with functioning eyes could have confirmed after seeing the state of his arm.

Pepi is set to miss two months, which is a major blow for PSV. The Texan has scored in five consecutive games and is the team’s only out-and-out striker.

When it comes to the U.S. men’s national team, Pepi seems to have dodged a bullet. With the U.S. not in action until late March, Pepi may not even miss a game if his recovery goes according to plan.

Richards returns for historic loss

The most important thing for Chris Richards is that he’s back on the field. But he wouldn’t have wanted to return like this.

Crystal Palace was on the wrong end of the biggest shock in FA Cup history – by league position anyhow – on Saturday, Jan. 10. Sixth-tier Macclesfield stunned Palace 2-1, knocking out the defending champion in the third round.

Richards played fairly well, but it wasn’t enough to prevent the Eagles from losing to a team 117 places above them in the English pyramid.

Still, when Richards went off on a stretcher against Arsenal on Dec. 23, missing just four games seemed almost impossible to fathom. But that ended up being the absence for a player who will be crucial as Palace looks to right the ship in the weeks ahead.

Scally stars, Reyna peripheral

Joe Scally scored his first goal of the season on Sunday as Borussia Mönchengladbach hammered Augsburg 4-0 to kick off the second half of the season.

The defender turned in an excellent all-around display, earning a place on Kicker‘s team of the week.

Scally continues to be a fixture for Gladbach, which is up to 10th in the table after recovering from an awful 0W-3D-5L start.

Meanwhile, Gio Reyna only managed a five-minute cameo off the bench after he started three consecutive games prior to the Bundesliga’s winter break. According to ESPN Bundesliga commentator Derek Rae, Reyna looks to have a real fight on his hands for minutes.

Sargent sits, Norwich fumes

Josh Sargent may not be an American Abroad for much longer.

Amid reports of a bid from Toronto FC, the Norwich forward appears to be going on strike.

Sargent wasn’t in the squad for Norwich 5-1 FA Cup victory over Walsall on Sunday. According to Canaries coach Philippe Clement, that was at the striker’s request.

‘Josh sent me a message (Saturday) evening saying he would not be available because of transfer things in his head,’ Clement said.

But the coach made it clear that his side wouldn’t be pushed around so easily.

‘This is obviously not something we want and will have consequences. It is something we need to speak about inside the club, but the club has made it really clear to Josh and his agent that he will not be leaving during this transfer window.’

For a player already slipping out of the World Cup picture, a prolonged stand-off is the last thing he needs right now.