The USA did something it had never done in World Cup play before Friday night: it scored four goals. Folarin Balogun scored twice in a 4-1 win over Paraguay at SoFi Stadium, and by the end of the night he had moved to +1600 in Golden Boot odds.
That is why Balogun is suddenly showing up in searches about World Cup Favorites. He was not among the early headliners before the tournament began, but his two-goal night changed the market fast enough to put him level as a co-fifth choice with Cristiano Ronaldo, behind Kylian Mbappé at +600, Harry Kane at +650, Mikel Oyarzabal at +1000 and Erling Haaland at +1400. BetMGM had sent out odds for 56 players before the World Cup began, and Balogun’s rise came after a performance that gave bettors a reason to revisit the board.
The goals came in a rush. Balogun made it 2-0 in the 31st minute, then struck again in first-half stoppage time to push the USA ahead 3-0. John Murray said he never thought he would see the day that the U.S. scored four goals in one World Cup match, and the numbers explain why the result stood out: the USA had scored three goals in World Cup play on only three previous occasions, and never four. Friday changed that in one night.
There is still a catch, and it is the one oddsmakers will keep in mind. Seamus Magee said a two-goal head start on the big guns will do that, but added that there is lots of football left to be played. He said Balogun turned a lot of heads, especially after the USA looked so strong against a Paraguay side that had looked quite solid defensively in CONMEBOL qualifying, and he called it a very good day for USA backers and BetMGM bettors across the country. The bigger question now is not whether Balogun belongs in the conversation; it is whether this surge can survive the rest of the World Cup and the next round of scoring from the players still ahead of him.
