United States opens World Cup play with record-breaking performance, rout of Paraguay
INGLEWOOD - Paraguay national coach Gustavo Alfaro ascribed his team’s recovery from a dreadful start in South American World Cup qualifying to a change in mentality.
“All I had to do was shake the tree a little so the spiders would fall off and we would realize the tree is full of fruit,” he said following a win against Brazil.
Friday night, however, they were still shaking off the cobwebs.
El Albirroja ran into a World Cup foe that, for a half at least, looked like Brazil, circa 1970 - the United States.
Yes, that United States.
Photos: United States kicks off 2026 World Cup with record-setting victory
A men’s national program that managed just seven wins in its last 35 World Cup matches and only one in which it scored three goals struck three times in the first half of Friday’s opener against the stunned Paraguayans en route to a record 4-1 victory at SoFi Stadium.
Both teams’ primary jerseys feature red and white stripes, wavy horizontal for the hosts and vertical for the visitors. That’s where the similarities ended.
It was hard to determine which was higher, the percentage of U.S. fans packed in Stan Kroenke’s $5.5 billion shrine or the percentage of U.S. possession in the first half. Both were prodigious numbers.
The other prodigious number: four, the most goals scored by a U.S. team in World Cup history.
After a nervy start in which Paraguay briefly threatened Matt Freese’s goal, the Yanks got on the scoreboard in the seventh minute after Christian Pulisic split two defenders on the left side and flicked to Weston McKennie, whose cross was deflected by defender Damian Bobadilla into his net for a dreaded own goal.
Some historical context: The last time the U.S. won a World Cup match on home soil, 2-1 against Colombia at the Rose Bowl, it also included an own-goal.
Said midfielder Weston McKennie: “After the own goal, I was like, ‘OK, the luck is on our side a little bit.’”
That seemed to relax the hosts, and British-raised Balogun - he was born in New York to Nigerian parents but moved to England a few months later - would have had a hat trick by halftime had one of his strikes not been nixed by offside.
As it was, he scored in the 31st minute on a Pulisic cross and again in first-half stoppage time after controlling a long ball, cutting back on a defender and curling a left-footed shot past goalkeeper Orlando Gill into the upper left corner that certainly qualifies as a golazo.
“That first half,” Pulisic said, “we went out with that energy, playing the way we did, controlling the game right from the start, getting early goals. All in all, one of the better halves we’ve played … just an incredible start.”
The second half was largely an exercise in game management, especially with Pulisic subbed out at the break after playing his best half of soccer in months, responsible for the first two goals and dangerous seemingly every time he touched the ball.
The culprit: a knock on the back of his left calf.
“Got a bit of kick in the first half, so I’m really hoping that’s nothing,” Pulisic said. “I’m taking a little bit of precaution. I’m hoping I’ll be fine. I’ve had something like this before and it’s been nothing. Yeah, I’m staying positive.”
The last time the U.S. scored three goals in a World Cup half also came in the tournament opener, a 3-2 win against Portugal in 2002 in South Korea. It bodes well. That year, they reached the quarterfinals, beating Mexico in the round of 16 for their only knockout stage victory in World Cup history.
But that was a 32-team tournament, and only the top two teams in each group advanced, and the Americans barely did after tying and losing their next two matches.
With 48 teams here, the top two in each group make it - as do eight third-place teams. A three-goal victory in the opener - goal differential is a key tiebreaker - doesn’t mathematically guarantee advancement, but it’s a pretty good bet.
Paraguay was forced to come out of its preferred defensive shell in the second half and try to generate offense after averaging just .78 goals in 18 South American qualifiers.
La Albirroja finally did in the 73rd minute, when a misplayed clearance by 38-year-old center back Tim Ream - the oldest U.S. player to appear in a World Cup match - left Mauricio open to slot home a shot and momentarily dampen the celebratory mood among a star-studded SoFi crowd that included Tom Cruise, George Lucas, David Beckham, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Jamie Foxx, Owen Wilson, Vince Vaughn, Sofia Vergara, Paris Hilton and Chargers safety Derwin James Jr.
The roars returned just before the final whistle, which was supposed to come after seven minutes of stoppage time but Dutch referee Danny Makkelie allowed to go longer, perhaps anticipating the magic off the foot of substitute Gio Reyna.
Instead of mercifully running out the clock, the maligned midfielder from the 2022 World Cup ripped a shot with the outside of his right boot that bent into the upper left corner for the record fourth goal.
“Personally, that’s what I hoped for,” McKennie said. “You never know what’s going to happen. … We know what we’re capable of, and today was just a great starting point for us. To win 4-1 against a team like Paraguay is a lot, especially in the opening game.
“But we also know it’s just a start. It’s not something we want to over-celebrate because we want this to be the normal for us.”
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This story was originally published June 12, 2026 at 8:41 PM.