U.S. routs Paraguay 4-1 in historic World Cup opener. Here are five takeaways
There were signs before kickoff that the U.S. World Cup team was going to have a magical opening night.
Nobody would have predicted the historic 4-1 dismantling of a respected Paraguay team that had beaten Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay in the World Cup qualifying round. But there were clues that Friday night was going to be special for Team USA and its fans.
For one thing, the streets around SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles were awash in red, white and blue all afternoon in anticipation of the match. Nine miles away, fans paid $10 and packed the LA Memorial Coliseum to watch the game on big screens at the Los Angeles Fan Festival.
Inside SoFi Stadium, the star-studded crowd included Inter Miami co-owner David Beckham—who was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame earlier in the day—sitting with his friend Tom Cruise. Also in the audience were Leonardo DiCaprio, Bill Gates, Halle Berry, Jamie Foxx, Sofia Vergara, Owen Wilson, Rob Lowe, Vince Vaughn, NBA legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Paris Hilton.
Then came the stirring rendition of the Star-Spangled Banner by country music duo Dan + Shay (Dan Smyers and Shay Mooney). Every U.S. player had his hand on his heart and joined in the anthem a day after Canada’s American coach Jesse Marsch (a former U.S. national team assistant) said “In the U.S., sometimes we had to beg players to sing the national anthem.”
All across the country, fans in homes, bars and community watch parties displayed their patriotism. At Fritz & Franz Bierhaus in Coral Gables, patrons decked in red, white, and blue stood and belted out the anthem, and immediately after “home of the brave” they broke into a “U-S-A! U-S-A!”
That chant reverberated in and out of the stadium over the next 90-plus minutes, political divisions set aside in the name of team spirit.
The U.S. team delivered and made history along the way. Team USA had never scored four goals in a World Cup match. Folarin Balogun became the first U.S. men’s player since 1930 to score multiple goals in a game. And the winning margin of three goals tied for the largest in U.S. men’s history. It was the most watched U.S. World Cup game in history with 15.98 million viewers tuned in on FOX Sports.
Here are five takeaways from Team USA’s emphatic opening victory.
Pochettino had the team ready
The U.S. team’s Argentinean coach Mauricio Pochettino has been harping on “culture” and pride in the national team shirt since he took the job two years ago. Last week, as the team prepared for its opener, he urged his players to translate the immense expectation and pressure they shouldered into energy.
That they did.
Team USA scored just three goals over four games at the 2022 Qatar World Cup. Friday night, they scored three times in the first half.
They went ahead in the seventh minute after dominating from the opening whistle, which resulted in the own goal that gave them an early lead.
U.S. defender Alex Freeman, who grew up in Plantation and played youth soccer at Weston FC, began the scoring sequence with a long pass to Weston McKennie, who found Christian Pulisic on the flank. Pulisic got the ball back to McKennie, and his pass to Folarin Balogun was deflected into the net by Paraguayan midfielder Damián Bobadilla.
It was the third-fastest lead the U.S. has ever taken at a World Cup.
Balogun doubled the lead at the 31-minute mark and then scored again just before halftime, becoming the first American man to have multiple goals in a World Cup game since Bert Patenaude scored a hat trick in 1930, coincidentally against Paraguay.
Pulisic’s early exit a concern
Team captain Pulisic, who had his ups and downs over the past few years, played a brilliant first half.
On the first goal, he dribbled between Diego Gómez (the former Inter Miami player) and Juan Jose Cáceres and then past Andrés Cubas to get the ball to McKennie for the scoring chance.
Later in the half, he worked his way deep into the box and then cut the ball back to Balogun for the goal.
Everything seemed to be going great for the AC Milan midfielder, but when the second half started, he was on the bench.
“I just got a bit of a kick in the first half, so I’m really hoping that it’s nothing,” Pulisic explained to reporters after the game. “Taking a little bit of precaution today, but I’m hoping I’ll be fine the next few days.”
Pochettino added: “We didn’t want to take any risks.”
The next U.S. game is Friday against Australia in Seattle, so Pulisic has time to recover, assuming it is a minor injury. It is something to monitor in the days ahead.
USA midfield stepped up
There were skeptics entering the tournament who questioned whether the U.S. midfield was up to the task after Pochettino left a few good midfielders off his roster. So far, so good.
Tyler Adams paired well with attacking mids Malik Tillman and McKennie. Sergiño Dest also played well in the opening game, and Freeman pushed up into the attack.
Sebastian Berhalter and Gio Reyna come off the bench, and Reyna scored on a well-struck ball in the eighth minute of stoppage time to give the U.S. its first-ever four-goal result at the World Cup.
Pochettino defended his midfield selections when the roster was announced on May 26. He had been asked about leaving out Lyon starter Tanner Tessmann and Middlesbrough starter Aidan Morris.
“We have Tyler [Adams], we have Cristian Roldan, we have also Sebastian Berhalter that can play in that position,” Pochettino said. “We have players like [Malik] Tillman, like [Weston] McKennie, like also Gio Reyna. And then Sergino Dest in his team can play there, also Alex Freeman. If you go back when we were playing against Jamaica, we were using Antonee Robinson like a midfielder.
“What we wanted to provide the team was the possibility to have the best players possible and have this flexibility with different players, not to provide the opponent the possibility to see how we are going to play in that situation.”
Balogun shines in USA uniform
Balogun was born in New York to Nigerian parents, raised in London and had an opportunity to represent the United States, England, or Nigeria on the international stage. He came up through Arsenal’s academy, played on England’s and USA youth national teams and chose to play for the USA three years ago after U.S. officials recruited him hard.
American fans are surely grateful after his performance on Friday. The Monaco forward had two clinical finishes and one near-goal that was nullified for offside.
“It’s a dreamy night,” he told reporters after.
“I’ve not been able to take it all in. I’m sure when I get back to my hotel and I rest, I’m sure I’m going to really be able to be in the moment and experience how much of an amazing night this is.”
Pulisic said of Balogun: “The kid’s insane. He’s lethal right now in front of goal... Let’s just hope it keeps going like this.”
USA ticket prices soar
The good news for U.S. fans is that the team took a giant step toward advancing to the knockout stage. The bad news is, ticket prices for the next two USA World Cup games spiked on resale sites.
According to The Athletic, the cheapest get-in price on resale sites such as StubHub and SeatGeek rose above $1,800 late Friday night. They were around $1,000 earlier in the week.
This story was originally published June 13, 2026 at 3:09 PM.