Folarin Balogun gets taste of U.S.-Mexico rivalry as USMNT advances to CONCACAF Nations League final

Having grown up in England and played in the Arsenal academy, Folarin Balogun knows something about passionate soccer rivalries.

But it’s unlikely even that background prepared for him what he experienced Thursday when he made his U.S. national team debut in a 3-0 win over Mexico in a CONCACAF Nations League semifinal that ended with both teams missing multiple players to red cards.

The victory, which ran the Americans’ unbeaten streak against Mexico to six games, also earned the U.S. a berth in Sunday’s championship game with Canada, a 2-0 winner over Panama in the first semifinal. Mexico will face Panama in Sunday’s third-place game.

It also baptized Balogun in a rivalry than is less a game than it is a border war fought over a 110-yard grass battlefield. It’s less about trophies than it is about national pride, more about culture than it is about competition.

“Any rivalry is different. It means different things to different people,” he said before kickoff Thursday. “The boys explained to me the backstory and the different results, and they’ve explained how big an occasion this is.”

Still, it’s game that much be experienced to be understood, something Balogun learned late in an extraordinarily chippy second half when Mexico’s César Montes, unable to slow Balogun, swung his right foot into the American’s shin, taking him down with a cheap shot that led to a red card and a lot of pushing and shoving at midfield. U.S. midfielder Weston McKennie, who emerged from the scrum with a ripped jersey, taunted the Mexican fans by repeatedly kissing the crest on the shirt.

He was sent off with a red card of his own.

Another dust-up in the closing minutes led to the ejection of U.S. defender Sergiño Dest and Mexico’s Gerardo Arteaga. The game was stopped again minutes later when the frustrated Mexican supporters ignored warnings to stop chanting an anti-gay slur, leading Salvadoran referee Iván Barton to first pause play, then end the whole ugly spectacle with five minutes left in stoppage time.

Balogun, the sharp-shooting striker the national team has long lacked, could have played internationally with England, the U.S. or Nigeria. But a month ago the 21-year-old cast his lot with the Americans, becoming the most important dual in more than a decade to do so.

His welcome? When he took the field for warm-ups before his first game with the U.S., in the U.S., he was booed lustily by a sellout crowd whose passions lied mostly with Mexico.

Targeted by both the U.S. wingers and Mexico’s physical defenders from the start, Balogun saw little of the ball. But his presence opened things up Christian Pulisic, who 59 appearances for the U.S. made him the most experienced player in the American lineup Thursday.

The U.S. captain, Pulisic nearly got his team on the board in the 23^rd minute when he lured Mexican keeper Guillermo Ochoa off his line, then chipped a right-footed shot well over the open net. He got another opportunity 14 minutes later and this time he didn’t miss, collecting the carom of a pass intended for Balogun, dribbling through a crowded penalty area and drilling a left-footed shot by Ochoa and in at the far post.

United States’ Christian Pulisic celebrates after scoring against Mexico during the first half of a CONCACAF Nations League semifinal match on Thursday in Las Vegas.

(John Locher / Associated Press)

Pulisic doubled the margin with a breakaway goal a minute into the second half, a score set up by Timothy Weah, who outran Mexican defender Victor Guzman up the right wing before bending a perfect right-footed cross into the center of the box for a sliding Pulisic, who deflected the ball in with his left foot.

Ricardo Pepi, another dual national, came on for Balogun in the 75^th minute and closed out the scoring three minutes later, becoming the only Mexican to score on the night.

On the same night the U.S. rolled out a new player, it also moved closer to re-signing an old coach, with The Athletic and other outlets reporting the federation is finalizing a deal to bring back Gregg Berhalter, whose contract expired after last fall’s World Cup.

The agreement is not yet finalized, The Athletic said, but an announcement “is imminent.”

Berhalter, 49, who led the team to Nations League and Gold Cup titles in 2021, has the best winning percentage of any U.S. manager who has coached more than two games.

Berhalter saw his return as coach delayed after the parents of Gio Reyna told U.S. Soccer about a three-decade-old domestic abuse incident involving the coach and the woman who would later become his wife. Berhalter was cleared of any wrongdoing after a two-month investigation.

In Thursday’s first semifinal, Canada got a first-half goal from Jonathan David and a second-half score from Alphonso Davies to beat stubborn Panama.

David’s score game in the 25^th minute after he ran on to Kamal Miller’s low through ball in the penalty area, then finished with a left-footed shot past Panamanian keeper Orlando Mosquera and into the center of the net. Davies, playing for the first time since injuring his left hamstring in April, came off the bench in the 62^nd minute and doubled the lead seven minutes later.

Sunday’s game will mark Canada’s first appearance in a CONCACAF tournament final since 2000, when it beat Colombia to win the Gold Cup.