CHARLOTTE, N.C. — It’s been treated as something of a given, at least from the outside, that Folarin Balogun will start at striker for the USMNT at the World Cup.
Likewise, it has looked like a safe assumption that Matt Freese will be in net when the Americans play Paraguay on June 12.
Maybe we should all stop assuming.
Not because Ricardo Pepi started at striker, and Matt Turner in goal, for Sunday’s 3-2 win over Senegal. If there is one certainty from Sunday, it’s that the lineup Mauricio Pochettino played here in Charlotte won’t be the 11 he rolls out for the World Cup opener.
