AUSTIN, Texas — At this rate, with goals flowing and his profile rising, Haji Wright could have two reasons to celebrate in May.
Let’s start with the U.S. national soccer team, where the 27-year-old forward is grinding at training camp this week ahead of two friendlies. It’s the first assemblage since coach Mauricio Pochettino narrowed his player pool and began tightening his focus on the 2026 World Cup.
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Wright made this initial cut, keeping him in contention for a berth on the 26-man roster, which will be announced weeks ahead of the Group D opener June 12 in his Southern California homeland.
One of three U.S. goal scorers at the 2022 tournament, Wright has been widely considered a bubble contender for another invitation to the quadrennial spectacle. He has scored a modest five goals in 18 international appearances — mostly as a sub — and hasn’t always looked comfortable and confident in various roles.
But then there is his stellar club portfolio — the reason he is back with the national team after being left off the September roster and the reason Coventry City is unbeaten through nine matches in the English Championship and on track for its first Premier League promotion in 25 years.
Just eight years ago, the Sky Blues were toiling in fourth-tier League Two.
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Wright leads the Championship with eight goals and has added another one in two League Cup appearances. In his third season with the West Midlands club, he has recorded 40 goals in 92 matches across all competitions.
“It’s been a good start to the season,” Wright said Tuesday. “It feels great to be able to perform the way I have been. It’s no secret I want to be in the World Cup squad, so I’m doing my best to perform week in and week out and hopefully to give myself the best opportunity to do that.”
With Wright and Ghanaian international Brandon Thomas-Asante combining for 13 goals, first-place Coventry is averaging three per league outing and has already built a plus-20 goal differential under coach Frank Lampard. It leads Middlesbrough by one point on a 24-team circuit that will award automatic promotion to two sides and a third to a playoff winner.
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“His team is flying,” said Aidan Morris, a U.S. and Middlesbrough midfielder, who, like Wright, has been in and out of the national team the past year. “When we play them [later this season], it will be a good one, for sure.”
Last season, Lampard’s first, Coventry’s Premier League dreams ended with an extra-time playoff loss to Sunderland in the semifinals. Despite missing three months with an ankle injury, Wright led the team with 12 league goals.
Wright credits the famous former England midfielder for helping him develop and excel.
“Frank Lampard has been a big inspiration for me since he came in,” Wright said. “He has shown me a lot of belief and has been able to help me in training and in games to perform my best. He was a great player during his time and now he is a great person to be around. It’s easy to talk to him whenever I have any questions. Up until now, he has gotten the best out of me and I am happy to play under him and try to keep my form for him and the club.”
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Though it’s not first-flight soccer, the Championship is considered the best second division in the world. And Wright is taking full advantage of his off-Broadway role since piling up goals for teams in Denmark and Türkiye.
“There’s a really good energy about Haji at the moment and he’s a very, very good player,” Lampard told CoventryLive recently. “I hope we’ll push that and that he remains as consistent in how he started the season, because he’s shown already what I believed in him anyway. But in the role he’s been playing, which has been more central now, he’s a very dangerous player.”
The 6-foot-3 Wright has played centrally and wide for the U.S. team; it’s unclear how Pochettino plans to deploy him against Ecuador on Friday (8:30 p.m. ET, TNT) in Austin and Australia on Oct. 14 in Commerce City, Colorado.
“I’ve been playing primarily striker this season, so that is where I see myself,” Wright said. “But if I am asked to play out wide or take a step back and play [in central midfield], it’s all fine with me. I feel comfortable in all positions.”
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Monaco’s Folarin Balogun appears to be atop the depth chart at striker, with Wright and Derby County’s Patrick Agyemang in the mix. Ricardo Pepi remains unavailable because of injury and Josh Sargent, who hasn’t scored for the U.S. team in five years, was not recalled.
The flanks are well-stocked with the likes of Christian Pulisic, Tim Weah, Alex Zendejas, Diego Luna and Brenden Aaronson.
Wright was selected to the CONCACAF Gold Cup roster in the summer, but an Achilles’ tendon ailment limited him to one appearance — he scored as a sub against Trinidad and Tobago in the group opener — before departing camp to rejoin Coventry for preseason conditioning.
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“It’s disappointing not to be able to contribute much, and I just tried to heal up and get ready for the season,” he said.
With no assurances he would be recalled again this year, Wright said he hoped “that hard work turns into an opportunity with the national team. … Having worked under [Pochettino] before, I kind of understand what he expects from his players and try to show that in my performances at Coventry … so I have a shot.”
Come May, the prizes could come to fruition in rapid succession for the hard working L.A. native: a World Cup roster slot and a long-sought Premier League ticket with his promotion-famished club.
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