LOS ANGELES – Josh Sargent has a greater appreciation now for these opportunities.

He has seen how quickly doors can open and close.

The red-headed striker from St. Louis burst onto the scene in 2017 as a 17-year-old who became the first player in U.S. men’s national team history to earn calls to the Under-17, U-20 and senior national team in the same calendar year. He scored four goals for the U.S. at the U-20 World Cup and another three at the U-17 World Cup a few months later. Sargent made his debut for the USMNT in 2018, becoming the second-youngest goal-scorer in program history in his first cap.

Everything was in front of him. His national team future seemed predestined. But sports rarely gives you a linear path.

Sargent has seen form and fitness stifle his national team career. He went from highly-touted prospect, to a player sometimes on the outside trying to break into the team, to a World Cup starter in Qatar in 2022. Another ankle injury limited his time with the U.S. since then.

Now, the 25-year-old enters the Concacaf Nations League finals – the U.S. faces Panama in Thursday’s first semifinal – as the presumed starter at the No. 9 position. Injuries to Folarin Balogun and Ricardo Pepi have made the path to minutes clearer. Sargent also arrives in blazing form. He has eight goals in his last 10 games with Norwich City. His confidence is high. The hope is that the form and confidence will carry over with the U.S.

For those who have watched Sargent’s path to this point, it is no accident that he is now playing some of his best and most productive soccer.

U.S. veteran center back Tim Ream, 37, is a St. Louis native who attended the same high school as Sargent — though he jokingly pointed out it was quite a few years before the striker. The former Fulham defender said he and Sargent often find each other in camp and sit to chat about home, life and soccer.

“I think he’s a better player and person because of the ups and downs that he’s gone through,” Ream said. “Everybody expects players to continue on this amazing trajectory and constantly move up and up and up the ladder, and life and sport isn’t like that. And I think he’s better off for it, because of the challenges that he’s faced. Maybe some of the setbacks, not just injury-wise, but career-wise and club-wise.

“I think it’s allowed him to kind of have a better perspective on what he has, and the ability that he has. And the confidence that you see in him now to just go and do his thing and literally just put balls in the back of the net constantly, it comes from a lot of those learning experiences.”

Sitting in the sun on a patio outside of the U.S. team hotel this week, Sargent didn’t seem to carry much of the weight of those down moments in his career. To Ream’s point, he has found the 30,000-foot view and learned to find the positives in each experience. Asked about the injuries and the disappointments, he nodded. They are moments that have pushed him to get better, he noted, to find ways to come back and be just as productive.

“It’s just kind of how you bounce back from those setbacks,” he said.

Sargent’s high work rate and industriousness in and around the box have not only helped make him uber productive in the Championship, but could also fit well with what Mauricio Pochettino wants to see from his strikers. Sargent also has shown an ability to drop in and find play to combine on goals, as he did at the World Cup in Qatar on Tim Weah’s opener against Wales.

Sargent said he feels comfortable in Pochettino’s set-up. He knows that an ability to put the ball in the net in this Nations League is ultimately what will determine his future with the team. For all of Sargent’s goals at the club level, he hasn’t scored with the national team since 2019. It’s a crazy stat for a player who has looked the part when playing for the U.S.

Sargent is trying not to overthink it.

“It’s obviously going to be in the back of my head a little bit, but at the same time, it’s just been a weird run for a while now with injuries and whatnot,” he said earlier this week on a press call. “I’ve been very happy with the goals I’ve been able to score at the club level, but definitely want to produce the same stuff on the national team.”

His teammates don’t seem concerned with his goal-scoring record.

“Josh is a top, top striker,” U.S. midfielder Yunus Musah said. “I think a lot of people are sleeping on him. I think he’s underrated. A lot of people need to speak about him more. He’s doing a lot of stuff week-in and week-out throughout a few seasons now in the Championship. He’s a great talent, a strong striker, a great finisher. A great guy to have in the team, as well. I just hope he keeps it up in the future and also gets more goals for the national team.”

It was notable that Sargent lit up the most when talking about his two daughters, aged 3 and 1. He wears a beaded bracelet made by his oldest, Romy, that has her name, the word ‘dad’ and a heart. Being a father has a way of resetting what is truly important in life. For Sargent, it has reframed why he plays the game.

“It changes everything,” Sargent said. “I think anybody knows that when they have kids, nothing else is as important as your kids. You’re not just playing for yourself, selfishly. You have people that you know you’re looking after and are playing for. I think it definitely helps put things into perspective, especially if there’s a bad game, whatever it is, you always have your kids and your wife, they’re at home waiting for you, and they put a smile on your face right away, and everything kind of just seems to disappear. So it’s been the best thing in life, for sure.”

The answer provides an interesting wrinkle to discussions around what will come next in Sargent’s career. His productivity in the Championship has made him an intriguing prospect for other teams in Europe and the UK, including potentially in the Premier League. It’s also made him a target for some MLS teams, who see Sargent as a top American player who can be one of the faces of the league.

The price won’t be cheap. FC Cincinnati made a significant offer for Sargent this past winter, according to sources with knowledge of the discussions. The asking price from Norwich was around $25 million, those sources said. FCC ended up buying Kévin Denkey for $16.2 million. Atlanta United bought another striker scoring goals in the Championship, Middlesbrough’s Emmanuel Latte Lath, for $22 million this winter.

Whether another MLS team will come in to make a bid, or whether Sargent finds an opportunity at a Premier League or another European club remains very much in the air. Sargent said he tries to keep the possibilities out of his head during the season.

“If I do my job at Norwich, then those things will still be there in the summer,” Sargent said. “I believe whatever happens in life is meant to be. So if a transfer doesn’t go through, then it just wasn’t in my plans. It’s decisions that me and my wife have to make together. Again, it’s not just for me. I can’t be selfish. It’s for our family. So we’ll see what happens this summer. I have a contract with Norwich for a couple more years. It’s an exciting time, obviously, with a lot of interest. And we’ll see what happens.”

For now, the focus is on finding the back of the net against Panama. And then again, hopefully, in a Nations League final.

Even then, Sargent knows there are no guarantees. He’s learned to just try to enjoy the moment.

“I know it’s a big opportunity,” Sargent said. “Obviously, I don’t want to make it anything bigger than it is, put more pressure on myself. But at the same time, I’ve been doing really well at the club level and I want to do the same at the national team level … and hopefully put myself in a good position to make that roster for the World Cup.”