Folarin Balogun’s lengthy wait looks to be coming to an end.
Balogun returned to training with Ligue 1 side AS Monaco on Wednesday, the club announced. The U.S. men’s national team forward had been sidelined since last fall due to a shoulder injury.
After originally trying to make an earlier comeback, Balogun underwent surgery to repair his dislocated shoulder.
The 23-year-old missed most of October and November due to his shoulder injury which was suffered in league play. He scored in three-consecutive club appearances but missed the last three international windows due to his injury.
Balogun was not named to Mauricio Pochettino’s 60-player preliminary roster for this month’s CONCACAF Nations League involvement. The Americans face Panama in the semifinal round as they aim to repeat as tournament winners.
Balogun’s next potential opportunity to feature for the USMNT would come at the 2025 Gold Cup later this summer.
Monaco sits fourth in Ligue 1 and was eliminated from the UEFA Champions League earlier this year.
Flo is back…..Haji Wright is back……Daryl Dike is back…..Dest is back (might even be in the starting lineup this weekend)…… I hope they bring them back gradually to avoid any injury setbacks. Good news for the men’s National Team!
Just a reminder for everyone none of those players Bizzy listed were on the preliminary roster so they will not be at Nations League.
@Vacqui: Inzaghi and Chicharito were hard working technicians not great artistic players. Cruyff once said of Filippo Inzaghi, “He actually can’t play football at all, he’s just always in the right position”.
I remember Inzaghi as being very, very fast in a straight line, always trying to get behind the defender. That seemed to be his thing. If you are a 1 trick pony, that’s a good trick..
Bruce S,
However he got there, I remember Inzaghi somehow always managing to be in the right place at exactly the right time.
And always looking like a guy you just picked up off the street to make up numbers.
When you do this on a very regular basis it is not luck anymore.
Nor is it as easy as people like to think.
My original goal scoring terminator hero was Gerd Muller
1964–1979 Bayern Munich 453 appearances (398) goals
1979–1981 Fort Lauderdale Strikers 71 appearances (38) goals
1966–1974 West Germany 62 appearances (68) goals
I also remember him looking like anyone could score goals, so long as they were standing in the right place at the right time. I don’t know why so many people think that tap ins are accidents that happen to doofuses.
As DMB said, it’s not HOW? but rather HOW MANY.
Curious why Balogun has struggled with consistency with Monaco…every time you see him for the USMNT, he’s been dangerous, pretty much all the time, and he looked much the same at Reims. Even when he didn’t score, you always had the sense the defenders were really struggling to keep him at bay. He had blazing speed, surprising power, slick movement, and if you switched off even for a second on him he was off your back shoulder and gone. Just really active, really menacing guy, nobody I would have ever wanted to try to defend. But in the Monaco games I’ve watched, I just haven’t seen the same player.
Anyone have any insight into that?
What I’ve heard was they weren’t playing his strengths. That they thought he was going to be more a hold up target forward like Embolo. He’d scored in 3 straight league matches right before he got injured when they played him with another forward next to him. Then of course he got hurt and then reinjured it right after returning. Of course since then they signed Biereth who has 10g in 10 appearances so Balo has more competition even if they’re using to strikers. I will also say there were some stinkers in there for the US when he didn’t get much service, but I took those as more his teammates didn’t know how to use him.
Yeah, Berhalter managed to largely erase Balogun upon his less-than-triumphant return with his patented Berhalter Ball High Crosses Only attack…I always thought: if you’re going to play that way, you probably need to go get yourself an NBA guy and teach him how to head the ball. Not Balo’s game at all. The thing is, though, Balo was usually deployed as a lone striker at Reims, though he was usually playing as a sort-of-false-9, too, and had a lot of license to wander all over the park and pick and choose his spots. If Monaco was expecting a holdup guy, they didn’t watch a whole lot of film on him.
Appreciate the response.
You expect too much.
When Balogun got to Monaco they were set up for Wissam Ben Yedder a pretty fine striker ( you can look him up) but one who kept Flo on the bench.
Yedder was still playing for Monaco while fighting off allegations of sexual assault. He eventually lost that battle and is finally gone from Monaco as of 2024.
Your high expectations are SOP because everyone expects that the feature striker from Monaco is going to be the next Thierry Henry because Monaco has produced such a long line of top strikers.
Flo is 23 and in 17 caps for the USMNT has 5 goals , as many as Josh has for his career. Flo scored two in Copa America, which is a big deal.
Flo and Monaco’s new striker, Mika Biereth are friends and old teamates from the Arsenal youth teams and are supposedly looking forward to again playing together, though the new guy is scoring like it’s going out of style.
It ought to get Flo used to playing with Pepi in the lineup if that is what Pochettino decides.
If things go well Flo should be rounding into form leading into the 2026 World Cup.
