Folarin Balogun has been called up to the U.S. men’s national team for September’s friendlies, making his return after a year away from the team.
Mauricio Pochettino added Balogun to the roster on Wednesday, just three days after Balogun made his season debut for Monaco following his recovering from the same ankle injury that kept him out of this summer’s Concacaf Gold Cup.
Balogun joins Josh Sargent and Damion Downs as the strikers on the 23-man USMNT roster for September’s friendlies. The Vancouver Whitecaps revealed that Brian White had also been initially called up up for September before suffering a hamstring injury in Vancouver’s win over St. Louis City.
Balogun played 90 minutes in Monaco’s 1-0 loss to Lille over the weekend, one of several USMNT players to return to club action after recent injuries. Unlike Antonee Robinson and Ricardo Pepi, who were left off the September USMNT squad despite their returns to club action, Balogun was called up and will be battling Sargent for the starting role in the upcoming friendlies.
What do you think of Balogun being called up? Would you start him against South Korea?
Share your thoughts below.
JR,
You treat every player fairly.
That does not mean you treat everyone the same.
CP is very consistent with his level regardless of whatever outside noise is going on.
Weston seems to respond to the being underrated.
As for JScally his problem is there are quite a few rb/mf prospects to be seen. Joe is about as consistent as we have. In his case there is truly no reason to see him play. We know what we have with him.
Betinho,
Pochettino is trying to make the USMNT player pool better. He is attempting to do so by setting an expectation that no one’s spot is assured. Additionally, in doing so, he is setting the expectation of competition within the player pool for each roster spot, and as an extension, each starting spot.
The biggest challenge with the current player pool is their sense of entitlement and their belief that they can pick and choose when they accept a callup, as well as their level of effort when they play. Your comment, “No one will argue who the most talented players in this pool are,” perfectly encapsulates said mentality and approach from the players.
Additionally, your comment, “His job was to come in and make them better,” is interesting. From an analogy standpoint, not even Wolfgang Puck can make a gourmet meal out of McDonald’s ingredients…and make no mistake about it, the current USMNT pool is chock-full of McDonald’s ingredients. I know most American soccer people think playing at Milan is elite…it’s not. The same goes for Juventus, PSV, Monaco, Norwich, Bayer, Monchengladbach, Fulham, Palace, etc.
“The roster at the last WC was the youngest in the tournament (if you took out Ream). After Qatar – tailspin.”
So the USMNT was the youngest in Qatar…that guarantees nothing. To expect that, is very naive on your part. Since Qatar, the tailspin is on the player pool, US Soccer, and Berhalter…in that order. Pochettino is just picking up the shit sandwich that was served to him.
“So in comes, with horns and harps being played by the angels from heaven themselves, Mauricio Pochettino, who will bring out the best in our budding stars and see the team through to the deep end of the 2026 WC on home soil.”
That is your perception of things. I have never had the perception, nor the expectation, that Pochettino will lead them deep in 2026. That would be great, but to expect that, again, is naive on your part.
The Nations League debacle is 100% on the players. That is objectively true. All you have to do is watch the games.
Pochettino hasn’t failed. He hasn’t even taken his final test yet. That comes next year at the end of the USMNT’s run in the World Cup. I would’ve liked better results by now, too, but I’m aware of the bigger issues in play. You saying Pochettino has failed is the equivalent of you failing an academic course, all while not studying, or putting forth any effort, and then when your parents ask why you failed the class, you blame the teacher. Ha!…funny shit!
Pochettino is not throwing any player under the bus. The players are doing just fine in doing that themselves. Every time Pulisic opened his mouth about passing on this past summer, including his documentary, he clearly illustrated how entitled he is, how he thinks his spot is guaranteed, and how he thinks he is bigger than the group, as as whole.
On a side note, everyone gave Gio and the Reyna’s shit for the post World Cup debacle, but ironically enough, those same people are giving Pulisic, his Dad, Mark, and his Mom, Kelly, a pass for EXACT same thing and all the shit they said in Pulisic’s documentary.
“Why would the players get motivated for this guy when he throws them under the bus after basically one window? Dude. And it doesn’t stop. He keeps doing it and expecting a different response.”
