United States beats Paraguay in World Cup opener

The United States opened its 2026 World Cup campaign with a commanding 4-1 win over Paraguay on Friday, turning a high-pressure home debut at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California, into an attacking showcase before 70,492 fans.

Mauricio Pochettino’s team scored early, overwhelmed Paraguay in the first half and took three points to move atop Group D, which also includes Australia and Turkey. The United States next plays Australia on June 19 in Seattle, while Australia and Turkey meet Saturday.

The breakthrough came in the seventh minute. Christian Pulisic drove down the left, split defenders and found Weston McKennie, whose centering touch struck Paraguay midfielder Damián Bobadilla and bounced into the net for an own goal. The Guardian reported that the move began with Tim Ream moving the ball across the back line to Alex Freeman, who sent McKennie up the channel before the Juventus midfielder combined with Pulisic.

The U.S. did not ease off. Pulisic continued to create danger from the left, and Folarin Balogun made his World Cup debut with a two-goal first half. In the 31st minute, he finished after Pulisic’s deflected pass reached him in the box. Earlier, an apparent Balogun goal had been ruled out for offside.

Balogun struck again with the final kick of first-half stoppage time. Malik Tillman played a long, weighted pass into his path, and Balogun created space before firing into the far top corner to make it 3-0.

Pulisic was replaced by Sebastian Berhalter at halftime. CBS News reported that the U.S. did not immediately say whether the AC Milan forward was injured, though Pulisic appeared to signal to family members in the stands that he was fine. The Guardian reported that the substitution appeared to be precautionary rather than injury-related.

Paraguay improved after the break and pulled one back in the 73rd minute. After a restart by goalkeeper Orlando Gill, Tyler Adams’s attempted clearance found Miguel Almirón near the edge of the area. Almirón quickly moved the ball to Julio Enciso, who fed substitute Mauricio, and the Palmeiras winger beat Matt Freese to cut the deficit to 3-1.

Gio Reyna restored the three-goal margin in second-half stoppage time, gliding into the box and scoring with a deft outside-of-the-boot finish. CBS News reported it was Reyna’s first World Cup goal, after he barely played at the Qatar World Cup amid a family dispute involving former U.S. coach Gregg Berhalter.

The result marked a sharp contrast with the Americans’ scoring output at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. CBS News reported that the U.S. scored only three goals total across four matches there and had never scored more than three times in a World Cup match. The outlet also reported that Balogun, a New York-born, London-raised Monaco forward who chose to represent the U.S. three years ago instead of remaining in England’s system, became the first U.S. player with a multigoal World Cup performance since 1930.

Pochettino had said a day earlier that his players needed to play with joy and focus, citing advice from a member of Argentina’s victorious World Cup team, The Guardian reported. For long stretches, especially in the first half, the U.S. did exactly that.

CBS News reported that the crowd included Tom Cruise, George Lucas, Bill Gates, Halle Berry, Leonardo DiCaprio and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.