- Lalas described Balogun as "the chosen one"
- Says that the team hasn’t moved past him
- Emphasized this camp offers crucial evaluation period
Folarin Balogun was a late inclusion in the USMNT roster for September friendlies after the Monaco striker missed several previous camps. The 23rd player named to the squad for matches against South Korea and Japan, this will be Balogun’s first appearance under USMNT coach Mauricio Pochettino.
Former USMNT star Alexi Lalas characterized Balogun as having once been viewed as “the chosen one” following his high-profile commitment to the United States, but suggested that status has diminished following inconsistent performances and availability.
“I’m glad because remember a time where he was the ‘chosen one’ and he was going to bring us out of the wilderness when it came to that striker position,” Lalas said on his State of the Union podcast. “And we haven’t seen him a while and he’s gone through, you know, some bad injuries. And so it’s almost kind of like a second bite at the Balogun apple.
“And we get to reassess him here in August of 2025, less than a year before the World Cup. But with kind of the same situation, in that nobody has really grabbed that spot. And so he’s got a wonderful opportunity. I mean, he should in a certain sense, thank his lucky stars that the team hadn’t moved on from him. But you know, now it’s going to be about what he can possibly do.”
Lalas framed the upcoming matches as a critical opportunity for Pochettino to assess Balogun’s role for the 2026 World Cup.
“You’re potentially looking at a starting XI come these games against Japan and South Korea in this window that has Balogun, Christian Pulisic, Tim Weah, Tyler Adams and Sergino Dest,” Lalas said. “You know what a good handful of players can do… So, a lot of players that absolutely could feature and could start in the World Cup next summer. So I’m, I’m glad to see that he’s brought in, because I think we need to assess where he is right now. And kind of realize, is he going to be in the mix, or isn’t he going to be in the mix?”
Lalas also addressed some of the criticism over Pochettino’s roster.
“I think that still are looking at this roster and this window as a missed opportunity, a wasted opportunity, and giving opportunities to players that ultimately are not going to feature next summer, in in their mind,” Lalas said of some of former USMNT teammates, now turned pundits. “But I also want to remind people that, you know, the only comparison that we have – and I know it’s a little apples to oranges – but in 1994, obviously the US hosted the men’s World Cup.
“And because of that, the United States did not have to go through a qualifying process. And if you look at the team that showed up in the summer and the fall of 1993 – so about the time that we are in right now – there are a lot of players that were starting for the national team that ultimately not only weren’t starting that following summer, but weren’t even on the 22-man roster.”
The former defender suggested this historical precedent demonstrates the fluid nature of roster building.
“But for Pochettino – and in that case for Bora Milutinovic – without that qualifying process and all that, all you could assess was during friendly games,” he said. “That assessment went all the way up to – I mean, literally – the end of May. In that case, it would have been 1994, May 1994, getting ready for that summer.
“So I think he’s going to continue to assess. And I don’t think that that’s necessarily wrong… a lot of people out there still felt that it should have been pared down for this window. And the reality is that there’s only four more windows after it.”
Balogun’s journey with the USMNT has been marked by unfulfilled expectations since he switched allegiance from England in May 2023. Since that period, the striker has battled injuries and struggled to translate his club form to the international stage, scoring just five goals in 17 caps.
Balogun will likely feature in upcoming friendlies against South Korea and Japan, providing a crucial opportunity to impress Pochettino.
