Folarin Balogun, who could have played for England or Nigeria, scores two goals for U.S. in World Cup debut

Folarin Balogun could have played for any one of three countries. He selected the USA, and it paid off with a splashy World Cup debut on house soil.

The 24-year-old striker scored two goals as the Americans opened with a 4-1 victory Paraguay on Friday (June 12, 2026) evening in entrance of a rabid and star-studded crimson, white and blue-clad sold-out crowd of 70,492 at SoFi Stadium.

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With retired England captain David Beckham wanting on, Balogun turned the primary U.S. participant to attain a number of targets in a World Cup sport since 1930. Again then, Bert Patenaude scored all three targets in a 3-0 U.S. win over Paraguay, the primary hat trick in World Cup historical past.

Balogun was born within the New York borough of Brooklyn to Nigerian dad and mom. A month later, he moved to England, the place he grew up in London. He joined Arsenal’s academy at age 8. He represented England on the youth degree and in addition performed for the U.S. under-18 crew.

England’s roster is historically stuffed with stars. Nigeria didn’t qualify for this World Cup. So Balogun is making himself an American family identify throughout this summer season of soccer.

The U.S. took a 1-0 lead on an personal purpose by Damian Bobadilla.

Balogun prolonged the result in 2-0 when Christian Pulisic performed the ball into the field to arrange Balogun along with his twenty first profession help. That tied Pulisic for fourth most in U.S. historical past.

Minutes earlier, Balogun practically had one other purpose, nevertheless it was referred to as again when the U.S. was offside.

Undeterred, Balogun scored once more simply earlier than halftime, placing the ball within the higher left nook for a 3-0 lead.