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’s most storied clubs and whose most meaningful connection to American culture is his obsession with the hockey movie “Miracle.”
In years past, the United States men’s national soccer team would’ve 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 — who among other attributes, share a lack of personal investment in the sordid history of the program they’re in the process of redefining.
Just one match into their 2026 World Cup, the Americans are already doing things never before seen from them on soccer’s preeminent stage. Their opening 4-1 victory over Paraguay in Los Angeles marked the biggest offensive output in the program’s 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 — if not win Group D outright — as soon as Friday, when they take on Australia in Seattle.