00:00He was born in Brooklyn to Nigerian parents, raised in London, plays professionally over in France, but he represents the
00:07U.S. of A.
00:09Florian Balogun is the leader of the Golden Generation, and he's ready to take U.S. soccer to new heights
00:15this summer.
00:22I need you guys to meet Florian Balogun, or Flo, as they call him, 5'10 striker, and he's going
00:28into this summer
00:29with two things on his mind, score goals and put on a show.
00:34He wears number 20 on his back, but on the pitch, he's your number 9.
00:38He's the guy whose job is very simple, put the ball in the back of the net.
00:44England wanted him, Nigeria wanted him, but he chose the U.S., and right now,
00:49he's one of the hottest strikers in French football heading into this year's World Cup.
00:55I need you to think of him like this.
00:57If Pulisic is the engine that gets things going, Balogun is the finishing touch, the closer.
01:04He's going to be the guy that you need when it matters most.
01:07If Pulisic is Captain American, then Balogun is Bucky Barnes, but we're going to be calling him
01:13the summer soldier after this tournament.
01:16All my Marvel fans out there know what I'm talking about.
01:18And luckily for the U.S. men's national team, he's playing his best football going into a World Cup
01:24where the respect of American soccer culture on a global stage is on the line.
01:31He plays professionally in France's Ligue 1 for AS Monaco
01:35and has emerged as one of the most clinical and technical strikers in that league.
01:41He finished the league season top four in scoring, and that's not something that's easier to do over there.
01:47Across 30 appearances, he scored a total of 13 league goals with four assists,
01:53including an impressive four goals in three matches against Ligue 1 and Champions League winners Paris Saint-Germain.
02:0218 goals scored in all competitions total, so you know my man knows how to put the ball
02:08in the back of the net against world-class competition.
02:11But the stat I need you guys to keep an eye out on is 10 goals in his last 10
02:17Monaco matches
02:18across all competitions heading into the World Cup.
02:22He is on fire at exactly the right time, and you can see that form, that fire,
02:29and how it carried into the qualifying season and friendlies leading up to the summer.
02:34He scored in three consecutive U.S. men's national team starts in fall of 2025
02:40against Japan, Ecuador, and Paraguay.
02:44And then you fast forward to May of 2026, and a friendly just two weeks away from the World Cup,
02:51a right-footed strike into the left side of the net put the U.S. back in front against Senegal
02:57to eventually lock up a 3-2 win over the AFCON champions.
03:0226 caps, nine international goals.
03:06That ratio is elite for any striker.
03:09I'm talking nearly a goal every three games for his country.
03:13Summer Soldier is heating up at the right time, and he's built for moments like this.
03:19A home World Cup with respect on the line is why American soccer fans cheered when he chose to play
03:26for us.
03:27He was eligible to play for three countries, U.S., England, and Nigeria.
03:32And after FIFA approved his one-time change of association following previous England youth appearances,
03:39he made the commitment in 2023 to go with the red, white, and blue.
03:45My decision to represent the United States, we came together with my family,
03:51and we decided it would be the right thing for me, the country I was born in.
03:55So, I mean, in the end it became a no-brainer, but for sure it's just something that I wanted
04:02to do,
04:02and it feels like I'm at home here.
04:04We know the why and why he chose to play for USA, but it's the how.
04:10He's even eligible to play for the USA.
04:12That's probably the most unique storyline on the roster.
04:17Born in Brooklyn, New York, to Nigerian parents,
04:21his mother, Florence, was visiting family in New York while seven months pregnant with him.
04:26The airline refused to let her fly back home to London because her belly was too big,
04:31and she didn't have a doctor's letter.
04:33So she stayed at her sister-in-law's two-bedroom apartment in Brooklyn until the baby came.
04:38That baby was Flo, born American by airline policy.
04:43He then moved to London at one month old and grew up fully English.
04:48Arsenal Academy, London culture, all of it, but we got him.
04:52He reps our colors, he's our number nine, and he's going to be our summer soldier.
04:58He is the future of American soccer.
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