TOI reporter from Washington: In recent months, there have been heated debates about US borders, immigration and naturalization. But one thing was clear in the United States’ 4-1 win over Paraguay in Friday night’s World Cup soccer opener at Los Angeles Stadium: No one in red, white and blue will be protesting a bureaucratic decision nearly 25 years ago to prevent a pregnant woman from returning to England.Folarin Balogun, who scored twice on his World Cup debut, was born to Nigerian parents in Brooklyn after his pregnant mother, visiting her sister in the US, was reportedly advised not to return to Britain, where she was then living. In the most extreme corners of the MAGA universe, this would make Balogun an “anchor child” – born to someone who came to America. On Thursday night, he was simply called the undisputed hero of a “man of the match” squad that perfectly represents the beautiful, messy, borderless reality of modern football. Balogan’s mother eventually returned to the UK when he was one month old. He then grew up in London, played youth football in England, represented Monaco, before finally deciding to play for the United States, pulling Nigeria on one sleeve and England on the other.Few institutions are better at exposing the absurdity of extreme nationalism than international football. The World Cup is a celebration of flags, anthems and tribal loyalties – organized by teams through the glorious mess of human migration. The American team is a case study in this trend.While Balogan’s journey has already become part of soccer folklore, fourth goalscorer Gio Reyna was born in England while his American parents, former US internationals Claudio Reyna and Danielle Egan Reyna, were playing there. Sergino Dust was born in the Netherlands to a Dutch mother and an American father from Surinamese. Younis Musa represented England at youth level before moving to America.America’s team looks suspiciously like America, in other words. This should not come as a surprise. The nation has spent centuries importing scientists, doctors, dreamers, strugglers, eccentrics, entrepreneurs and occasionally destructive forwards, strikers and hoopsters. This beautiful irony isn’t unique to the U.S. Turn on any European powerhouse, and you’ll find teams brimming with African-born talent. France’s roster reads like a magnificent tribute to the sub-Saharan footballing pipeline, while half of Europe’s elite midfield engines trace their lineage directly to Lagos, Dakar, or Kinshasa.France won the 2018 World Cup with stars like Kylian Mbappe, whose father is from Cameroon and whose mother is from Algeria, and Paul Pogba, who was born to Guinean parents. The England squad includes Bokayo Saka of Nigerian heritage. Jude Bellingham, with African ancestry on his mother’s side; And numerous players whose family trees span continents. Germany’s modern football identity is shaped by players with roots in Turkey, Ghana and Tunisia. Football recruiters call it talent scouting. Anti-immigrant wingnuts call it… well, something less printable.Yet there is a delicious contrast here. Many societies are increasingly anxious about immigration, even as they jump to their feet to applaud the shots made by immigrants and the children of immigrants. The one who buries the winner becomes “our boy”. He who is not a migrant is a stranger.Football, of course, has never been completely immune to politics. The 2026 World Cup, co-hosted by the United States, Canada and Mexico, has already provided reminders that global tournaments do not exist in a diplomatic vacuum.Consider the ongoing, tragic story of the Iranian national team. Bureaucrats subjected them to a bitter diplomatic war of words over visa approvals, forcing the squad to abandon its planned Arizona training base for Tijuana, Mexico. Worse, under visa restrictions, Iranians reportedly have to enter and exit US soil on the same day as their matches – essentially treating elite international players like day laborers who must be out before sundown.Meanwhile, Omar Ertan, set to become the first Somali referee to officiate at the men’s World Cup, was denied entry to the US over unspecified vetting concerns, ruling him out of the tournament. FIFA confirmed that he will miss the competition. For a nation that is the world’s biggest sporting spectacle outside of the Olympics, this public relations campaign has not been ideal. The World Cup’s unofficial slogan might as well be: “Move on immigration control, please.”“Perhaps football’s greatest gift, then, is its refusal to fit neatly into ideological boxes. Balogun’s goals against Paraguay were not scored because of the immigration policy. They were scored by a talented footballer whose life story spans Nigeria, America, Britain and France. The beautiful game has always thrived on such a collision of geography and identity. It’s a game where a guy born in Brooklyn, raised in London and playing for Monaco can become the toast of Los Angeles.(Meanwhile, if the Americans suffer from overly aggressive security, the English team suffers from a complete lack of it. Before the Three Lions could begin their campaign against Croatia, Thomas Tuchel’s side fell victim to a classic Midwestern highway robbery. A transport vehicle carrying the squad’s gear from their Florida training camp to their base in Kansas City was vandalized. The thieves left behind custom match shoes belonging to Harry Kane and Jude Bellingham, tactical whiteboards, massage tables, and almost every tournament ball in the inventory, including one soccer ball. Only football can generate a headline involving missing balls before the first whistle.While local police have arrested two suspects, England now face a tough race to shift into gear. It’s been a ridiculously chaotic start for the tournament favourites, proving that at World Cup 2026, whether you’re trying to get a visa, a referee across the border, or a pair of boots for Missouri, visiting the host nation is the most difficult part of the schedule.In the end, though, the World Cup is a happy rebuke to the idea that humanity can be neatly divided into separate boxes. People migrate, families move, babies are born while traveling, and careers cross oceans. Sometimes, as Balogun showed against Paraguay, they remind us that while borders can divide maps, soccer has an uncanny habit of uniting people — one glorious, immigrant-assisted goal at a time.
