Folarin Balogun to make US debut against Mexico

Arsenal striker, Folarin Balogun, is pencilled into make his debut for the USA in their CONCACAF Nations League semi-final against Mexico on Thursday.

Canada play Panama in Thursday’s other semi-final with the final and third-place games also at the Allegiant Stadium on Sunday.

The Final Four tournament marks the start of the road to the 2026 World Cup which will be co-hosted by the US, Mexico and Canada.

With no qualification process for the three World Cup co-hosts, it is going to be the CONCACAF tournaments, including this month’s Gold Cup, where the teams will seek to build towards the big one.

American fans have high hopes for Balogun, who scored 21 goals in France’s Ligue 1 this season where he was on loan to Reims.

The New York-born forward, who moved to England as a two-year-old, recently switched his national allegiance to the US from England, where he had played for the Under-21 team.

The US have lacked a consistent goalscoring centre-forward, capable of making the most of the opportunities created by the likes of Christian Pulisic, Tim Weah and Gio Reyna.