GOAL breaks down why the 20-year-old striker is suddenly in the mix with the USMNT
There's nothing good about an injury crisis, and the U.S. men's national team is experiencing one at the striker position right now.
Folarin Balogun and Ricardo Pepi are out. Haji Wright and Daryl Dike, two others based in Europe, are just coming back, with the latter's absence being extremely long-term. The MLS season is just starting and Josh Sargent is fit for now, making him the defacto starter right now, but his own injury history doesn't exactly inspire confidence given the matches that separate the U.S. men's national team and the CONCACAF Nations League later this month.
Even in a crisis, though, there could be a silver lining, and if that silver lining is an introduction for Damion Downs, maybe this will all be worth it.
As he continues to make waves in the 2. Bundesliga, where he's scored nine goals, Downs has been included in Mauricio Pochettino's 60-man preliminary squad for the CONCACAF Champions League. There is no guarantee that he'll be in the squad, but his inclusion does send Downs a strong message about a potential U.S. future.
Thus far, Downs has flip-flopped between the USMNT and Germany on the youth level, which means the 20-year-old's international future remains up in the air. There's no clear path to minutes on either side. The USMNT, for the first time in a while, has multiple legitimate starting candidates at striker whereas Germany is, well, Germany.
The CONCACAF Nations League could end up being Downs' big break, though, and it could end up being the turning point for a dual national whose stock continues to rise thanks to his goals this season.
Getty Images SportAmerican roots
Funnily enough, Downs very easily could have fallen into the other kind of football. Given his size at 6-4, maybe it could have worked out. He'd have had a chance, for sure, if he remained in Texas, the American football hotbed where he spent much of his childhood.
Downs was born in Germany to an American father and a German mother but moved to the U.S. at around a year old. He spent the next eight years there before his parents divorced, leading him back to Germany. It was only after moving back to Germany that he was introduced to soccer, and he took to it quickly.
“We lived in Texas, and I have a lot of memories," he told American Soccer Now. "All good memories. It was fun living in the States…When I was in the States, I was playing American football. I didn't have much of a connection to soccer.”
"I'd been speaking English first," he continued. "And then when I was like eight, nine, 10, that's when I started to learn German… I started soccer at like eight or nine when I moved to Germany because where I was living, there were no real American football clubs. It was pretty much a small town, a small village — and obviously, in Germany, there are a lot more kids playing soccer. I just had to choose a new sport."
Advertisement2. Bundesliga breakout
Downs is a youth product of FC Schwienfurt and FC Ingolstadt. Over the last five years, though, he climbed the ladder at FC Koln, where he's emerged as this year's breakout star in the 2. Bundesliga.
That breakout actually began last year, when he scored two goals in 10 Bundesliga appearances. His first goal came last March against Borussia Monchengladbach. His second several months later: a stoppage-time winner over Union Berlin.
After Koln's relegation to the second division, the club handed the baton to Downs and he's more than run away with it. He's scored nine goals in 21 appearances in the 2. Bundesliga, while adding one more goal and even an assist in a narrow 3-2 extra-time loss to top-flight side Bayer Leverkusen in the DFB Pokal. Just 20 years old, Downs is tied for 10th in the league in goals.
With Downs helping to lead the charge, Koln are firmly in the 2. Bundesliga title race. They currently sit fifth, but just one point behind league leaders Hamburg. There's a cluster at the top, with 10 teams within seven points in an extremely competitive 2. Bundesliga. For Koln to push for promotion, Downs will need to be a key figure and, at least so far, he has been.
Getty Images SportStyle of play
One thing stands out immediately about Downs: he’s massive. He towers over nearly everyone on the field. But it’s not just his height — at nearly 180 pounds, he moves like a freight train once he gets going.
Downs has plenty of pace, which he’s showcased multiple times this season when breaking in on goal. Yet, given his frame, he’s not just a counterattacking striker. He uses his size effectively to shield the ball and link up play when Köln retains possession. That’s why the team deploys him in a 3-4-2-1 system, with two attacking midfielders behind him—either feeding him into space or making runs off his hold-up play.
Beyond his work in the attack, Downs has been a consistent scoring threat, averaging just over a goal every two games—a strong return for a young player. He’s not Köln’s designated penalty taker, so all his goals have come from open play.
He does most of his damage inside the box, displaying a poacher’s instinct. Of his 48 shots this season, 42 have come from inside the 18. While seven have been headers, he’s also shown balance with his feet, taking 23 shots with his right and 18 with his left.
All of this makes Downs a well-rounded striker — one with obvious physical tools and the versatility to impact a game in multiple ways.
Getty Images SportInternational allegiance
Downs' inclusion on the USMNT's Nations League preliminary roster could mean something. It means, at the very least, that manager Mauricio Pochettino is paying attention. It's no guarantee of anything, though. Downs' international future is still somewhat up in the air, as his past has indicated plenty of times.
Downs holds dual citizenship with both the U.S. and Germany and has played for both countries in his youth career. So far, though, it's been a series of close calls and near misses for both sides. He was part of the U.S. U-20s ahead of the 2022 CONCACAF U-20 Championship but didn't make the final team. He was part of the Germany U-19s before the 2023 U-19 Euro qualifiers but, again, didn't make the final team. He was then left off the U.S. Olympic squad after training with the team last summer before joining up with Germany's U-20s this past November amid his 2. Bundesliga breakout. He went on to score two goals in a 2-0 win over England.
“When I moved to Germany, it was pretty much my whole German family,” Downs told ASN just before being left out of the Olympic squad. “We were mostly watching the German national team. But I always kept an eye on the American national team and how they were playing.”
The U.S. is now keeping an eye on him. We'll find out when the CONCACAF Nations League squad is unveiled if that turns into something more.