Why would Pochettino get excited about players that are entitled? Seems to me his response is to callup guys that will run through a wall for him, as opposed to calling in those who feel entitled. By an coaching standard, pretty normal coaching behavior.
There are bigger issues within this group than the naked eye sees, and you can start with the captain aka Pulisic…leaving early in October 2024, as opposed to traveling / playing vs Mexico, waving Pochettino off on being subbed off vs Canada, and then passing on this past summer. That is just the tip of the iceberg. Because of this, amongst many other reasons, Pochettino cannot be blamed, or have the sole blame laid at his feet.
We agree on one thing, I would’ve hoped all this nonsense was worked out before this September window, but it hasn’t been, and that speaks to the current dumpster fire that is the USMNT.
I don’t like a lot of things right now with the USMNT, but I know Pochettino is the least of the problems. It is important to say, for you, the problem is not Pochettino, it is your expectations, given the player pool, and your lack of understanding of what is truly going on within the USMNT setup.
Here’s the part of the “Poch is playing psychological chess” I don’t think I understand. Pulisic who turned down the GC and then went to the court of public opinion to toss Pochettino under the bus, did get called. Wes who was not released by Juve did not get called.
—————————-
I’m also not sure the message you’re really sending to say Joe Scalley. Your job isn’t safe we can replace you with …. Harriel. Pretty sure Joe’s response to that is “ok, I’ll wait for the next manager it won’t be a long wait.” I’m not sure it’s really competition if it’s completely artificial.
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As far as the NL failure, missing both starting FBs and the first 2 CFs was very impactful. You had Scalley playing on his weaker side and Musah playing out of position with Sargent up top instead of Pepi or Balo. On another note if Poch wants to prove his mind game might he should probably just try to get Sarge over his NT slump.
Betinho,
Pochettino is trying to make the USMNT player pool better. He is attempting to do so by setting an expectation that no one’s spot is assured. Additionally, in doing so, he is setting the expectation of competition within the player pool for each roster spot, and as an extension, each starting spot.
The biggest challenge with the current player pool is their sense of entitlement and their belief that they can pick and choose when they accept a callup, as well as their level of effort when they play. Your comment, “No one will argue who the most talented players in this pool are,” perfectly encapsulates said mentality and approach.
Additionally, your comment, “His job was to come in and make them better,” is interesting. From an analogy standpoint, not even Wolfgang Puck can make a gourmet meal out of McDonald’s ingredients…and make no mistake about it, the current USMNT pool is chock-full of McDonald’s ingredients. I know most American soccer people think playing at Milan is elite…it’s not. The same goes for Juventus, PSV, Monaco, Norwich, Bayer, Monchengladbach, Fulham, Palace, etc.
“The roster at the last WC was the youngest in the tournament (if you took out Ream). After Qatar – tailspin.”
So the USMNT was the youngest in Qatar…that guarantees nothing. To expect that, is very naive on your part. Since Qatar, the tailspin is on the player pool, US Soccer, and Berhalter…in that order. Pochettino is just picking up the shit sandwich that was served to him.
“So in comes, with horns and harps being played by the angels from heaven themselves, Mauricio Pochettino, who will bring out the best in our budding stars and see the team through to the deep end of the 2026 WC on home soil.”
That is your perception of things. I have never had the perception, nor the expectation, that Pochettino will lead them deep in 2026. That would be great, but to expect that, again, is naive no your part.
The Nations League debacle is 100% on the players. That is objectively true. All you have to do is watch the games.
Pochettino hasn’t failed. He hasn’t even taken his final test yet. That comes next year at the end of the USMNT’s run in the World Cup. You saying Pochettino has failed is the equivalent of you failing an academic course, all while not studying, or putting forth any effort, and then when your parents ask why you failed the class, you blame the teacher. Ha!…funny shit!
Pochettino is not throwing any player under the bus. The players are throwing themselves under the bus. Every time Pulisic opened his mouth about passing on this past summer, including his documentary, he clearly illustrated how entitled he is, how he thinks his spot is guaranteed, and how he thinks he is bigger than the group, as as whole.
