Folarin Balogun Shines for the US in the World Cup

The US team's path to the World Cup may have been different if a pregnant Nigerian woman had been allowed to board a plane 25 years ago. However, a gate agent turned her away, and she returned to Brooklyn, where her second son, Folarin Balogun, was born as an American citizen.

Balogun's unique journey allowed him to represent the US on soccer's biggest stage. Before the tournament, he said, 'I'm extremely proud my individual journey will come full circle now, especially the World Cup being here, the opportunity to represent my nation. It's going to be something special for me.' "

In the first game, Balogun scored twice in the first half of a dominant 4-1 win over Paraguay, becoming the first American with multiple goals in a World Cup game in 96 years. His teammates praised his performance, with midfielder Weston McKennie saying, 'If you don't know the type of player he is, you could see it today... He showed everyone he's willing to do the dirty work as well.' "

Balogun had his pick of countries to represent, being eligible to play for the US, England, and Nigeria. He chose to play for the US, which desperately needed a fast, technical, and two-footed No. 9. The US team is a mix of immigrants, with half the men on the World Cup roster being dual nationals, including Christian Pulisic, Gio Reyna, and Malik Tillman.

The recruitment of dual nationals dates back to the 1980s under Hungarian-born manager Bob Gansler. The practice has continued, with Gregg Berhalter recruiting more than a dozen dual nationals, including Dest, Tillman, Balogun, and Turner, during his five years as coach.

Balogun's journey is unusual, and not just because of the way it started. He was two months old when he and his mother finally made it to London and eight years later, he was good enough to enter Arsenal's academy system. He made his junior international debut with England at 17 and then played for the US U18 team.

Balogun's future appeared to be with England, especially after he scored seven times in 13 appearances with the U21 team. However, the US team pounced, getting Balogun to withdraw from England's U21 training camp to make a secret visit to Florida. Once there, US Soccer arranged for him to meet with US national team players, and he eventually committed to the US team.

Balogun said, 'When I committed and throughout this whole cycle and the whole journey to me being at this point, I've always said the fans gave me so much motivation, showed me so much support... The most important thing has been to repay that.' He made a great start on that in his World Cup debut, scoring twice against Paraguay.