USA 4-1 Paraguay: Five Star Performance Puts USMNT Among World Cup Favorites After Paraguay Demolition
Four goals. A record World Cup win. Folarin Balogun with two. The USMNT opened their home World Cup in front of 70,000 at SoFi Stadium and left nobody in any doubt about what this team is capable of.
The United States men's national team has never scored more than three goals in a single World Cup game. On Friday night at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, they scored four against Paraguay, and it could have been more. A crowd of 70,000 watched the most complete performance in USMNT World Cup history, and by the final whistle the conversation had shifted from whether America could compete at this tournament to whether they could win it.
The result was settled long before the end. An own goal from Damian Bobadilla in the seventh minute, the fastest goal the United States had ever scored at a World Cup, set the tone. Folarin Balogun doubled the lead in the 31st minute with a composed finish after a cutback from Christian Pulisic. Then Balogun struck again before halftime, curling a strike into the top corner that lifted the stadium to its loudest point of the night. Paraguay pulled one back in the 73rd minute through Julio Enciso, giving the scoreline a respectability it barely deserved. Gio Reyna sealed it in the 88th minute, receiving the ball on the edge of the box and dispatching it with the outside of his right boot into the far corner.
How It Happened at SoFi Stadium
Pulisic was everywhere. He did not score, but his movement, pressing and creativity created two goals and disrupted Paraguay's entire defensive structure from the opening minute. The decision to start him and Balogun as a front two, with Malik Tillman, Tyler Adams and Weston McKennie controlling the midfield, gave Pochettino's side both the structure to defend and the pace to punish on the counter.
Balogun, who could have played for England or Nigeria before committing to the United States, described it as a dreamy night. It was hard to argue with him.
What Comes Next
The USMNT face Australia in Seattle on June 19 and Turkey in Los Angeles on June 25 to complete Group D. A place in the knockout rounds is now well within reach. The performance against Paraguay, the most complete in the program's World Cup history, has done something more significant: it has made the rest of the tournament sit up and take notice.