On a side note, everyone gave Gio and the Reyna’s shit for the post World Cup debacle, but ironically enough, those same people are giving Pulisic, his Dad, Mark, and his Mom, Kelly, a pass for EXACT same thing and all the shit they said in Pulisic’s documentary.
“Why would the players get motivated for this guy when he throws them under the bus after basically one window? Dude. And it doesn’t stop. He keeps doing it and expecting a different response.”
Why would Pochettino get excited about players that are entitled? Seems to me his response is to callup guys that will run through a wall for him, as opposed to calling in those who feel entitled. By an coaching standard, pretty normal coaching behavior.
There are bigger issues within this group than the naked eye sees, and you can start with the captain aka Pulisic…leaving early in October 2024, as opposed to traveling / playing vs Mexico, waving Pochettino off on being subbed off vs Canada, and then passing on this past summer. That is just the tip of the iceberg. Because of this, amongst many other reasons, Pochettino cannot be blamed, or have the sole blame laid at his feet.
We agree on one thing, I would’ve hoped all this nonsense was worked out before this September window, but it hasn’t been, and that speaks to the current dumpster fire that is the USMNT.
I don’t like a lot of things right now with the USMNT, but I know Pochettino is the least of the problems. It is important to say, for you, the problem is not Pochettino, it is your expectations, given the player pool, and your lack of understanding of what is truly going on within the USMNT setup.
And Pulisic has an injury, he’s dressed for the match today for Milan but has not entered yet about 2/3s in. Musah has been pretty poor. Allegri teams are so hard to watch.
Pulisic came on in the 75th and scored 10 minutes later. He was moving fine, supposedly the ankle is still bothering him.
Johnnyrazor,
Agreed, Allegri’s teams are boring.
On Pulisic’s goal, keystone cop defense by Lecce, but a solid finish by Puli.
That said, not sure about you, but I don’t get excited when Puli scores against the minnows of Serie A. In league play, in order for him to grow, he needs to show up regularly against the top 6.
Only was mildly excited because he was being held out of the starting lineup due to the ankle problem. That he was able to run and kick the ball lifted my spirits.
Betinho,
What gives? That roster drop has you all frothy, huh?
You don’t really take everything Pochettino says at face value, right?…or do you?
You called Pochettino a genius, but if you are taking everything he says at face value, clearly you are not genial in nature.
Do you really not see what is going on and what Pochettino is doing?
It appears to me he is doing – at best, wasting time.
No one will argue who the most talented players in this pool are. His job was to come in and make them better.
The roster at the last WC was the youngest in the tournament (if you took out Ream). After Qatar – tailspin.
So in comes, with horns and harps being played by the angels from heaven themselves, Mauricio Pochettino, who will bring out the best in our budding stars and see the team through to the deep end of the 2026 WC on home soil.
What ensues is a continuation of what came before. In the moment he had the most of that Qatar group together – Nation’s League – the team plays flat and crap the bed.
He failed. He failed at the job he was brought in to do. He was unable to bring the group together and impart his genius on them to get a result they had never NOT gotten before – ever.
So what’s his response? To give up on the most talented group of players. Throw them under the bus. Go mining for Arfsten and Harriet while blaming the players for not playing hard.
Well, dang if that’s not the job of the coach – especially this one in the context of when he was hired.
Why would the players get motivated for this guy when he throws them under the bus after basically one window? Dude. And it doesn’t stop. He keeps doing it and expecting a different response.
He calls in a guy who he just had for a month and didn’t play over one guy scoring goals for fun in the Championship and the other who just played 90 and has another week to get fit before camp that plays on a Champions League team and has a decent record for the US AND has never been in a Pochettino camp????
Not to mention there are only three more windows after this that will likely have few WC level teams to test the players against. The guy is still looking for his team? With Brian White? With Nathan Harriet?
Yeah whatevs….
Hope this made sense. Type from a phone and didn’t proof read…
Balogun the replacement for Brian White…
Mauricio Pochettino, ladies and gentleman!
If only Arfsten pulled up lame we could have had Jedi…
Anyone remember that time Pochettino use a method called “time management” with Tyler Adams as he was working his way back to full match fitness with his club. That was cool.