I know who Ben Yedder is, Vacq. I didn’t know about Biereth, though; I haven’t watched Monaco since Balo went down.
Since I had never heard of Biereth I was curious and looked at his bio, though, and I noticed something – he had 16 goals in 31 games in the Austrian league – decent, but also, just Austria – but upon reaching Monaco he somehow got 10 goals and an assist in just 7 games – and nine of those goals came in three hat tricks. That was at least a bright yellow flag, to me. So I watched them…one goal was a PK, about three were gifts that came off loose second balls that just fell to him, the rest were tap-ins that came off perfect crosses that were served low right to his feet, and Whoo Baby there was some shit defending going on with some of them. Every goal Biereth scored was also from the PK spot or closer. Biereth’s runs and timing on some were good, granted, but he was just finishing, those goals were all created by others…and oh, yeah, every last one of them also came off his right foot. He only had one goal I’d consider impressive – he got served a high ball he took with his foot, dropped it neatly right at his own feet, and then coolly tucked into the corner of the net from right at the PK spot. The rest were utterly routine or flat-out gimme’s.
No idea if Biereth can shoot from distance or score with his head or left foot or even dribble, since he has yet to do any of that at Monaco. And he very much does look like a pure target striker, and frankly, it wouldn’t shock me overly if he didn’t score again the rest of the season if stuff stops dropping to him like it has. Biereth does look like a guy Balo can likely play off of, though.
Q: Chicharito will tell you at the end of the day a tap in off a second ball counts as much as a bicycle kick from 20 yds into the upper 90.
—————————
V: Embolo tore his knee at the end of ‘23. They were looking for a striker to replace him to play alongside Ben Yedder until Embolo returned. As Q pointed out if they thought Balo and Embolo were similar players they didn’t do a lot of homework.
Quozzel,
Everything you describe in Biereth is exactly what you want in a striker. He makes penalties. If there is a half a chance he takes it. Defenders screw up or just suck, he takes advantage of them. Clint did that his whole career. Few things are as soul destroying as a well constructed well worked goal blown at the very end because your idiot striker blows it over the bar.
You’re looking for pleasing artistry.
I’m looking for an efficient striker who scores on the majority of his chances, half and quarter chances, and even penalties. I want a terminator not a pretty boy.
I don’t want a scorer of great goals.
I want a great goal scorer.
Inzaghi and Chicharito were hard working technicians not great artistic players. Cruyff once said of Filippo Inzaghi, “He actually can’t play football at all, he’s just always in the right position”. Cruyff’s comment was in reference to Inzaghi’s ability to be in the right place at the right time, which helped him score goals. Inzaghi’s career included three Serie A titles, two Champions Leagues, and a World Cup. Yet his teamates would laugh at him in training for being so incompetent.
JR.
Monaco did not get Flo to replace Embolo.
They got him to replace Ben Yedder.
I think they expected Ben Yedder to be in jail right away but it didn’t quite work out that way. Yedder left the summer of 2024 and it looked like the decks were clear for Flo then he tore up his shoulder.
V: we’re probably both a little right. Monaco knew Embolo was going to miss almost the entire season and were probably a little worried Ben Yeder would be unavailable. I’d guess they had a much better idea what would happen in the French courts than you or I.
JR,
Not to jinx him but I think Monaco were/are looking looking at Flo as long term guy. If he and Mika can striker up a partnership then Embolo can be surplus to requirements.
And based on quozzel’s descriptions Biereth sounds perfect, He’s off to a flying start and he will soon cool off. But by then Flo should be back and improving as time goes on, as well.
And if Embolo comes back strong that would be one more ingredient to add into the mix.
Pepi is our best scorer but Flo , w the possible exception of CP, is our best player.
Vacq, JR –
You’re sort of missing my point. What you look for in a top striker isn’t “artistry” but capabilities and Biereth didn’t show a ton of them. (Doesn’t mean he doesn’t have them, but he also didn’t demonstrate them either on the limited film I watched.) The numbers in a limited sample are durn impressive, but I can promise you he also hasn’t excited any scouts yet. Yeah, it’s great that you can make well-timed runs and finish efficiently with your right foot. But can you do it with your left when the field is reversed? If your defender gives you too much space, can you pull up and hit from distance, and with either foot? If you can’t, they’ll cheat and drop off. Can you finish with your head on high crosses and corners? If you can’t, you’re leaving probably a third of your goals on the table. Can you pick the ball up in space, dribble at least a bit, and make a cut or an effective move to beat a defender 1-on-1? Can you create space for your own shot if you’re playing with your back to goal and you pick up the ball in the box?
Even a one-dimensional guy can catch a run of good fortune when stuff is falling for him – but if his skillset is limited, it’s going to catch up with him and sooner rather than later. And the stuff that was falling for Biereth weren’t “half chances”, a bunch of them were full-on gifts. And I did see him miss some fairly low-difficulty conversions he would have very much wanted back.
