Folarin Balogun, di USMNT striker wey born for Brooklyn, New York, don make history for im World Cup debut. Di 23-year-old scorer two goals for di 4-1 win against Paraguay for SoFi Stadium, wey be di first USMNT hat trick for World Cup since 1930.
After di match, Balogun tok say im no fit find anything good to watch for Netflix, so im just dey focus on di next game. “We still dey camp and we dey focus on di next game,” im tok. “We dey inside intense tournament, so when we finish, na dat time celebration go come.”
Teammate Christian Pulisic praise Balogun: “Di kid insane. Im lethal right now in front of goal. We really lucky to get am. We just dey hope e keep coming like this.” Balogun don score 11 goals for 28 appearances for USMNT, and im don get 14 goals for 19 games since mid-February for club and country.
Di striker credit coach Mauricio Pochettino for di foundation wey im give di team. “Di coach don give us di foundation to be able to be so intense and have such a dominating structure — di combinations wey im tell us to play with and di freedom wey im give us,” Balogun tok.
Balogun story start for Brooklyn, where im mama, Florence Balogun, visit from England and born am for New York. Through di 14th Amendment, im get birthright citizenship. Im grow for Arsenal youth academy with Bukayo Saka, and later play for England youth teams before switch to USMNT for 2023.
Midfielder Weston McKennie talk about Balogun: “I think we see a different side of Flo — di guy wey fit do di dirty work, di guy wey fit get stuck in and put im body on di line for di team and be a clinical finisher.”
Balogun say im no dey listen to critics about representing America: “E no cross my radar. Dey go dey critics.” Im don become fan of New York Yankees and Knicks. “Di best thing we fit do na to inspire di nation,” im tok. “Make a stand, make a statement. I want young kids to grow up and to be inspired by what we dey do here now.”