One can be perceived as fair…even when the fix is in. White went out August 23rd with a hamstring injury. The September roster dropped two days ago. That means Pochettino knew perfectly well Brian White was injured…but it costs him nothing to claim injury is the reason White wasn’t selected, and it also leaves whoever his replacement is in the position of feeling like they have to prove something, which is exactly how you want all your players to feel.
I guarantee you Josh Sargent ain’t feeling comfie right now. Balogun absolutely isn’t feeling comfie. Pepi’s still on the outside looking in. Anybody who knows our pool knows those three are our top strikers, with Haji Wright being the only one who MAYBE could make a counter-argument to the contrary, but make ’em prove it.
That’s how I think, anyhow. And I’m just a youth coach. Poch makes millions to coach. I’ve done more than enough tours in USSF coaching clinics to know there’s coaches out there miles more knowledgeable and capable than me, and Pochettino is on a hallowed strata well above any of those. Hell, I’d personally kill to get into one of Wilfried Nancy’s coaching sessions and pick his brain for a minute. Poch would be almost up there with Klopp or Guardiola.
As Ives, wrote above:
“The Vancouver Whitecaps revealed that Brian White had also been initially called up up for September before suffering a hamstring injury in Vancouver’s win over St. Louis City.”
He was selected ahead of Balogun. Balogun is his replacement.
Pochettino is a genius. Pochettino should not be coaching the USMNT. Two things can be true at the same time.
I think you seem to be saying that Pochettino made certain moves in order to motivate the player. I remember before the Women’s World Cup when someone asked one of the Americans if they felt fired up because they were playing a team that beat them recently, or similar. Can’t remember the details, but the answer is what is important. She said, ‘If you can’t get fired up playing for your country, you shouldn’t be playing.” A lot of people died for our country, the least a soccer player can do is play their hardest; you shouldn’t have to employ special measures to encourage them. If it is necessary, they shouldn’t be called in and they should know that from the start.
@ Gary Page, 100% agree.
Yep Balogun was the replacement. Balo has barely played since recovering over the summer, barely played preseason and finally got a 90 mins. in with a decent performance with zero goals. Of course he wasnt an automatic call up.
repeating myself but prior US regimes, klinsi or before, might have seen getting balogun (and perhaps reyna and others) minutes as doing our part to get a leading player fitter and some same playing time. they can then go back to their club and say, dude, i played 120 minutes or whatever, i had an assist, put me in coach. it provides training fitness, game fitness, and anything they do can be used to “boomerang” their club coach into treating them like the US sees them. we give our best players a push.
or we can call in the useless white and play mind games. let’s try and hold our best players’ heads under water.
do we actually believe that even an out of shape balogun would be worse than white. if you really believe “club form” that far you’re crazy. there are things like talent and productivity. one guy is just better than the other. particularly with the nats.
the real concern is exactly how much playing time and injury management. that maybe a less used balogun, like adams, should be pitch counted to limit injury risk.
Pochettino said this is an experimental camp and didn’t bother to call in a player on a Champions League team that he has *never* worked with before. Seeing a player you haven’t seen before could be considered experimental. Especially with three more windows to the World Cup after this one.
But he DID want to call in a guy who he has very recently had in camp for a month. And during that month Pochettino also didn’t even bother to give that guy any Gold Cup minutes. Ok he did start versus Switzerland… and was yanked at halftime.
Which one would you think is the most prudent call up? Be honest.
Pochettinon left McKennie off the team because he needed to get settled in his club team and rest due to playing the CWC but he called in Tim Weah who actually switch entire clubs and was on the exact same CWC team. Also, he “knows” McKennie. Has he seen McKennie play vs nonCONCACAF World Cup caliber teams? The answer is no. Why? Because Pochettino said he needed to stay with his club for the CWC. Meanwhile both Switzerland and Turkey had players play against the US who later played in the CWC. Yildiz – McKennie’s (and Weah’s) teammate lit it up during CWC…and is continuing to light it up as the Serie A starts.
Who do you think Pochettino knows better? A player he had for a month straight and seen play against a good European team and he chose not to play against CONCACAF teams…or…McKennie who he has only see play CONCACAF opposition? Who does Pochettino have enough data on?
