Folarin Balogun Becomes the Striker the USA Needed in 2026
Folarin Balogun took one touch to kill the bounce, shifted it onto his left foot with two Paraguay defenders still scrambling to recover, and lifted it into the top corner with Orlando Gill rooted in place. It was his second goal in eleven minutes, completing a brace before a packed SoFi Stadium had even reached halftime. For a striker position the United States had spent years trying to solve, the answer arrived in the same half.
The United States beat Paraguay 4-1 at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California, on June 13, 2026, in their opening Group D match at the World Cup. Balogun scored twice, in the 31st and 45th-plus-5th minutes, either side of an early Damian Bobadilla own goal and a late Mauricio strike for Paraguay.
The United States beat Paraguay 4-1. Damian Bobadilla put through his own net in the 7th minute, Balogun doubled the lead in the 31st and added a third just before the break, Mauricio pulled one back in the 73rd, and Giovanni Reyna sealed it deep into stoppage time. Mauricio Pochettino’s side finished with 1.42 expected goals to Paraguay’s 0.54.
Balogun’s first did not need much craft. Christian Pulisic squared the ball across the box from the left, and the Monaco forward made no mistake from close range, sweeping it past Gill to double an advantage the United States had built within the opening half hour. The second told a different story entirely.
Malik Tillman released him into the box with a clever ball through the channel.
Two defenders converged, and most strikers settle for a pass or a foul won. Balogun did neither. He drove past the first challenge, shifted the ball across his body onto his weaker foot, and picked out the far corner from an angle that left Gill no chance at all. It was the kind of finish that announces a player rather than simply describes a result.
Born in Brooklyn to Nigerian parents, raised in London from a month old, developed through Arsenal’s academy, and capped at youth level for both England and the United States, Balogun’s international story has wound through three countries before settling on one. Tonight in Los Angeles, in front of a crowd stacked with American celebrities, he gave that choice its clearest justification yet.
He was substituted in the 72nd minute, moving gingerly to the touchline, his night ending one goal short of history. A USMNT hat-trick at a World Cup has happened only once. Balogun will get other chances. Few strikers get a debut performance this complete on the first try.