U.S. World Cup Team Training Base (Irvine, Calif.) \u2014 <\/strong>As he walked to his spot in front of the microphones and cameras before the USA’s Monday morning practice session, Folarin Balogun trailed the incomparable Lionel Messi and two other players by a single goal as the top scorer at the 2026 FIFA World Cup.<\/p>\n By the time the Stars and Stripes striker was done speaking to the assembled media, Messi had increased his lead by another goal. And then the GOAT added another before the U.S. squad\u2019s practice had even finished.\u00a0<\/p>\n Things change quickly at World Cups. It’s a lesson that 24-year-old Balogun \u2014 who jumped out to an early lead\u00a0in the Golden Boot race with two beautiful strikes in the Americans’ tournament-opening win over Paraguay \u2014 has learned just two games into his maiden trip to global soccer\u2019s marquee quadrennial event.<\/p>\n Folarin Balogun has two goals at the World Cup. (Photo by Jamie Squire\/Getty Images)<\/span> <\/p>\n “It\u2019s annoying,” Balogun joked with reporters before Messi scored both of defending champion Argentina\u2019s goals in Monday\u2019s 2-0 stroll against Austria.<\/p>\n Messi had a hat trick against Algeria the game before. Kylian Mbapp\u00e9 \u2014 whose eight goals led all players four years ago in Qatar \u2014 scored twice against Senegal in France\u2019s curtain raiser; he added two more in Les Blues’ second match, a 3-0 win over Iraq. Norway\u2019s Erling Haaland, possibly the most lethal striker on the planet, also kicked off the tournament with a brace and added another pair Monday against Senegal.<\/p>\n “Seeing players like Messi and Mbapp\u00e9, Haaland \u2014 they\u2019re so inevitable,” Balogun said. “They\u2019re scoring a goal a game. Sometimes more.”<\/p>\n To keep up, the prolific New York-born, London-raised forward \u2014 who told me last week that claiming the Golden Boot is among his aspirations this summer \u2014 must keep pace. Yet while the hard-working Monaco forward has been named Player of the Match in each of the USA\u2019s first two games \u2014 and though he created the own-goal that ended up being the game-winner over Australia Friday in Seattle \u2014 he didn\u2019t find the net against the Socceroos. And he\u2019s unlikely to during the World Cup co-hosts\u2019 final group stage game Thursday vs. T\u00fcrkiye in Los Angeles.<\/p>\n With Mauricio Pochettino\u2019s team having already clinched first place in Group D, the U.S. coach is expected to rest most or all his usual starters. Because Balogun was one of four Americans to be shown a yellow card in one of the first two group contests, Pochettino would risk losing his go-to goalscorer for the single-elimination round of 32 on July 1 in Santa Clara, California, if Balogun was cautioned against the Turks.\u00a0<\/p>\n As such, he\u2019s almost certain not to play \u2014 even if that means sliding further down the World Cup scoring chart.<\/p>\n Balogun understands this. Were it up to him, though, he\u2019d be in the lineup on Thursday.<\/p>\n “I want to play,” he said. “But it’s also important to be smart. I wouldn’t want to pick up a yellow card and miss the round of 32.”<\/p>\n Considered possibly the most complete striker the U.S. program has ever had, Balogun will have a chance to make history in the knockout round. Landon Donovan is the only American to score three times at the same World Cup since the inaugural edition in 1930, when Bert Patenaude managed four. Donovan’s all-time U.S. record of five World Cup goals could also be in reach if Pochettino\u2019s team can make a deep run on home soil.\u00a0<\/p>\n “For sure,” Balogun said when asked if he\u2019s eying Donovan\u2019s mark. “I want to continue to score goals.”<\/p>\n He\u2019s not ruling out the Golden Boot yet, either. For Balogun, scoring as consistently as the likes of Messi, Mbapp\u00e9 and Haaland remains the ultimate personal goal.<\/p>\n “For me, it’s just about trying to get to that level,” he said. “I\u2019m sure I’ve got the potential in me to do that.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" POPULAR SEARCHES BROWSE BY U.S. World Cup Team Training Base (Irvine, Calif.) \u2014 As he walked to his spot in front of the microphones and cameras before the USA’s Monday morning practice session, Folarin Balogun trailed the incomparable Lionel Messi and two other players by a single goal as the top scorer at the 2026 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":5300,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5301","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-soccer"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5301","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5301"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5301\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/5300"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5301"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5301"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5301"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}