![\"Two](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/GettyImages-2282406695-scaled.jpg\")
<\/p>\nSANTA CLARA, Calif. \u2014 The U.S. men\u2019s national team will prepare this week for a round of 16 World Cup knockout round match against Belgium without Folarin Balogun, their star forward and leading scorer.<\/p>\n
Balogun, after giving the U.S. a decisive lead against Bosnia & Herzegovina, was given a red card after a video review showed that he\u2019d stomped on the ankle of Bosnia\u2019s Tarik Muharemovic while challenging for a ball.<\/p>\n
Much of the best attacking moments at this World Cup for the USMNT have been created through Balogun, either scoring or contributing in the buildups. His finishing, movement, hold up play and physicality will be sorely missed.<\/p>\n
Mauricio Pochettino and his staff will sort through their best options to replace Balogun, but in the immediate aftermath of the win over Bosnia, he didn\u2019t reveal much of his thinking.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ll have different options, we\u2019ll see which decision we\u2019ll take,\u201d Pochettino said.<\/p>\n
Here are some of the possible solutions he can consider.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n Ricardo Pepi has had to wait for opportunities at this tournament. (John Todd \/ ISI Photos via Getty Images)<\/p>\n
Ricardo Pepi<\/p>\n
A start for Pepi is the most likely solution for the USMNT.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He is not an exact, like-for-like replacement for Balogun, as the players have different strengths. <\/p>\n
But it is the most seamless change within the system. It is also the option Pochettino has seemed to prefer when he has been forced into changes.<\/p>\n
Pepi started in place of an injured Christian Pulisic in the team\u2019s 2-0 win over Australia in the group stage, then retained his starting place in the final group stage game against Turkey with most of the starting lineup rotated for their final group game. <\/p>\n
On Wednesday, he was one the player to come off the bench when Pochettino eventually made changes.<\/p>\n
The 23-year-old forward had 19 goals and two assists in 34 appearances (1,706 minutes) for PSV this season. In Holland, his goal record is sterling. For the U.S., he has 13 goals in 41 caps but hasn\u2019t scored for the national team since 2024 against Jamaica (eight appearances).<\/p>\n
Haji Wright<\/p>\n
The other seamless change would be to give the nod to the squad\u2019s other natural center forward, Haji Wright. It would represent a chance at extended minutes for the first time this tournament.<\/p>\n
Wright has been behind Pepi in the pecking order, but with Pepi failing to score recently, Wright may be due a chance. <\/p>\n
Like Pepi, while he has different strengths than Balogun, positionally he would slot right in up top.<\/p>\n
The 28-year-old helped fire Coventry City to win the Championship this year, with 17 goals in 40 appearances (2,594 minutes). Wright has seven goals in 21 caps for the USMNT, including a goal off the bench at the 2022 World Cup against the Netherlands in the round of 16.<\/p>\n
Wright scored a brace for the U.S. against Australia in the fall, but has been seldom used in 2026. He has played just one minute in eight games this year, though he missed the March window through injury.<\/p>\n
![\"Pulisic](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/GettyImages-2281312776-scaled.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
\n Pulisic is a proven difference-maker for the USMNT. (Katelyn Mulcahy \/ FIFA via Getty Images)<\/p>\n
Christian Pulisic<\/p>\n
This is where things could get more complicated. If Pochettino is not convinced by either natural forward, he could play Pulisic through the center.<\/p>\n
Though it seems less likely than obvious options, there is precedence here, as Pulisic started as the center forward in March against Portugal.<\/p>\n
It also presents a lot of flexibility elsewhere in the team. If Pulisic is the starting forward, any one of Gio Reyna, Tim Weah, Brenden Aaronson or Alejandro Zendejas could start in a fluid attack.<\/p>\n
The other options<\/p>\n
Reyna has appeared in all four games at the World Cup so far, three of which were appearances from the substitutes bench. <\/p>\n
He scored a wonderful trivela goal in the opening game against Paraguay and has pedigree that makes him a worthy option for such a stage.<\/p>\n
Weah and Aaronson both started against Turkey, but neither quite made their mark. Zendejas came off the bench in that one but didn\u2019t have many opportunities to impress, either.<\/p>\n
Weah, more so than Reyna, Aaronson and Zendejas, could even take minutes through the center if needed. <\/p>\n
The versatile winger began his career as a forward with PSG and often played through the center when on loan at Celtic. Perhaps a similar 9 role to the one considered for Pulisic would be an option.<\/p>\n
Of course, there is the small chance Pochettino may even decide to change the team shape entirely to find a solution to losing Balogun\u2019s goal power.<\/p>\n
A 3-5-2 that pairs Pepi and Haji together would be a bold and brave approach.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SANTA CLARA, Calif. \u2014 The U.S. men\u2019s national team will prepare this week for a round of 16…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":25657,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[4],"tags":[14728,7,9495,3937,506,3934,4097],"class_list":["post-25656","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-belgium","tag-as-monaco-fc","tag-belgium","tag-bosnia-herzegovina","tag-fifa-mens-world-cup","tag-international-football","tag-soccer","tag-us-mens-national-team"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@be\/116849006848088650","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25656","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25656"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25656\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25657"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25656"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25656"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25656"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}