USMNT Strikers Enter Senegal Matchup Eager to Score on Biggest Stage | OneFootball

ATLANTA – The three strikers – Folarin Balogun, Haji Wright and Ricardo Pepi – on head coach Mauricio Pochettino’s 26-player roster for FIFA World Cup 2026 have very different profiles in terms of their strengths and styles, but one facet the trio have in common, besides representing the Stars & Stripes in the biggest tournament on home soil, is that they enter training camp in excellent form.

All three strikers play club soccer in Europe. All three led their teams in goals during league play during the 2025-26 season. Together, the trio amassed a total of 56 goals across all competitions for their clubs this season.

The result is a highly competitive striker group for the USMNT, a group that is eager to score goals on the sport’s biggest stage.

“We all have different tools, but at the end of the day we all want to help the team,” Pepi said. “I feel like we can adapt very well to each other. We have very good chemistry, and we’re ready to help the team.”

The most capped striker in the group is Balogun, who scored 19 goals in 43 games for AS Monaco in all competitions, including a nine-match scoring streak in the latter part of the campaign. For the National Team, Balogun has tallied eight career goals in 24 caps – an impressive rate of one goal every three matches. 

“It’s important to bring that with the National Team, and to bring that to the biggest stage of all the World Cup,” Balogun said of his goal-scoring form. “I have a lot of confidence in myself. I have high expectations, and I feel I have the quality and belief in myself to do it on the biggest stage.”

Pochettino describes the 5-foot-10 attacker as a “striker that can play alone,” who’s consistent with his work and his effort to press, and Balogun showed that by scoring three goals in a four-game span for the USMNT in the fall. He finished a Christian Pulisic assist against Japan and scored the equalizer in the draw against red-hot Ecuador. In November, the dual national from London delivered the dagger to break a deadlock with Paraguay, the first opponent the U.S. will face in the FIFA World Cup 2026 group stage.

This season, Wright netted 18 goals in 43 games for Coventry City, leading the club to the top of the EFL Championship standings. The result secured promotion to the English Premier League for the 2026-27 season, snapping the club’s 25-year absence from England’s top-flight league.

Of the three strikers only Wright has previous World Cup experience. He was named to the 26-player roster for the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar. The Los Angeles native started the group stage match against England and scored a goal in the Round of 16 meeting with Netherlands.

This past fall, Wright secured a brace for the USMNT against Australia, the second opponent the U.S. will face in the group stage of FIFA World Cup 2026. His two goals led the U.S. to a 2-1 come-from-behind victory against a team that had not lost in 12 straight matches.

“Haji is a player with good quality that can play different position – striker or from the left going inside like a second striker,” Pochettino said. “[His] technique is really good with experience in the Championship in England.”

Like his counterparts up top, Pepi also had a strong season with his European club. He scored 19 goals in 34 games for PSV Eindhoven this season in all competitions, averaging more than one goal every two matches. His 16 goals in league play tied for third-best in Dutch Eredivisie scoring.

Pepi was the second player to ever score for the U.S. under Pochettino; his goal clinched the win against Panama in October 2024 to start the Pochettino era on a high note. Most recently, the Texan came off the bench for the U.S. in the non-official match against Belgium in Atlanta. As a substitute, he made an immediate impact, forcing a deep takeaway to assist Patrick Agyemang’s late goal.

“Pepi is a killer,” Pochettino said. “He’s a player that has the capacity to read where the space is to the ball, arrive to the ball and have the possibility to score and to create chances, sometimes, from nowhere.”

The U.S. will be looking to return to the goal-scoring prowess they showed during the conclusion of 2025. The last match of the calendar year was a 5-1 rout over then 15th-Uruguay, which extended the USMNT's unbeaten streak against World Cup-qualified opponents to five consecutive matches.

The next test for these strikers and the USMNT will be against another high-quality opponent. Senegal enters the May 31 meeting against the U.S. ranked No. 14 in the world rankings. The African nation has also qualified for FIFA World Cup 2026 and will compete in Group I alongside France, Iraq, and Norway.

Though the U.S. doesn’t face African countries often, there is some familiarity with this opponent, particularly one scorer on the other side of the line. Senegal is joined by forward Sadio Mané, the current Al Nassr forward who is regarded as one of the best African products of all-time. The two-time African Player of the Year and 2022 Ballon d’Or runner-up is the most capped player on Senegal’s roster with 124 appearances and the country’s all-time scoring leader with 52 goals.

“It's a fantastic team,” Pochettino said. “It's one of the contenders from Africa that are going to be one of the contenders in the FIFA World Cup. I have no doubt because of the capacity and the quality of the players.”