IRVINE, Calif. — Las Vegans following the World Cup should know that U.S. men’s national team striker Haji Wright has ties to the city.
“My grandfather lived there for a long time,” Wright said Monday of his late maternal grandfather.
“I do have a place, but I don’t spend as much time there as I used to. As a kid, I was there every summer.”
To be sure, Wright was born and raised in Los Angeles. He played youth soccer in the city, including developmental years in the LA Galaxy Academy. He’s a devoted Lakers fan, saying he didn’t feel as much as his American teammates did celebrating the Knicks during the NBA Finals run and explaining, “I didn’t want to be a bandwagon fan.”
Wright, 28, is a seasoned pro who has earned a World Cup roster spot for the second time. While he didn’t appear in Friday’s 4-1 group-stage win against Paraguay in the Americans’ debut match in his hometown, Wright said it was amazing to experience the national anthem in his first time at SoFi Stadium and also celebrated as top striker Folarin Balogun scored two goals.
“I’m definitely proud of him,” Wright said, noting that the bench players on the team have taken on a supportive mentality.
“We’re a tight-knit bunch of players. I think everybody on the squad is quality. It just depends on how much that quality is needed in that particular game and that particular moment. I think regardless of if we’re on the field or not, I think everybody is always prepared.”
Wright has seen his family members in Southern California recently as much as he’s had in the last half decade, as he has primarily played abroad. In the U.K., he’s the top scorer for Coventry City, which recently earned a promotion to the Premier League.
Wright has scored memorable goals. In the 2022 World Cup in the Americans’ Round of 16 loss to the Netherlands, he flicked the ball in.
Yet the path to playing time this year with Balogun playing a starring role is uncertain. It was Ricardo Pepi, not Wright, who came on as a substitute for Balogun in the 72nd minute against Paraguay with the win in hand.
Still, Wright does have intriguing experience — and in October he scored a brace of his own to lead the Americans to a win. That outburst happened to come in a 2-1 friendly win against Australia, the next group-stage opponent for the U.S. on Friday in Seattle.
Australia joined the U.S. atop the group standings with an upset 2-0 win against Turkey in Vancouver. Wright recalled how the Australian defense months earlier gave the Americans a difficult time and how he needed to be patient with scoring opportunities.
“I think Turkey kind of came into the game a bit overconfident, and I think we won’t make that same mistake,” Wright said. “I think we know every team in the tournament is a good team. They deserve to be here.
“We respect everybody in the competition.”
Contact Diamond Leung at dleung@reviewjournal.com. Follow @diamond83 on X.
