{"id":504,"date":"2026-06-17T12:09:21","date_gmt":"2026-06-17T12:09:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/?p=504"},"modified":"2026-06-17T12:09:21","modified_gmt":"2026-06-17T12:09:21","slug":"something-is-different-about-this-u-s-world-cup-team","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/?p=504","title":{"rendered":"Something Is Different About This U.S. World Cup Team"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Folarin Balogun is a 24-year-old Londoner of Nigerian descent who plays professionally in France and whose claim to an American passport came courtesy of serendipity and birthright citizenship. Mauricio Pochettino is a 54-year-old Argentine whose meteoric coaching career has taken him through some of Europe\u2019s most storied clubs and whose most meaningful connection to American culture is his obsession<\/u><\/span> with the hockey movie \u201cMiracle.\u201d<\/p>\n

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In years past, the United States men\u2019s national soccer team would\u2019ve never had the juice to lure Balogun into its fold, nor the money to import Pochettino. But everything feels different this summer when it comes to the USMNT, and for all the many, complex reasons why that might be so, it starts with the combined presence of Balogun and Pochettino \u2014 who among other attributes, share a lack of personal investment in the sordid history of the program they\u2019re in the process of redefining.<\/p>\n

Just one match into their 2026 World Cup, the Americans are already doing things never before seen from them on soccer\u2019s preeminent stage. Their opening 4-1 victory<\/u><\/span> over Paraguay in Los Angeles marked the biggest offensive output in the program\u2019s World Cup history and their largest margin of victory since the inaugural tournament 96 years ago. It also sets up the possibility the Americans could advance to the round of 32 \u2014 if not win Group D outright \u2014 as soon as Friday, when they take on Australia in Seattle.<\/p>\n

Of course, one measly win means little in the big picture, particularly given the dilution of talent inherent in this summer\u2019s newly expanded field of 48. Though Paraguay was far from a pushover, having beaten Brazil and Argentina during South American qualifying, nobody is likely to believe the Americans can pull off a \u201cMiracle on Grass\u201d until they start beating opponents of higher pedigree. Let\u2019s just say their recent history provides reason for skepticism.<\/p>\n

There is an immense amount of emotional baggage that comes with being a member of the USMNT around World Cup time \u2014 perhaps never more so than this summer, after eight years of breathless buildup around the first home-soil World Cup in 32 years. This is a program that once went 40 years without so much as qualifying for the World Cup, that had won only nine of its previous 37 World Cup matches, and that as recently as 2022, scored just three goals in its four matches \u2014 or one fewer than it did last week against Paraguay.<\/p>\n

The core of that 2022 U.S. squad, for better or worse, is back on the roster in 2026. But notably, first-timers Balogun and Pochettino seem to be shaping the culture of this USMNT. You can attempt to describe or quantify their influence in all sorts of ways: Balogun\u2019s swagger and deadly scoring touch, Pochettino\u2019s smoldering intensity and tactical mastery. But what is perhaps most important to the task at hand is the way they can shrug off the program\u2019s many past failures as irrelevant to them \u2014 and make it sound like sincerity rather than compartmentalizing.<\/p>\n

\u201cToday\u2019s today. It\u2019s difficult to compare now to the past,\u201d Pochettino told reporters in Los Angeles following the win over Paraguay. \u201cI don\u2019t know what\u2019s happened in the past.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Pochettino joined the USMNT at one of its lowest points<\/u><\/span> \u2014 just after the 2024 Copa America, where it had become the first host country in tournament history to fail to advance out of group play. All it took to pry him away from Europe was a reported annual salary of $6 million \u2014 roughly three times what his predecessor Gregg Berhalter earned \u2014 and a willingness on the part of U.S. Soccer to grant him the leeway to rebuild the program\u2019s sagging culture.<\/p>\n

\u201cCulture,\u201d Pochettino is fond of saying<\/u><\/span>, \u201ceats strategy for breakfast.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pochettino\u2019s time at the helm of the American program may be short-lived. His contract ends after the World Cup, and he is widely believed to prefer a return to elite-level European club soccer.<\/p>\n

Balogun\u2019s origin story<\/u><\/span> is much more sinuous and intriguing \u2014 but equally as instructive for what it says about both the USMNT and America itself.<\/p>\n

