The United States men's national team made a historically great start to the 2026 World Cup.
In beating Paraguay 4-1 at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles, California, the USMNT scored its most goals ever in a single World Cup match in the men's national team's history.
They'd scored three goals three times before this opening game of the 2026 tournament, most recently in a 3-2 win over Portugal in 2002, but never four. Thank Gio Reyna's cherry-on-top trivela finish with the last kick of the match for that bit of trivia.
Folarin Balogun, the Brooklyn-born, London-raised striker, bagged a brace and became the first USMNT player to score two or more goals in a single World Cup match since 1930, the last time the United States played Paraguay, when they won 3-0 behind a hat trick from Bert Patenaude, scorer of the first hat trick in the World Cup's history.
Balogun stole the show with his two finishes (he also had a third goal rightly ruled out for offside in the build-up), but the entire lineup of starters clicked from the start against Paraguay.
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Outside of an early surge forward by the Paraguayans in the first three minutes of the match, the United States otherwise dominated possession, created chance after chance, and never looked back after opening the scoring via an own goal from Paraguay's Damián Bobadilla in the seventh minute.
They were up by three goals at halftime and enjoyed 71% possession in the first 45 minutes, the most they've ever had in the first half of a World Cup during the modern era, according to USMNT stats guru Paul Carr.
The United States created four big chances in that half, attempted seven shots, completed 200 more passes than Paraguay did, and looked untouchable while making an almost perfect start to their tournament.
"Almost" because they would concede a goal in the second half through some defensive disorganization following a Paraguay set piece, and Christian Pulisic did come off at halftime with what was described as a slight calf injury after taking a kick, but neither of those slight negatives can dim the shine of what was a complete performance in the first USMNT World Cup game played on home soil since 1994.
Matthew Mangam
Matt Freese, USMNT World Cup starter
All that pre-tournament debate over who should start for the USMNT at goalkeeper, and in the end, it was New York City FC's Matt Freese.
The start against Paraguay should not have surprised anyone reading between USMNT coach Mauricio Pochettino's lines, as even while he said there was no starter named and that the position was open to competition, he continued to treat Freese like his starter in the weeks immediately before this game.
That status was confirmed against Paraguay and the start made Freese the first active MLS goalkeeper to ever start a World Cup game for the USMNT. Against Paraguay, Freese also became the first active New York City FC player to ever start a World Cup match, and by playing for more than nine minutes, he surpassed Rodney Wallace (Costa Rica, 2018) for the most World Cup minutes played by an active NYCFC player.
Freese had to be ready from the start against Paraguay, because his biggest involvement in the match came in its second minute, when he had to quickly get an arm up to cover an attempt to power a shot into the top-corner from Paraguay's Antonio Sanabria. That was Paraguay's best and only chance to score until they were down 3-0, as this was a night in which Freese did not have much to do.
He still held up fine in his first World Cup minutes, making history for NYCFC and MLS while cementing his rapid rise from uncapped at the start of 2025, to World Cup starter by the summer of 2026.
Andrew Leigh
Optimal lineup, optimal result
Freese starting didn't count as a surprise, but you can consider defender Chris Richards being ready to start and playing all 90 minutes of the win a slight surprise. The health of Richards' ankle was a huge point of concern all through pre-World Cup training camp, with the Crystal Palace FC center-back slow to recover from an injury he suffered in mid-May.
There was real doubt around Richards heading into the Paraguay game, but he answered all the questions by not only playing but playing extremely well, completing every one of the passes he attempted, making key tackles during threatening moments from Paraguay, even coming close to scoring a goal of his own with a just-wide header during that dominant first half.
83 - Chris Richards completed all 83 passes he attempted for the #USMNT against Paraguay, the most passes with a 100 percent accuracy rate by any player in a FIFA World Cup match since 1966.
— OptaJack⚽️ (@OptaJack) June 13, 2026
Perfection. pic.twitter.com/kTD2kmrrPa
He gives the US a much stronger-looking back line than any of his potential replacements, but his inclusion wasn't the only big positive for that USMNT lineup.
Pochettino's recent tweak of playing Weston McKennie further forward as a No 10, with Malik Tillman sitting deeper and closer to defensive midfielder Tyler Adams, continued against Paraguay and unlocked McKennie to have an influential performance, even if he didn't record a goal or an assist. He was in the middle of the move that broke down Paraguay and led to the opening own goal in the seventh minute, and consistently linked play in the final third while the US swarmed around Paraguay's 18-yard-box.
McKennie is a Swiss Army Knife-type who has played almost every outfield position at club level with Juventus, but this might be the role he's best-suited to with the United States, because it allows Christian Pulisic to operate on the left, and takes creative pressure of Tillman, who looked very solid in the first half while operating deeper in the midfield.
At least through the first matchday of Group D play, Mauricio Pochettino pushed all the right buttons to get his USMNT a history-making win. Next, they'll try to keep this momentum rolling, but while facing a physical, defensive-minded Australia side next Friday, June 19 at 3:00 pm ET in Seattle, Washington.
