Southampton fans are hinting that Damion Downs' USMNT career could be in for a lengthy pause if he keeps slipping behind compatriot striker in terms of goals.
Recently, Southampton's past skipper Jan Bednarek played out a courageous, a goal a piece draw against the Netherlands. Now, the 29-year-old has cherished many of these decent outings with his compatriots but Saints fans know this is the first one where they can't call Bednarek among their international stars.
A reason is that multiple faces have changed at St. Mary's and the club officially counts seven of them as fighting for their national team colours, in the moment.
For six of them, there can be adequate ringtones coming from their respective country's boards but the sidelining phase could have begun for one star. Doesn't feel good to say, but new reinforcement Damion Downs is the one Saint who can be diminishing down USMNT's plans.
Downs needs to revive his Southampton and USMNT reputation
And this isn't being conveyed by Mauricio Pochettino and co, instead the St. Mary's faithful are fearing for the 21-year-old while his international counterpart is going fearless in the Championship.
In their words, the Football League World quoted fan pundit Martin Sanders' concerning Downs viewpoint: "He's scored in every game, and he's probably already scored more than Damion Downs will score all season."
Josh Sargent is the other reference here, and if you missed USMNT's previous clashes then let me notify you that Downs was Pochettino's preferred number two.
At this rate, it'll be hard for the ex-Southampton boss to keep contacting Downs at USMNT if this second-division prediction was to come true.
Finding the back of the net in front of Portsmouth could be a good seed for a Downes comeback, and let's see if he brings his top-game there.