GOOOAL for America: A 4-1 World Cup Win and the Citizenship That Makes It Possible

The USMNT's 4–1 World Cup win was led by players who are American by birth and heritage — a reminder of why citizenship makes America's team possible.

A NIGHT WORTH SHOUTING ABOUT

Last night, in front of 70,492 fans at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California, the United States Men's National Team opened the 2026 FIFA World Cup with a statement: a 4-1 victory over Paraguay.

It was the first World Cup match played on American soil since 1994, and the U.S. did not waste the moment. By the time the final whistle blew, this had become the highest-scoring World Cup win in U.S. men's history.

Two names led the celebration: Folarin Balogun, who scored twice, and Gio Reyna, who closed the night with a piece of magic deep into stoppage time. When their shots hit the back of the net, a sold-out crowd roared in celebration, and not one person in that stadium paused to ask how either young man came to wear the red, white, and blue.

That, in many ways, is the whole point.

How the goals came

For anyone who missed it, here is how the night unfolded:

7th minute — Paraguay turned the ball into its own net under heavy U.S. pressure, after Christian Pulisic and Weston McKennie carved open the defense. 1-0.
31st minute — Pulisic slipped the ball to Balogun, who finished calmly. 2-0.
45+5' minute — Just before halftime, Balogun struck again, burying a shot into the upper corner. 3-0.
73rd minute — Paraguay pulled one back to make a game of it. 3-1.
90+8' minute — In the dying seconds, Reyna curled in a stunning finish with the outside of his right boot. 4-1.

With his two goals, Balogun became the first U.S. player to score more than once in a single World Cup match since Bert Patenaude in 1930 — who, fittingly, also did it against Paraguay.

Two players, two very American stories

Here is what makes this team so genuinely American: there is no single template for how you get here.

Folarin Balogun was born on July 3, 2001 — yes, one day before Independence Day — in Brooklyn, New York. His parents, of Nigerian Yoruba heritage, were living in London and visiting family in New York when he arrived. Within his first month or two of life, the family returned to England, where Folarin grew up and rose through Arsenal's famed youth academy.

Because he was born on U.S. soil, Folarin has been an American citizen his entire life. He was also eligible to represent England and Nigeria, and in 2023, with the world watching, he chose the United States. He is, in the most literal constitutional sense, a birthright citizen who decided to play for the country that claimed him at birth.

Gio Reyna's story runs through American soccer royalty. He was born in 2002 in Sunderland, England, while his father — Claudio Reyna, a former captain of the U.S. Men's National Team, a four-time World Cup veteran, and a National Soccer Hall of Famer — was playing in the English league. His mother, Danielle Egan Reyna, was herself a U.S. Women's National Team player and an NCAA champion at the University of North Carolina. The family moved home to Bedford, New York, when Gio was five.

And go back one more generation, and you find the immigrant thread that built so many American families: Gio's grandfather, Miguel Reyna, emigrated from Argentina to New Jersey in 1968, chasing the same better life that so many before and after him have chased.

Different countries. Different paths. Different generations. One team, one flag, one roar from the crowd.

Why a soccer game is also a citizenship lesson

As immigration attorneys, we could not watch Folarin Balogun score twice without smiling at what his story represents.

He is an American because of a principle older than any of us in this office: birthright citizenship. The 14th Amendment, ratified in 1868, declares that all persons born in the United States, and subject to its jurisdiction, are citizens. In 1898, the Supreme Court confirmed in United States v. Wong Kim Ark that this applies broadly to children born on American soil, regardless of their parents' nationality or immigration status.

A child born in Brooklyn to visiting parents is an American. Full stop. That has been the law, and the promise, for more than 125 years.

Where the law stands today

We want to be precise, because this is what we do for a living.

In January 2025, the current administration issued an executive order seeking to deny birthright citizenship to certain children, including those born to mothers who are only temporarily present in the United States (for example, visitors and tourists) when the father is not a citizen or lawful permanent resident.

That order has been challenged in court at every turn. Multiple federal judges blocked it, and as of the date of this post, it has never gone into effect. The U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments in the case on April 1, 2026, and a decision is expected in the coming weeks. Until then, and unless the Court rules otherwise, birthright citizenship under the 14th Amendment remains fully in effect for every child born in the United States.

We will update this post as soon as the Supreme Court issues its decision.

One last thought

Consider this: when Folarin Balogun was born in that Brooklyn apartment in 2001, his mother was simply visiting family from London. Under the executive order the administration is fighting to enforce today, a baby born in exactly those circumstances might have been denied the citizenship Folarin has carried his whole life.

So picture the alternate timeline. Same stadium. Same crowd. Same Paraguay defense getting picked apart. But that particular birthright-citizen striker? Not eligible. Not American. Not ours.

We would have spent last night celebrating a couple of goals fewer, and that, friends, is a loss no fan should have to imagine.

America has always been strongest when it welcomes people to its shores and counts their children as its own. Last night reminded us why. Here is to a team, and a country, built from everywhere.

Now on to Australia on June 19th.