I’d say Pochettino wouldn’t need any more info any player that he had in the last camp. They were there under his eyes for a dang month. They were exposed to European competition and CONCACAF competition. If he’s only calling in players he needs more info on then why are ANY of those players in this camp. Adams? Leave him in England…know what he brings. You get the point.
In the past Adams was brought in with an agreement on time management with his club. Put Jedi, Balogun and maybe even Pepi on this type of agreement with their club. Remember Balogun just started and has another game before this camp begins.
Also – according the Charlie Davies – leaving a player at their club during an international break to connect more with the team is an odd choice. Everyone is released during these breaks. Other players travel during these dates as well as some coaches. It’s very likely they would be training with a bunch of academy players. This isn’t constructive in getting a player more connected with their team.
B: i have no problem with experimental, i think the minute he got the job the next 1-2 windows starting last fall should have been completely fresh faces compared to what was then the copa america dog of a team. and we had injuries to work around anyway.
or at least call up something that feels like Poch’s A Team. there is usually some change when a new coach comes in because (a) coaches have egos, (b) coaches are usually hired for explaining how the last guy was wrong, and (c) calling the same people is a good way to lose more and get yourself fired too.
he went status quo and just swapped out the hurt players. and voila they still couldn’t win this year’s tournaments, either.
so a year in he’s figuring out he needs to tinker.
my beef is he is hired to coach This Bunch for $6 million a year and the call sheets i see are either GB xeroxes or outright strange. this is his job and he doesn’t feel like he has “command” of the pool, including the relative quality of B teamers, and what prospects and dual nationals we could pursue.
and so a few of the guys he has revived or who are experiments it’s like that dude either sucks or can’t get it done or why him and not one of the talented prospects who have been waiting.
someone used optimized the other day. i don’t feel like i have either seen an evolved A concept with teeth, or the correct prospects on a B side. the early picks were default. the recent ones are, with a couple exceptions in the back i like, just odd.
historically US managers would have their particular odd favorite guy. bradley and bornstein. arena and olsen. under GB and poch it’s become a list. it doesn’t feel like you hired some awesome coach or US soccer nerd who obsesses about the team, knows the pool front and back, and could tell you interesting prospects he’s seen in a LA practice or some german U19 team. and when they pick someone new it’s like wow, this kid can play.
i mean, what i saw harriel doesn’t even belong and freeman is interesting but undercooked for this world cup.
I mean Balogun had been injured and missed several weeks so it would be reasonable that they were just going to let him gain full fitness. Which also would explain why they didn’t have it ready for the roster announcement, as they had to see how he recovered from his match on Sunday. Now with the info we have you could surmise that they picked White over Wright which is pretty much as baffling.
JR,
Does anyone care what they actually do?
Or do they care about what they say they are going to do?
We don’t have anyone world class diva enough to be miffed because they weren’t the first choice date.
The best job I ever had I knew going in I was at best, maybe second probably third choice.
Flo is here. Haji and Pepi ain’t. That’s what should matter to him. And if he’s going to get all pissy about it, well fuck him and the horse he rode in on. He can leave, go to Cambodia and work on his wellness.
Gary,
This playing for your country business is naive.
If you really don’t want to be there, there are plenty of opportunities to beg off. And if you should make it onto the pitch , there are a number of other factors that motivate a player at that level, such as professional pride, fear of letting down your teammates. Once the game starts all you have are your teammates.
Effort and desire even if given at maximum % are not enough to win at this level. That has been proven many times, often by the USMNT.
You need more. And you won’t get it from factors external to the USMNT.
Watch Portugal in the Euros or Argentina in the World Cup. Those guys literally have their entire country rabidly behind them.
That does not happen with the USMNT. because the entire country is not behind us. Someone mentioned the US Olympic hockey success. Well that came against the backdrop of the Cold War. All we got these days is tariff wars.
The USMNT is about making money. branding and promoting albeit indirectly, the Oligarch owned MLS . Argentina and Portugal play for different reasons like national pride.
Every last one of those Argentinian or Portuguese players, many of them star players in their own right, would do anything to win even if it means sitting on the bench and being the best cheerleader ever.