CJ Sapong Is Having a Pretty Damn Good Season in MLS
CJ Sapang scored again for the Philadelphia Union this weekend. The goal, as seen above, put the Union up 2-0 over NYCFC and moved them to the top of the table in the Eastern Conference. It’s still early in the season, but the JMU soccer alum, is off to one hell of a start. Through seven matches, Sapong leads the Union with 4 goals. That total also puts him in the top 5 of MLS goal scorers.
Last year was a rough one for Sapong. He battled injuries on the field and was also arrested for DUI. Despite those set backs, he managed rally and score a career best 9 goals. This season, he’s on pace to blow past that total.
His efforts have not gone unnoticed. In fact, they’ve lead to some folks calling for Jurgen Klinsmans to call Sapong up for US Men’s National Team Duties. And the calls for CJ are being led by none other than Taylor Twellman. Sapang has previously played with the USMNT only during the January session, which is never really the “A team” and usually a chance to give below the radar players a look-see.
While the seemingly tenured USMNT striker Jozy Altidore has battled injuries this year, he still has yet to find the back of the net in 5 games of action. CJ’s supporters rightly point out that he’s scoring at a greater rate than Jozy, but also has improved by leaps and bounds holding the ball and creating scoring opportunities for his teammates. Of course, performing in MLS doesn’t always equal a call up to Klinsmann’s squad (cough, Benny Feilhaber, cough). If CJ keeps improving like this, Jurgen is going to need to give him a shot.
Big time GO DUKES for CJ. Thanks for covering this.
No thanks necessary Chris. We’ve been fans of CJ’s for a while, so we love getting a chance to hype his success a bit.
I wish he was wearing the black and red. DCU needs a target forward badly.