Talk about a wild ride…

On Tuesday morning, U.S. Soccer announced that Folarin Balogun had committed to representing the United States Men's National Team at the international level. The announcement came after some cryptic Instagram posts, a bit of social media super-sleuthing from a handful of committed USMNT fans, an Orlando Magic game, a New York Yankees game, a conversation with U.S. Soccer, and then, finally, a hype video announcing the decision.

Why did the U.S. pull out all the stops for Balogun? Well, because the 21-year-old striker is one of the best up-and-coming strikers in the world.

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Balogun, who was born in New York, has 19 goals for Reims in France's Ligue 1 this season, where he's on loan from Arsenal. According to FBref, he's currently 11th in Europe's top five leagues (the Premier League, La Liga, the Bundesliga, Serie A, and Ligue 1) in goals.

The young striker could've played for England or Nigeria, but he chose the United States.

Here's why his decision is a game-changer for the USMNT.

 

The USMNT Desperately Needed a Striker

I don't know about you, but I've been ready to be done with the No. 9 debates for a while now.

Should Ricardo Pepi or Brandon Vazquez or Jordan Pefok have made the United States' 2022 World Cup roster over Haji Wright? Is Jesus Ferreira good enough for the international level? If Daryl Dike can finally stay healthy, will he change things for the USMNT?

We've been trying to answer those questions and have those arguments for years now, with very, very little progress. But as the last World Cup cycle progressed, it became clear that there was little difference between those players. The U.S. didn't have an obvious, go-to guy up top.

Now they do.

With his elite movement in the box and his top-tier goal-scoring ability, Balogun is an obvious choice to start as the team's No. 9 for the foreseeable future.

It's completely possible that we see him start as soon as the USMNT's next game, which just so happens to be a clash with Mexico on June 15 in the Concacaf Nations League semifinals.