It’s been a long and difficult season for Josh Sargent. Understandably, he was left out of the most recent USMNT roster for the upcoming World Cup qualifiers in January.
His response, within minutes of the list being published, was to score his first Premier League goal in absolutely unbelievable fashion in a critical match against a relegation candidate.
Sargent, who had previously gone goalless in 18 Premier League appearances, finally got the monkey off his back with a goal that could be a legitimate candidate for the Puskas Award.
In the 51st minute, Sargent received a cross from Timmu Pukki who was right behind him and headed for the near post. He stuck his leg out behind him and made contact with the ball, launching it up and over the bottom of the crossbar and into the back of the net.
Sargent did a rocking baby celebration and said after the game that he dedicated performance to her newborn baby, who was born just a week ago. The goal generated a whopping expected goals number of 0.55, which is solely due to the position of the shot relative to the goal, and got some laughs on social media.
Minutes after the goal was scored, the floodlights on Vicarage Road went out, causing a delay in the match. Jokes flew on social media about Sargent’s goal of cutting the power.
The 21-year-old scored a second goal 23 minutes later, beating a Watford defender to head in Milo Rashica’s cross, an exclamation point on an already incredible evening.
Sargent’s performance was so exemplary that it caused visiting Norwich City fans to erupt in “USA! USA!” I sing after the game is over.
Norwich City’s victory was absolutely gigantic. He took Canaries out of the relegation zone and pushed Watford into the relegation area. Norwich now sit in 17th place, two points above the Hornets, who have dropped to 18th place.