Biereth may end up being a true star. But the guy was also getting freebie chances every which way and the soccer gods are rarely that generous for very long.
In comparison, one thing that’s impressed me about especially, say, Josh Sargent is the sheer variety of goals he scores. He can make those exceptionally-timed runs and score with either foot…and his head. He can score on the dribble and juke you. He can create space for his own shot. He can both poach and pounce opportunistically, he’s physical as hell, and can bully you in the box and win second balls. He has a wicked shot from distance, again, with either foot. He needs to be a little more clinical at times but I have noticed he seems to get more cold-blooded and confident with each passing year, and he’s the sort of striker that tends to keep getting better and better even into his ’30’s as long as he stays healthy because he does score so many different ways and the longer he plays the more clinical he’ll get. I could see him being a 20-goal-a-year guy…even in the Prem. For durn sure Sargent’s definitely outgrown the Championship. (The biggest knock on Sarge is, he seems injury prone.)
Is that Biereth? The jury’s still out, at least to me. Be interesting to see.
Quozzel,
Vacq, JR –
“You’re sort of missing my point. What you look for in a top striker isn’t “artistry” but capabilities and Biereth didn’t show a ton of them. (Doesn’t mean he doesn’t have them, but he also didn’t demonstrate them either on the limited film I watched.) The numbers in a limited sample are durn impressive, but I can promise you he also hasn’t excited any scouts yet. ”
Quozzel,
You’re too late to promise. Their scouts were, unlike you, impressed, and Monaco bought him for 13 million Euros already.
By the way when I hear the term soccer gods, I see it as Alexi Lalas’ signature phrase.
No one missed your point. You are careful with your language but you’re clearly a Flo fan (as am I) and, even though you admit you have no sample size in terms of data, you are down on Mika ( I am not) .
Regarding your list of capabilities that a striker must have to succeed long term, in your view, Flo has them and Mika does not. Okay so now what?
Your critique of Mika is accurate but it’s irrelevant now. You ask all these questions. Well, there is only one way to answer them. It might have been useful to give them to the Monaco people but they are already committed to Mika and will without a doubt give him his chance to prove himself.
What impresses me about Mika is that he is at Monaco AT ALL, in spite of people like you seeing what you have seen. It makes me think that when you meet the guy and see him in competition that there is more to the story. When the Monaco people were interviewing Biereth they asked him how he reacts to missing a big chance.
“I have the worst short-term memory in the world,” he said.
Kobe Bryant, who held the NBA record for most missed shots throughout his career, once said “you miss 100% of the shots you don’t take,”. I like Mika’s attitude. Attitude is vital because it might be all that the USMNT will have going for it in the World Cup.
You forget that “capabilities” can only be judged if the player is allowed to display them. And that players sometimes develop capabilities along the way that were maybe not seen before. In English, that means that even the best need a little time to show what they have.
You could say the same thing about Balogun. Like Mika, he was going nowhere at Arsenal, he goes to France and scores 21 goals in 37 games for Reims. Then he goes to Monaco.
Mika goes to Sturm Graz then Monaco, sees French defenders and then in 8 games scores 10 goals.
What does all this mean? Arsenal fans say it means that Ligue 1 is a farmers league and French defenders are farmers.
Arsenal are struggling for a real striker. Yet they had had Flo and Eddie Nketiah. Later on they had Mika. All three were judged by someone like you as lacking.
Lacking for Arsenal is not the same as lacking for Reims, Monaco or Crystal Palace. If you don’t impress right away at Arsenal they have lots of other options in the pipeline to check out
You’re impressed by the variety of goals that Josh scores. And you say his biggest problem is he is injury prone. The injuries may be the result of the fact that he’s learning how to handle being the main man in arguably the toughest division in football. You want to stop Norwich, you stop Josh. Promotion to the EPL is about as big a prize as there is. Let’s hope Josh has adjusted his body to the demands.
If you are moving to Europe, Josh is a cautionary tale for finding a club that can help you develop into the best you can be.
At Werder, Josh had a lot of time on the wing, in the midfield and even played what I called defensive striker. Maybe they were NHL fans and thought Josh was Patrice Bergeron or Steve Yzerman.
Josh has now spent more time at Norwich where they early on, committed to him by moving Pukki on to Minnesota. Josh is, without a doubt, our most complete center forward.
Is he our best one? That’s up to Pochettino.
As far as I’m concerned, assuming everyone remains healthy (or recovers properly) I expect Flo, Josh, Pepi and X to be our four strikers, if that is how Pochettino does things. Flo and Josh are our best all around players at that position, Pepi is incomplete but is our Terminator.
X is whoever is healthy, in form and remains standing when the time comes