Norwich City striker Josh Sargent won't play a part in the USA's friendly against Brazil on Thursday, but his international coach says he's progressing well.

The 24-year-old faces a race against time to be fit for the Copa America, which kicks off in Texas on Sunday, June 23 before the US face Jose Cordoba's Panama in Sargent's native Missouri.

He missed their first warm-up of the summer, a 5-1 loss to Colombia on Saturday, with head coach Gregg Berhalter admitting he was yet to decide whether to include Sargent in his final squad.

It was unclear whether he'd be able to feature in the meeting with Brazil, which takes place in the 60,000 capacity Camping World Stadium, but Berhalter has now ruled him out of the fixture. He did provide a positive update on the forward's fitness, however, with conversations continuing to take place with City's medical team.

"Josh is progressing well," Berhalter said. "He won’t take part in this game."

The humiliating loss to Columbia has many worried for the Copa America and even calling for the coach to be sacked, but he isn't prepared to take risks over individual players just to save face.

"The natural tendency would be to say 'okay, now it’s only about the result'. But the reality is that it is a friendly game," he continued.

"We are preparing for a tournament. We have to be brave and we have to continue with our plan. And, obviously, a lot of pressure from the outside after a 5-1 defeat at home but, again, it’s about preparing this group for a Copa America.

"We do see this as a building block. We see this group as a talented group, a group that’s able to do good things.

"I think this group is really talented. I think we can beat top teams, but we have to go and show it. 

"We've talked a lot about doing it and for us. It’s really about the performance, going out there and having a solid performance, putting yourself in a position to actually go ahead and win."