Daryl Dike is smiling.
And you can’t blame him. For most of the USMNT striker’s West Bromwich Albion team-mates, Saturday’s game against Luton Town didn’t carry much meaning. It was the final fixture of the Championship season, their chances of sneaking into the play-offs were long gone, the stakes were extremely low.
For Dike, though, this was the first time he had started a league game in 750 days. And the 24-year-old will remember this one far more fondly, because it was on April 15, 2023 against Stoke City, that he suffered the first of the two Achilles tendon injuries that have essentially ruled him out of football for the last two years.
Dike was out for 10 months, was eased back into the West Brom team before, nine minutes into a substitute appearance against Ipswich Town in February 2024, he ruptured his Achilles again. The sight of Dike being driven off the field on a buggy, in floods of tears, was harrowing.
It would be a full year before he played again, returning to the West Brom squad in February 2025, but his comeback has been very, very cautiously managed, meaning he has been limited to a smattering of cameos off the bench.
Until Saturday, that is.
“I actually didn’t know I was starting until about an hour and a half, two hours before kick-off,” Dike said after the game, the smile barely leaving his face. (Interim West Brom head coach James Morrison) came up with the team sheet and I was like ‘…Oh…I’m starting?’ I don’t really get nervous before matches, but this was one of the few when I did.
“I was just getting myself back into the mindset of: ‘You’ve done this before.’ I was a little bit nervous. I was trying to just focus on the things I normally do, but my brain was just, ‘Score, score, score.’ And luckily I did.”
Dike was mobbed by team-mates after scoring (Paul Harding/Getty Images)
In the 30th minute, midfielder Callum Styles floated a ball into the penalty area from the left, to the far post. It was the sort of cross a centre-forward dreams of, between the defence and the goalkeeper, with enough of a run-up that he could meet it with momentum.
Dike outmuscled his marker, and headed into the corner of the net. The joy and relief exploded out of him. His team-mates mobbed him. There was an extra pep to the celebration from the crowd. Over two years since his last league start, and 483 days since his last goal of any description. Dike was back.
“Further agony for Luton!” :flushed:
Daryl Dike has restored West Brom’s lead and put Luton’s survival hopes in even more jeopardy! :chart_with_downwards_trend: pic.twitter.com/4iVL5tvWf8
— Sky Sports Football (@SkyFootball) May 3, 2025
And for U.S. readers
Daryl Dike powers in a header at the back post for his first goal of the season for The Baggies :us::boom: pic.twitter.com/2XzY6Gl2h3
— CBS Sports Golazo :soccer:️ (@CBSSportsGolazo) May 3, 2025
“Before the match, I was telling the boys, ‘Put the ball in the box, I’ll be there.’ Stylesy played a great ball…and I was there. When I saw the the ball, and I saw the chance, I thought: ‘This is it, this is the chance right now.’”
Dike added an assist to a fine day’s work too, with some classic centre-forward play as he held up the ball with his back to goal, spun his marker and played a perfect pass through for young winger Tom Fellows to score West Brom’s third.
There is a particular psychology to a player who has suffered a repeat of a serious injury, an especially crushing feeling of hopelessness. Dike had his fair share of that over the last couple of years.
“You are always going to end up feeling sorry for yourself. The first time it happened, I was very upset, naturally, but I was like ‘OK, I’ll be alright.’ But the second time I was like, ‘I worked all the way to get back…and now it’s happened again.’ I’ve got to work again. That was definitely a low point, because I was so excited to be playing again.
“So for it to happen again, and for me to think, ‘OK, this is just the kind of condition I’m in until I’m done playing…’ You’re thinking, ‘Is it going to happen again? Am I going to be the same?’
“But with my support group, and the goals in the back of my head, I knew I’d bounce back. With training sessions like the past few months, and games like today, I can push a few of those doubts away and show I can still do it and be confident in myself.“
When you are a professional athlete that cannot play due to injury, an understandable instinct would be to shy away from watching the game. It is too cruel, too hard, too frustrating to watch others do what you know you can do, but can’t right at the moment.
Dike, though, used that as motivation. “I’m a football fan,” Dike says. “Everyone in the squad knows I’ll watch every game, I’ll know every player. I’ll always watch, so I have dreams in football. Whether that’s playing in the Champions League, or playing at the World Cup.
“I always tell myself that I’m only 24, so I can achieve every one of those dreams. I tell myself that, even though I’ve fallen down, I can get back up. I can still keep going, I can still keep running, and I still have the chance to prove myself and prove to everyone I can still do it and achieve those dreams.”
Dike watches his header find the corner (Paul Harding/Getty Images)
You will notice that Dike brought up the World Cup there, unprompted. He last played for the US in 2023, but plenty has changed since. Mauricio Pochettino has taken over as head coach. New strikers have emerged. If a squad was being picked today, even if Dike was fit and scoring goals, he would probably be behind Josh Sargent, Folarin Balogun, Ricardo Pepi, Haji Wright, Patrick Agyemang and Brian White in the pecking order.
But none of those men have exactly grabbed hold of the position, and the team’s less-than-impressive results and performances under Pochettino mean few players’ names are chiselled in stone. There’s a lot of time between now and the 2026 World Cup, in the USA, Canada and Mexico, for Dike to present his case. After staying fit and scoring for West Brom, that’s next on his list.
“That’s one of my goals. Every single player has always dreamt of playing at a World Cup. I’d love to be part of that squad. Any time you’re able to represent your country, it’s a big honour, especially on a big stage like that. Of course, I’ll be working towards that, all off-season, all season, to be able to be a part of that.”
It is a shame that this was the final game of the season, that Dike could not continue his momentum for a little while longer. For now, though, he is just basking in the moment, still smiling.
“Every single day you’re there, working hard, dreaming of moments like this, to get back in the squad, to score. To have a day like today, after all that time, it makes it even better.”
(Top photo: Adam Fradgley/West Bromwich Albion FC via Getty Images)