Daryl Dike’s wild ride – What USMNT striker’s move to West Brom means for his national team hopes

There was a moment in December when, for the first time in two years, Daryl Dike got a moment to reflect. After two years of nonstop soccer, he had earned one.

From scoring for Virginia in the NCAA finals against Georgetown in December 2019, to going fifth in the MLS SuperDraft in January 2020, to scoring eight times in 22 matches for Orlando City, to making his national team debut, to taking on a sudden loan move to Barnsley, to scoring nine times for the Tykes as they nearly earned promotion to the Premier League for just the second time ever, to scoring his first goal for the U.S. national team in June 2021, to suffering a shoulder injury that knocked him out of the USMNT rotation, to returning to MLS in the fall and scoring 11 goals in 19 matches, Dike finally stole a moment to breathe.

“Physically, it was important,” he told ESPN, “but mentally, being able to look back at going over to England, being with the national team, playing in the Gold Cup, playing with Orlando as well, it was a nice period, for sure.”

Even by soccer’s standards, however, Dike’s offseason was brief. On Jan. 1, the first day of Europe’s winter transfer window, England’s second-division West Bromwich Albion signed Dike from Orlando City for $11 million.

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With Dike moving to England and Ricardo Pepi signing with FC Augsburg in the German Bundesliga, the two most promising young strikers in the American player pool — with the 2022 World Cup just 10 months away — are taking on European challenges at the same time. And as far as Dike is concerned, his ambitions have only grown stronger with each level of success.

“At the beginning, I always had big goals,” he said, “I always wanted to play in the Champions League, I wanted to play in World Cups, and those are still my goals. But I think those goals are so much more reachable now, and I can maybe even…