OT (Soccer) - Huge Coup for USMNT - WE HAVE A REAL STRIKER
It's offseason, and there are plenty of soccer fans here, sooo...
For those in the know...
FALORIN BALOGUN HAS SWITCHED FROM ENGLAND TO USA FOR HIS NATIONALITY. COMMENCE YOUR CELEBTATIONS!
For those who don't...
Balogun is a 19yo wunderkid who is a "true" No. 9 striker (goal-scoring forward). He grew up in London and thus his international affiliation is with England. However, he was born in New York (parents were "on holiday"), so he is also a US Citizen and thus under FIFA rules eligible to play for USA. FIFA allows a one-time switch of affiliation. Today, he officially switched from England to USA, so now he can play for the USMNT.
This is a very significant gain for the team. We have playmakers (Pulisic, Reyna), wingers (Weah, Aaronson, Hernandez), and a pretty decent midfield ("MMA"--McKennie, Musah & Adams). What we haven't had is a legit, world-class-ish, fear-in-hearts-of-defense striker. A guy who can systematically put the ball in the net against top-class defenses.
Balogun appears to be that kind of player. He plays for Reims in France's Ligue Un, but is the subject of transfer rumors with Arsenal among them (natch, since he is from London). He has like 19 goals this year in Ligue Un, which is impressive. Young, fast, confident.
A real get for USMNT. It's not unexpected; the team has been recruiting him for a year, and he looks like he is behind the pecking order in England (Kane, Rashford, etc.). He's also a Gen Z'er and of color, which is like well over half our team -- he's "one of them." Yunus Musah is another English kid of basically the same age, who switched to USA a couple years ago, and undoubtedly was key in his recruitment... but apparently the entire team is super-connected with each other, very harmoniously, so it's easy for other players of the same generation to quickly get enamored with joining the team. And for us, unlike England, his playing time is, as Chucky would say, GAHHH-ronnnn-TEEED.
And we are hosting the WC in three years, so the lead striker on USA will have a very prominent role with global visibility.
I was waiting for this thread to come up. It's had me hyped up all morning. It's a huge get to take him from England.
He's committed to the US and he's going to be phenomenal. He put up like 21 goals in France this year and he's still got so much more to learn.
/r/ussoccer basically called it LeBron joining Wade and Bosh.
All we need now is a world class head coach.
and Wade and Bosch
you think we need a dishwasher?
Cant hurt.
I dunno, man. I've heard promises about the future prowess of US soccer since I was part of the soccer generation of the 70's, and just had my heart broken over and over with this or that upcoming phenom to take us to the promised land. Yet, the product on the field seems exactly the same as it was 30 years ago, when that soccer generation was first grown up. We middlingly muscle through to the playoff round (sometimes), and then some Euro or South American team makes us look like the JV. The only playoff game we've won in my lifetime was the victory over Mexico in 02, and we owned Mexico.
CC: Freddy Adu
Yeah… USMNT fans are talking about Balogun like he’s already Osimhen or Kolo Muani. The same way they call Pulisic “the LeBron of soccer” when he doesn’t even regularly start for Chelsea.
The level of US team player has gone up significantly over the past 30 years, but right now it's topping out at "rotational player at big club" or "regular starter at relegation battler." (Balogun fits into the first category). Like Balogun, all of the US's best players are relatively young, but all of them seem to have plateaued at "average player in one of the big 4 leagues." And that's what the US looks like on the field, a team of players who know what to do and where to be but without the exceptional ability and confidence to unlock similarly competent teams.
Part of the problem is that the bigger the club, the harder it is to parse playing time. Outside of Haaland and maybe Gundogan, does Man City have any regular starters? Even de Bruyne gets rotated a lot. I'd love to see Pulisic not at Chelsea because they're a toxic tire fire of a club, especially with the way they seem to have an unlimited budget for any shiny attacker that pops up.
There's a third category too, which is locked-in starter on a mid-tier or top smaller league side. That's Ream and Robinson, although I don't know how much more Ream has in the tank and I think Robinson might find himself a rotational guy at a bigger club next year. Also Carter-Vickers and Tillman in Scotland, although Tillman is on loan.
De Bruyne has played in 30 of 35 PL matches and started 27. He’s definitely a regular starter, you just have to rotate players of his age with UCL, FA Cup, and EFL Cup competitions or based on tactics.
Rodri has played 34 and started 33. Gundogan played 30 started 26. Grealish played 28 started 23. Silva played 33 started 23. Dias played 26 started 22. Ake & Stones both played 25 and started 22. Throw in Ederson of course. Starting in about two thirds of games definitely is a regular starter. So big clubs do have regular starters, just requires a very high level to crack.
