LAS VEGAS — Having grown up in England and played in the Arsenal academy, Folarin Balogun knows something about passionate soccer rivalries.
But it's unlikely even that background prepared for him what he experienced Thursday when he made his U.S. national team debut in a 3-0 win over Mexico in a CONCACAF Nations League semifinal that ended with both teams missing multiple players to red cards.
The victory, the most one-sided by the Americans in a CONCACAF match with Mexico, ran the USMNT's unbeaten streak over El Tri to six games and earned it a berth in Sunday's championship game with Canada, which beat Panama, 2-0, in the first semifinal on goals from Jonathan David and Alphonso Davies.
The game also baptized Balogun in a rivalry that is less a game than it is a border war fought over a 110-yard grass battlefield. It's less about trophies than it is about national pride, more about culture than it is about competition.
"The boys told me it was going to be an intense game. I think that's a bit of an understatement," Balogun said. "The atmosphere was crazy.
"The players don't seem surprised by it, so I just have to kind of follow that reaction. But for me, it was definitely something different. I'm not really used to that sort of officiating and just the pitch. There's a lot of things I'm adapting to."
This is clearly a rivalry that must be experienced to be understood, something Balogun learned late in an extraordinarily chippy second half when Mexico's César Montes, unable to slow Balogun, swung his right foot into the American's shin, taking him down with a cheap shot that led to a red card and a lot of pushing and shoving at midfield. U.S. midfielder Weston McKennie, who emerged from the scrum with a ripped jersey, taunted the Mexican fans by repeatedly kissing the crest on the shirt.
He was sent off with a red card of his own.
Another dust-up in the closing minutes led to the ejection of U.S. defender Sergiño Dest and Mexico's Gerardo Arteaga.
The game was stopped again minutes later when the frustrated Mexican supporters ignored warnings to stop chanting an anti-gay slur, leading Salvadoran referee Iván Barton to first pause play, then end the whole ugly spectacle with five minutes left in stoppage time.
The two red cards will leave the U.S., the defending Nations Cup champion, without two starters in Sunday's final, something captain Christian Pulisic felt could have been avoided.
"All year round, I'm never a part of games like this. And then I come here and suddenly it's a mess," said Pulisic, who scored the first two goals. "It just turned into something that wasn't this beautiful game that we love. Winning that game, a dominant performance and now all this stuff happens, it just takes away from it."
Balogun, the sharp-shooting striker the national team has long lacked, could have played internationally with England, the U.S. or Nigeria.
But a month ago the 21-year-old cast his lot with the Americans, becoming the most important dual in more than a decade to do so.
Targeted by both the U.S. wingers and Mexico's physical defenders from the start Thursday, Balogun saw little of the ball. But his presence opened things up for Pulisic, whose 59 appearances for the U.S. made him the most experienced player in the American lineup.
Pulisic nearly got his team on the board in the 23rd minute when he lured Mexican keeper Guillermo Ochoa off his line, then chipped a right-footed shot well over the open net. He got another opportunity 14 minutes later and this time he didn't miss, collecting the carom of a pass intended for Balogun, dribbling through a crowded penalty area and drilling a left-footed shot by Ochoa and in at the far post.
Pulisic doubled the margin with a breakaway goal a minute into the second half, a score set up by Timothy Weah, who outran Mexican defender Victor Guzmán up the right wing before bending a perfect right-footed cross into the center of the box for a sliding Pulisic, who deflected the ball in with his left foot.
Ricardo Pepi, another dual national, came on for Balogun in the 75th minute and closed out the scoring three minutes later, becoming the only Mexican to score on the night.
