West Ham’s on-loan striker started for his country on Thursday night and came closer than anyone in a Suriname shirt to winning the game.
Joel Piroe led the line for Suriname in Kaunas, earned his second senior cap, and produced his team’s best chance of a 0-0 friendly draw with Lithuania.
How His Night Went
Suriname created nothing in the first half. Lithuania had the sharper openings, and the visitors did not register a dangerous effort until the 61st minute.
Piroe’s moment came ten minutes later. He shot from deep inside the box and Vincentas Sarkauskas saved it, the closest Suriname came all night, as Baltic Football News reported in its minute-by-minute account of the match.
The same report called Suriname toothless in the first half and uninspiring overall, and that context matters. Piroe was feeding on very little.
Suriname were also without their best player, Mainz forward Sheraldo Becker, which left more of the attacking burden on the West Ham man.
Match footage from Kaunas, via Sports in Lithuania on Instagram.
What It Means for West Ham
Piroe returns to Rush Green with real minutes in his legs and a near-miss to build on, nine days before Preston North End visit the London Stadium on November 21.
He went into the break in form at club level too. He started at Blackburn last Saturday and scored West Ham’s only goal in the 2-1 defeat.
His season record is 4 goals in 14 appearances in all competitions, but only 7 of those appearances have been starts, and the striker rotation is the live debate around Scott Parker’s team.
West Ham’s three strikers have six league goals between them in 35 combined appearances, which is why the run-versus-rotation question will not go away.
This week Hammers News reported that a leading club source believes Piroe can score a lot in this team if he is given a consistent run, while a follow-up report said the club are still planning a January striker search.
Thursday night does not settle that argument. A goalless friendly against Lithuania is a small stage, and the article makes no bigger claim for it.
What it does is keep his momentum pointing the right way at the exact moment Parker is deciding who leads the line when the league resumes.
One More Chance on Sunday
Suriname play Eswatini on Sunday in ‘s-Hertogenbosch, so Piroe has one more international outing before he reports back, as West Ham’s official internationals round-up set out.
His loan from Leeds United carries an obligation to buy that depends on West Ham winning promotion, so every start he stacks up, for club or country, carries a little more weight than a normal rotation place.
For now, the picture is simple. Suriname’s number nine is playing, he is going close, and he comes back to London with his case stronger than it was a week ago.
