The hype began stirring when Folarin Balogun was just 16, well before he even stepped onto a professional soccer field. It started with a tweet, about a boy in the Arsenal academy and his birthplace. It then subsisted for years on social media and message boards, and in dreams. Balogun, who was born in New York and raised in London, had only once accepted a U.S. youth national team call-up; he'd otherwise played for England. But until he played for the senior team, among USMNT obsessives desperate for a striker, there was hope.
HENDERSON, NV - JUNE 13: Folarin Balogun of the United States shoots the ball during a USMNT Training at Heritage Park on June 13, 2023 in Henderson, Nevada. .The hype began stirring when Folarin Balogun was just 16, well before he even stepped onto a professional soccer field. It started with, about a boy in the Arsenal academy and his birthplace. It then subsisted for years on social media and message boards, and in dreams.
And so, in March, with rumors swirling and a recruitment process in full swing behind the scenes, whenThey had, of course, been tracking Balogun's every digital move, especially after he'd responded to an England roster snub with a cryptic message:"In life, go where you're appreciated." What they didn't know was that Balogun, with help from U.S. Soccer, had planned. All parties had attempted to keep his whereabouts private.
“To be fair,” he said last week with a smile, “from the picture, [even] I couldn't make out that I was in America.” But U.S. fans began dissecting it. A palm tree became the first hint. The other clue was half of a painted slogan on the side of a mostly-obscured building — which
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