Folarin Balogun did not just score against Paraguay on Friday night. He answered a question that has dogged the United States men’s national team for the better part of a decade. With his country two goals up and Mauricio Pochettino’s side searching for the killer blow, the Monaco striker pounced twice inside 14 second-half minutes to seal a 4-1 win in Group D’s opening fixture — the kind of clinical double act that the USMNT have spent recent World Cup cycles desperately trying to manufacture from elsewhere.
For Pochettino, who took the job last autumn carrying the burden of finally turning a golden generation into a tournament team, Balogun’s performance felt less like a breakthrough and more like a vindication. The 24-year-old, who was capped by England at every youth level before switching allegiance in 2023, has long been the project pick at centre-forward. On Friday, in front of 62,500 inside Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, he looked every inch the answer.
The finisher Pochettino has been waiting for
The numbers tell the story plainly. Balogun took three shots and scored twice, his second a first-time finish across goal after Weston McKennie’s deep run dragged the Paraguay back line out of shape. The first came from a half-yard of space inside the box — the sort of pocket Christian Pulisic, Tim Weah and Brenden Aaronson have all created in recent years without a striker capable of consistently converting.
“He gives us a different reference point,” Pochettino said afterwards. “When the ball arrives in the box, he is calm. He does not waste those chances. That is what we need at this level.” It was a pointed remark from a manager who, in his early months in the job, openly fretted about his side’s conversion rate. The US went into the tournament having scored just nine times in their previous seven matches, with Ricardo Pepi struggling for rhythm at PSV and Josh Sargent largely confined to Championship football with Norwich.
Balogun’s elevation has been gradual. Twelve Ligue 1 goals for Monaco this season, including a hat-trick against Marseille in March, persuaded Pochettino that the striker who had blown hot and cold under Gregg Berhalter could be trusted as the focal point. The decision to start him over Pepi for the tournament opener was the first real selection gamble of his tenure. It paid off inside 41 minutes.
The England question, finally laid to rest
That Balogun once chose England’s pathway — and was on the bench for Lee Carsley’s senior side at Wembley as recently as 2024 — adds an inevitable subplot. Born in New York to Nigerian parents and raised in north London, the Arsenal academy product was eligible for three nations and made the call to commit to the US in May 2023. At the time, the decision was framed by some in the English press as opportunistic. Eighteen months on, with Harry Kane still anchoring Thomas Tuchel’s attack and Balogun starring on home soil at a World Cup, the calculus looks rather different.
For the US, the significance runs deeper than one match. Since Clint Dempsey and Jozy Altidore led the line in Brazil 12 years ago, the team has cycled through Bobby Wood, Jordan Morris, Gyasi Zardes, Jesús Ferreira and Pepi without ever settling on a No 9 who could carry a tournament. Balogun, with his Ligue 1 pedigree and Premier League grounding, represents a different calibre of finisher entirely.
What Group D means now
The draw was not kind. The US must still navigate fixtures against Italy in Dallas next Wednesday and Iran in Los Angeles on 24 June, and the margin between topping the group and a difficult last-16 tie remains thin. Italy, who edged Iran 1-0 on Thursday, will arrive in better shape than four years ago, when Roberto Mancini’s failure to qualify left a generation of Azzurri players watching from home.
But Pochettino now has a template. McKennie’s deep runs, Tillman’s link play and Pulisic drifting infield off the right all functioned because Balogun gave the structure a finishing point. Four years out from the last home World Cup the US co-hosted — when the team failed to escape the group — there is, finally, the outline of a side built to do damage on its own turf.
“He has the quality, and now he has the confidence,” Pochettino said of his striker. “This is just the beginning.” On Friday’s evidence, England’s loss is starting to look like the US’s tournament.
Sports journalist and editor at SportsPortal.net. Covers cricket, football, Formula 1, tennis, and basketball with a focus on how global sports connect with Pakistani audiences. Follows the PSL, Pakistan national cricket team, Premier League, and major international tournaments. Has reported on sports for digital audiences since 2021.
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