In the presence of a multitide of A-listers, VIPs and Hollywood stars, Folarin Balogun played the role of USA’s leading man perfectly in Los Angeles Stadium.
The forward scored a brilliant brace in USA’s 4-1 victory over Paraguay in their FIFA World Cup 2026™ opener to bring the likes of Tom Cruise, David Beckham, George Lucas and Halle Berry to their feet.
After having an effort disallowed for offside, Balogun doubled the Stars and Stripes’ lead by slotting home a neat cross from Christian Pulisic before smashing the ball into the top corner in first-half stoppage time.
“It’s an amazing occasion. It’s an amazing night and something I dreamed of for a long time. I committed to the US and a part of it was wanting to play on the biggest stages and repay the fans,” the Monaco forward told FIFA.
“It means everything to me to play in front of the home fans…. a World Cup on our home soil… I’m very happy and very proud of everyone. It means the world to get the first-game nerves out of the way and the way we did. I’m sure it will do us a lot of good.”