Fair enough, although by those standards, both Pulisic (17/18) and Reyna (20/21) had seasons at Dortmund that would qualify. Pulisic was also a regular at Chelsea in 19/20 and 20/21 when he was healthy. It feels like that breakthrough star is inevitable if the US can keep up the numbers of young players in Europe and get some better injury luck.
Man City is probably not a great comparison, considering they have 18-1st team players and Pep's management style -- as well as going for multiple trophies (more matches, more roster movement) -- but I understand your point. Arsenal, Man U, Tottenham (NOT CHELSEA) have pretty "standard XIs" (BTB beat me by a second)
People say this, that the level of the players has gone up, but, honestly, the results are absolutely identical to 30 years ago, so I'm not sure that that statement is really empirically supported. We looked better in the 1994 WC than we did in 2022, IMO. In 94', we played eventual champion Brazil to 0-0 until late in the match. Meanwhile, last year, the Netherlands, an also-ran, absolutely depants us. Until PROVEN otherwise the players are relatively the same quality compared to the rest of the world as they were 30 years ago. It's just a fantasy at this point that it's any different.
We actually can play real soccer now.
The early USMNT teams just parked the bus and hoped to get to PKs where we could take advantage of the one position we did have that was world class: Goalie.
Every game was 0-0 until late in the match. But that way of playing was never going to get us far.
Until PROVEN otherwise the players are relatively the same quality
This is baby brained. The players are obviously better now than they were 30 years ago if you know anything about soccer. Like what are you talking about? Those early 90s WC teams didn't have a single player that could sniff the upper echelons of Europe and every game was spent 90 minutes parking the bus and begging for a 0-0 draw.
You can argue that the team isn't that much better, because the last decade plus of coaching and team management has been garbage. But the quality of soccer in the US has exploded since the 90s and that's not really up for debate.
Promises, promises. People have been saying this since Chuck Norris mattered. Still, the most recent results are more of the same. Maybe the reason a few US players play in Europe now isn't their quality, but that scouting and exposure is more robust, not to mention there is an American minor league to prop them up. Many more Brazilian players now play in Europe as well. Is that because their quality has gotten better? Laughable. The results on the field are the same, even if you think it's prettier. You can blame coaching or whatever, and pretend that the players are so much better, but that seems more empirically "baby brained" than my position of; prove that you're better. As if the coaches in the 90's and early aughts were so much better than the last decade. Give me a break. The US has fielded essentially the same team since 1994. Did you watch this "obviously better" team in this World Cup? It was the same old struggles to the letter. The US scored 2 goals in the group stage, and you're saying the old teams were begging for a 0-0 tie. Absolutely laughable. They scored 4 goals in 1994 and upset one of the tournament favorites, Colombia.
Maybe the reason a few US players play in Europe
Hey look someone's telling on themselves. Literally two thirds of the WC team were playing in Europe.
scouting and exposure is more robust
Yes, exactly. Scouting and exposure is more robust, which gives younger Americans opportunities in Europe to play against the best and improve, leading to them becoming better players. That's one of the reasons that America's talent pool is better now than it was 30 years ago.
not to mention there is an American minor league to prop them up.
Exactly! Now there's 30 MLS teams with their own academies and there are multiple tiers to the pyramid. Youth soccer has exploded. That's one of the reasons that America's talent pool is better now than it was 30 years ago.
You can blame coaching or whatever, and pretend that the players are so much better, but that seems more empirically "baby brained" than my position of; prove that you're better.
If you want to be pessimistic about the USMNT be pessimistic about the USMNT. That's fine. They're an absolute dumpster fire tactically and organizationally, with insane scandals and petty grievances and fucking Jurgen Klinsmann. But don't make up bullshit about the talent level being identical to 1994, when almost half the team was literally contracted to the US Soccer Federation since none of them could find a team that would pay them money to play soccer. Nowadays most of the team is playing in the top flight of Europe and Pulisic literally played in and won a UCL final two years ago. Balogun is fifth in Ligue Un in goals despite being on a midtable team, and will likely be playing in the champions league next year for Arsenal. Reyna (psychotic parental shit aside) is 20 years old and in the rotation at Dortmund putting up good goal scoring numbers. These are players with higher ceilings than anyone in the history of American soccer.
Yes yes yes. Hopefully Adams gets to a bigger team. Leeds America is in danger of relegation.
No one does this
There's a difference between potential like Freddy Adu, who was 14 when his hype train took off, or another Arsenal academy pedigree like Gideon Zelalem, compared to a player like Balogun who is already realizing his talent in his early twenties and is among the goalscoring leaders in a top-5 league.
