All it took was two starts for Folarin Balogun to raise excitement for the future as he scored his first goal for the United States men's national team on Sunday in Las Vegas. There's no better place to score your first goal than against the red, white, and blue's new chief rival in a final. Balogun is coming off of a strong season in Ligue 1 with Reims where he scored 21 goals and is now keeping that form going with the national team.
It was a classic Balogun goal. The USMNT caught Canada in transition with Gio Reyna driving at the Canadian's back line. Balogun made a run between the center back and right back and Reyna slipped a perfectly weighted pass for him to slot home. The goal gave the USMNT a 2-0 lead.
FOLARIN BALOGUN SCORES HIS FIRST GOAL FOR THE @USMNT IN HIS SECOND APPEARANCE! 🇺🇸 🦅 pic.twitter.com/YtrrkRNx8x
— CBS Sports Golazo ⚽️ (@CBSSportsGolazo) June 19, 2023
After the anticipation was building for Balogun to join the team, the hype train has now left the building in a good way following this goal. Only time will tell if Balogun can prove to be the reliable striker and feared goal score that the team has lacked as of late but it certainly doesn't hurt to start things off on the right foot against Canada. With the team continuing in Nations League, if he can keep the scoring run going, it won't take long to get a trophy to go along with them.