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In the spring of 2021, his mother, Florence, came to New York to visit relatives. But when she attempted to fly home to London, the airline refused to allow her on board, as she was seven months pregnant. Instead, she remained in New York, and on July 3, just hours before Independence Day, she gave birth to a boy she named Folarin. The baby lived just two months in America before he and his mother moved back to England, where young Falorin would go on to become a highly touted prospect in Arsenal\u2019s youth academy and later on England\u2019s U-17 and U-21 national teams.<\/p>\n

But thanks to the principle of birthright citizenship, as formalized by the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution in 1868, Falorin Balogun\u2019s birth in New York made him an American citizen. And in 2023, a concerted, multipronged effort by U.S. Soccer and its supporters was successful in luring Balogun to the USMNT over similar entreaties from both England and Nigeria, his parents\u2019 ancestral home.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve always said the [American] fans gave me so much motivation, showed me so much support,\u201d Balogun said after he scored two goals against Paraguay, referring to a social media recruitment campaign by USMNT fans in 2023. \u201cFor me, the most important thing has been being able to repay that.\u201d<\/p>\n

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FOLARIN BALOGUN BRACE TO MAKE IT 3-0 @USMNT! \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8<\/p>\n

A truly stellar FIFA World Cup debut for Flo. pic.twitter.com\/yfjrSEtKcz<\/p>\n

\u2014 FOX Sports (@FOXSports) June 13, 2026<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Of course, Balogun\u2019s claim to an American passport \u2014 and by extension, a USMNT roster spot this summer \u2014 is under assault<\/u><\/span> by the Trump administration, which has sought to end<\/u><\/span> the centuries-old policy of birthright citizenship via an executive order signed on the first day of the Trump presidency and that was immediately challenged by the ACLU and other entities. The matter is currently in the hands of the U.S. Supreme Court, which heard oral arguments in April<\/u><\/span> and is expected to rule later this summer.<\/p>\n

Even a ruling that upholds the executive order and effectively abolishes the concept of birthright citizenship, should it come prior to the end of the World Cup on July 19, would be unlikely to result in Balogun\u2019s being booted off the USMNT right away. But it could affect his eligibility for future years, including the 2030 World Cup, which is to be held in Morocco, Portugal and Spain.<\/p>\n

Still, as the present World Cup cycle has shown, four years is an eternity in soccer. Who, for example, could have foreseen, as the Americans slouched off the field following their lopsided loss to the Netherlands in Qatar in 2022, that their fortunes might be turned around a quadrennial later by an Argentine coach and a British-Nigerian-American striker?<\/p>\n

And who is to say that in 2030, whether or not Pochettino and Balogun are still around, whatever transformative impact they will have had on the USMNT \u2014 if that, in fact, is what we are witnessing \u2014 might not outlast them both?<\/p>\n

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An Argentine coach and an unlikely star are reshaping a program with plenty of baggage.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":503,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-504","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports"],"yoast_head":"\nSomething Is Different About This U.S. World Cup Team - Modern Home Journals<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/?p=504\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Something Is Different About This U.S. World Cup Team - Modern Home Journals\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"An Argentine coach and an unlikely star are reshaping a program with plenty of baggage.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/?p=504\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Modern Home Journals\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-06-17T12:09:21+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=504#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=504\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/533de239efc09a2ab59959cc1bff86d0\"},\"headline\":\"Something Is Different About This U.S. World Cup Team\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-17T12:09:21+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=504\"},\"wordCount\":1235,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=504#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/ec85591edd558f1910f08999f8083d81-scaled.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Sports\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=504#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=504\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=504\",\"name\":\"Something Is Different About This U.S. World Cup Team - Modern Home Journals\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=504#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=504#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/ec85591edd558f1910f08999f8083d81-scaled.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-17T12:09:21+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/533de239efc09a2ab59959cc1bff86d0\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=504#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=504\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=504#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/ec85591edd558f1910f08999f8083d81-scaled.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/ec85591edd558f1910f08999f8083d81-scaled.jpg\",\"width\":2560,\"height\":1707,\"caption\":\"United States' Folarin Balogun, center, celebrates scoring his side's third goal against Paraguay with teamates during the World Cup Group D soccer match in Inglewood, Calif., near Los Angeles, Friday, June 12, 2026. 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