He's not going to be Erling Halaand or Kylian Mbappe, but he could easily be in the Jonathan David (Canada) or Alexander Lacazette striker tier of you-can-do-much-worse, which in and of itself is a huge upgrade for the USA.
Balogun & Mbappe were tied for the golden boot for a bit. Mbappe going to run away with it, but 19 goals in a top league is nothing to sneeze at.
Adu probably wasn’t as young as claimed, anyway.
He’s a good get for the US, but he’s more like a Cade Cunningham than LeBron.
(I’m also not quite sure who our Bosh and Wade would be?)
He is a great get for US. He is not Lebron holy smoke. LOL
He is like 6th in pecking order (maybe) for England at striker. Which is why he gone.
We dont have a Wade either. Tyler Adams is Bosh and that's where we are. Pulusic's hamstrings can't last a full tournament.
Yep, huge piece we’ve been missing. Gotta love the transfer portal…
Nice to see the USMNT get their NIL game in order
(snark)
Is it wunderkid or wonder kid? ~ Nate
Arsenal is involved in transfer rumors because he's under contract with Arsenal and on loan to Reims.
LOL right? He'll either get sold this summer or will replace Nketiah as Jesus' backup and will press him for playing time. I hope it's the latter.
That's what I was thinking... like, he's already an Arsenal player? What transfer?
Exciting news!
In case anyone misread the title and thought it was a huge coupe for USMNT..
A couple of things:
Flo is actually 21 (2001 birth year which makes me feel old just typing it)
He is under contract with Arsenal & loaned out to Reims this year after a bad loan spell at Middlesbrough last year. There's a very good chance he leaves Arsenal in the summer as he will now be looking for guaranteed playing time after such a great season & unlikely to get that guarantee from the Gunners though time will be available in European & Cup competitions ::crosses fingers::
Most of the year he had more goals than both Mbappe & Neymar pre-injury though Mbappe has shot to the top of the goal scoring race in the back half of the season. Reims is not a powerhouse in the French top flight so his goal scoring numbers look even more impressive considering
Sounds like a great get! And at just 19 he could form the pointy end of that spear for a long time.
He's 21, almost 22, fwiw
FALORIN BALOGUN sounds like a character from Middle Earth. Is he from Gondor?
Born in Brooklyn so basically the same thing
Haven't heard of this guy but sounds like a major get. Would love to see him start burying some setups and feeds from Pulisic. Hope the team plays more together than the last World Cup.
Plays more together? With the exception of the Reyna shit, team togetherness was the literal strength of the World Cup team.
He's better at finishing balls thrown forward from the midfield than central crosses, which actually works very well for us with our strong midfielders.
I'm thrilled we got him, and I don't disagree with your assessment, but the title really sells Ricardo Pepi short. He's 2 years younger than Flo and is showing himself to be legit.
Having said that, it's always good to have more weapons and he's an exciting player. I hope they find a way to play him against Mexico next month.
I like your optimism about Pepi (and admittedly, I have not followed him closely for club play) but yeesh, I have not seen much from him on the international stage to suggest he is grabbing the reins as the USMNT #9. Though I very much hope you’re right, you can never have too many world class strikers, that’s what I always say.
Yeah, after his excellent debut, he was thrown into some tough game situations for the USMNT and didn't shine. But he does a lot of little things very well, and he's been very good for a *terrible* Dutch team. And for a striker, being good even when the team around you sucks and struggles to create chances is no small feat.
He's also a very different type of player to Balogun, so it's going to be really nice to have them both.
Right. I wouldn't consider them complimentary players, they both have a totally different style, but rostering them both gives you some unique flexibility and a change of pace in-game that you don't get from Ferreira. Still blown away we didn't take Pefok to the WC.
Saw this on The Athletic this morning. Fantastic news!
What are the English saying about this?
that he didn't actually have a committable offer...
"Yeah, but can he do it in a cold, rainy night at Stoke," probably.
Honestly, they have such a huge and deep player pool, that losing him isn't nearly as big a deal to them as getting him is to us.
I'm sure they're not thrilled about it but it's not some huge existential crisis for them. Also they are so biased towards the Premier League, so you don't mean anything to them until you are performing well in that league.
That’s how a lot of these moves seem to me as a casual observer. These seem like big moves to the US but I just don’t know that other countries are that broken up about losing their 4th or 5th best players at that position. Seems more like we’re taking fringe roster guys at best.
What has always been strange to me though, is how high the USMNT is ranked despite not having much in terms of that high end talent. We’re ranked 13th in the world (one spot ahead of Germany) despite the fact that it seems as though the bulk of our roster is made up of rotational pieces in the big leagues and guys who couldn’t make their own national teams.