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After celebrating a long-awaited World Cup Round of 16 victory Wednesday night, U.S. men’s national team manager Mauricio Pochettino now has an important decision to make: what to do at center forward.
Folarin Balogun is suspended for Monday’s round of 16 match against Belgium after receiving a red card in the 64th minute against Bosnia and Herzegovina. Balogun has been excellent at this World Cup, scoring twice against Paraguay, forcing an own goal in the United States’ win over Australia, and scoring again on Wednesday before being sent off.
The American team will now find itself without its best scoring option against Belgium. Pochettino has several different ways of approaching the team’s attack, but here are the options he is most likely to consider:
Option 1: All aboard El Tren
(Photo by Sarah Stier – FIFA/FIFA via Getty Images)
Pochettino used the same starting line-up and formation in the matches against Paraguay and Bosnia and Herzegovina. In these two matches, the United States won each time, dominating their opponents 6-1.
The most likely approach against Belgium is to replace Ricardo Pepi with Balogun and keep the other 10 players in the same position with the same responsibilities. This option requires fewer changes and allows players to move forward with the same missions that worked.
The good news for the American team is that Pepi is still a very accomplished striker who has scored 19 goals for PSV Eindhoven this season. This included a highly efficient run in the UEFA Champions League where he scored three goals and collected one assist in just 149 minutes in the sport’s premier club competition.
This approach raises two concerns. Firstly, Pepi has not performed very well for the national team under Pochettino and questions arise about his integration into the Argentine system. Secondly, Pepi has a very different profile from Balogun.
Balogun’s style is that he is world class at making runs behind opposition defenses. For Balogun to be effective, he needs a lot of positive chemistry with his teammates who know when he is making runs and how to get the ball back to him. This takes time to develop, and is probably the main reason why it took until last season for Balogun to be at his best with Monaco. Likewise, it took a long time for Balogun to play comfortably with the American team.
Pepi doesn’t need this type of chemistry. He is more of a classic striker who reads the play in the box, knows how to sneak into dangerous spots and is much more of an aerial threat than Balogun.
But the reason Pepi might get the nod is because his best performance for Team USA came just before the tournament in a 3-2 win over Senegal. In this match, Pepi did not score, but he combined very well with Pulisic in counterattacks after turnovers.
Team USA won’t be able to play exactly the same way with Pepi in Balogun’s place. But they find someone who can combine better in the preparation and who will be a good finisher in the box.
The match against Senegal just before the tournament provides the best insight into how the team will play without Balogun. Expect Pochettino to mimic Senegal’s game plan but with key players like Tillman and McKennie available (neither started in this match).
Option 2: The price is “Wright”
(Photo by Jane Gershovich/ISI Photos/ISI Photos via Getty Images)
Placing Haji Wright in the Balogun role is another option Pochettino could consider. Wright looks more like Balogun than Pepi. His goals for Coventry, as well as with the US national team in the friendly win over Australia in October 2025, show that Wright wants to run and get behind the defence.
But Wright also hasn’t been a big option for Team USA in the last month, and he appears to be a very distant replacement. Even with rotating teams in the pre-tournament friendly and the match against Turkiye, Wright only made one appearance (a late cameo against Australia).
Now returning to giving Wright a major role in a World Cup knockout match seems far-fetched unless players like Pepi and Pulisic are injured.
Option 3: Pulisic as “false 9”
(Photo by John Todd/ISI Photos/ISI Photos via Getty Images).
Exploring the other approaches used by Pochettino, there was also the 2-0 friendly defeat to Portugal, when Pulisic played as a false nine-man striker with no real centre-forward in the mix.
This match didn’t go particularly well, but Pulisic is in much better shape now than he was in March.
The obvious problem with this formation is that it eliminates the team’s best one-on-one attacker. This is where so many of Team USA’s best chances come from that it seems unwise to take the team’s best player and put him in an uncomfortable role.
If Pulisic found himself in a false nine position, he would need another winger like Gio Reyna, Alex Zendejas or Tim Weah (who seems to have lost confidence). It’s also possible that Tillman or McKennie moves out wide and Sebastian Berhalter comes into midfield.
Pochettino used him, so he can’t be dismissed entirely. But it forces the team to deviate from what has so far notched up three World Cup victories.
Option 4: Two-attacker setup
(Photo by Lyndsay Radnedge/ISI Photos/ISI Photos via Getty Images).
Pochettino is not afraid to mix things up. When Pulisic was injured for the group stage match against Australia, Pochettino shuffled the formation and opted for a two-striker setup, with Pepi and Balogun starting together.
Apart from Pulisic in a false nine role, is there another formation that Pochettino could use as a surprise against Belgium?
It’s possible but unlikely. Pepi and Wright could emulate the two-striker setup used against Australia, but only with Pulisic remaining in the lineup. A big problem, of course, is that someone, probably a midfielder, would have to leave the lineup. Tillman, McKennie and Adams are far too critical of how they play.
