Norwich City forward Josh Sargent can't wait to play in the World Cup with the USA, having scored in his final game before it for the Canaries.

Sargent gave Dean Smith's side the lead in their Championship meeting with Middlesbrough at Carrow Road, but goals from Riley McGree and Matt Crooks turned the game around for the visitors.

The goal gives Sargent a boost nonetheless. "Scoring a goal before the World Cup helps my confidence a lot," he said, "so (I'm) very happy to get one. Everybody wants to showcase themselves, because every club in the world will be watching.

"I'm going to do my best to stop and smell the roses while I'm there, but at the same time it's a big opportunity.

"It's just taking little moments and smiling and thinking to yourself that 'you're here, you've made it', but at the same time knowing that you have a job to do, and snapping back to reality as fast as you can."

His nation's second group game is against Gareth Southgate's England side, in a fixture Sargent is looking forward to greatly.

"It's pretty big," he continued, discussing the meeting with the Three Lions. "I know there's history between us and I think it'll be a really good match when we come up against each other. Half of (his colleagues at Norwich) are saying they'll be happy if I score against England, and half of them not!

"We have a young group of guys who are very confident in ourselves, and we know whoever we come against that we're not going to shy away from how we want to play. We're going to bring loads of energy, and it should be a good match."

Worry set in for American fans when Sargent went down holding his knee in the second half of the Boro defeat, but the 22-year-old doesn't expect any serious repercussions from the ailment.

He said: "(The World Cup) crossed my mind, but at the same time I think I knew that it wouldn't be so bad that I wouldn't be going. I just got a hit on my ankle and the outside of my right leg, but it'll be OK. It definitely hurt quite a bit! 

"If you think of it too much and try to play in a different way, that will probably bring on an injury, so I just tried to go out there and play the same way I usually do."