USMNT opens its home World Cup with dominant victory over Paraguay

INGLEWOOD — The last time the U.S. men’s national soccer team and Paraguay met, a late-game brawl erupted.

Friday’s FIFA World Cup Group D opener brought the teams together again, and the U.S. scored the equivalent of a first-half knockout in this one.

The Americans, playing a World Cup match on home soil for the first time since 1994, scored three goals, two from Folarin Balogun in his tournament debut, before halftime on their way to a 4-1 win in front of a sellout crowd of 70,492 at Los Angeles Stadium.

“The performance was really good,” U.S. coach Mauricio Pochettino said. “I think we really played well, so happy but that is only the start. Still two games to play, we need to enjoy the start of the tournament, but knowing that we need to keep going and trying to do better.

“It’s about the collective. I think the team was amazing.”

With the rout came plenty of history. It was the first three-goal first half for the U.S. since a memorable 3-2 victory over Portugal in 2002, and Balogun became the first USMNT player with a multi-goal game in the World Cup since Bert Patenaude in 1930.

The U.S., which scored only three goals combined in its four matches at the Qatar World Cup four years ago, had never scored more than three in any World Cup match before.

“It meant everything for us,” winger Christian Pulisic said. “A half like that, for it to go as it did, and have the fans excited about our performance, it felt amazing.”

The U.S. hadn’t had its best performances in group play openers before this one. Dating to the 1990 tournament, the Americans had won their opener only twice (2002 and 2014). In 2002, the win eventually catapulted the Bruce Arena-led team into the quarterfinals.

The U.S. couldn’t have asked for a better start this time around in the expanded 48-team tournament that is being co-hosted by the U.S., Canada and Mexico.

In the seventh minute, Paraguay defender Damián Bobadilla knocked in an intended pass from Weston McKennie to Florian Balogun for an own goal.

The Americans nearly doubled their lead in the 28th minute on a goal by Balogun, but the linesman raised his flag for offside. However, in the 31st minute, Balogun scored again and this time it counted.

“A real dream,” Balogun said of his night. “It’s a dream.”

Balogun, who was born in New York to Nigerian parents before growing up in England and representing the country at the youth level, joined the U.S. after heavy recruitment from the U.S. and England in 2023. In the fifth minute of first-half stoppage time, he made it 3-0 right before halftime.

“It’s not always about how you start, but also about what happens along the way and in the end,” Pochettino said. “The performance of the team, overall is really good, but it’s only one game and three points. We know the rest of the group will be very difficult.”

Paraguay, which was making its first World Cup appearance since 2010 received a boost before the match even started with the return of forward Julio Enciso to the starting lineup. Enciso suffered a leg injury in Paraguay’s last pre-tournament exhibition match.

Paraguay avoided being shut out with a goal from Maurício in the 73rd minute. The goal was the first shot on goal Paraguay had in the match. Enciso had the assist, but he was kept quiet for the majority of the night.

Gio Reyna put the punctuation mark on the U.S. team’s standout opener when he buried a shot with the outside of his right foot from just inside the 18-yard box in the eighth minute of stoppage time.

“The U.S. won this match very fairly and clearly,” Paraguay coach Gustavo Alfaro said. “We knew they were a complex rival and we knew they had good coordination and a good attack, and if you’re not ready on defense, it could be painful. … They dominated tactically and physically. There are many details we need to fine-tune.”

Paraguay will back in Group D action next Thursday against Turkey in Santa Clara.

Two of the American squad’s biggest roster concerns were in goal and at center back with the availability of Chris Richards. Richards, who missed the last two pre-tournament exhibitions after suffering an ankle injury with his club team Crystal Palace, returned to training earlier this week and by Tuesday had deemed himself fit and ready to go. Richards went the full 90 minutes.

The other concern was in goal. It was a battle of the Matts (Freese and Turner) to see who would get the starting nod and it ended up going to Freese. The New York City FC starter became the ninth goalkeeper in USMNT history to play in a World Cup game.

However, a third concern popped up in the second half. Christian Pulisic, who set up the own goal by Paraguay and assisted on Balogun’s first goal, was replaced by Sebastian Berhalter at halftime. The U.S. didn’t immediately indicate whether the AC Milan standout was injured, but Pulisic appeared to signal to family in the stands that he was fine.

Pulisic told reporters in the mixed zone after the game that he was kicked in the back of his leg.

“I just got a bit of a kick in the first half, so I’m really hoping that it’s nothing,” he said. “Taking a little bit of precaution today, but I’m hoping I’ll be fine in the next few days.

“I’ve had similar things before and year, I’m staying positive.”

Pochettino added that Pulisic picked up a knock during training and hopes that Pulisic will be ready for the second group stage game on Thursday against Australia in Seattle.

Australia and Turkey will kick off their group schedule on Saturday in Vancouver.

The U.S. will close out the group stage on June 25 back in Inglewood against Turkey.

“Poch has said many times, ‘Why not us?’” Balogun said. “We have to believe. You can’t do anything if you don’t believe in yourself.”