Folarin Balogun stole the show as USA demolished Paraguay 4–1 in their 2026 World Cup opener in Group D on Friday night.
USA mounted early pressure on Paraguay from the start with former Chelsea and AC Milan forward Christian Pulisic continuously taking the opponents’ left wingback to task.
Mauricio Pochettino’s charges sustained their sharp moves in the opening exchanges and forced Paraguay to drop deep and struggle to keep their lines.
And from the pace and cadence of the hosts, it was evident Paraguay are in for a stern challenge. It wasn’t long before the Guaranies were forced to get the ball into their own net due to mounting pressure.
Christian Pulisic initiated the attack that resulted in the goal. From the edge of the penalty area, Pulisic delivered a dangerous ball into the six-yard box, causing pandemonium between both USA attackers and Paraguayan defenders.
Paraguay defender Andrés Cubas attempted to clear it, but ended up diverting it into his own net to crown USA’s terrific attack and pressure.
Seven minutes later, Balogun nearly doubled the lead for the hosts, but had his effort sail wide off target. Meanwhile, Paraguay found some reprieve with a short spell of possession after Balogun’s miss, but were finding it hard to break past USA’s midfield.
Overall, USA still stayed on the front foot despite taking the lead and every one of their attack proved dangerous for the Paraguayan defence.
In the 16th minute, Pulisic came close again to finding the Stripes and Stars’ second after cutting inside from the left, but his curled effort flew over the crossbar.
Six minutes after that miss, the 27-year-old put through Balogun with a defence-splitting pass, and the latter converted it with aplomb, lifting the ball past the Paraguayan goalie to make it 2–0.
Despite going down by two unanswered goals, Paraguay did little to mount a comeback and were still playing second fiddle to the hosts at the packed Inglewood Stadium in Los Angeles.
They, however, came close to halving the deficit in their first chance in the 22nd minute, but USA goalkeeper Freeze was equal to the task, gathering it with grace.
Just on the cusp of the first-half break, USA put the game beyond the Paraguayans with their third goal of the night. It was Balogun again on the score sheet for his brace. The forward stole his way past two Paraguayan defenders and then delivered a right-footed finish past the Paraguayan goalkeeper to make it 3–0 at the break.
A few seconds into the restart, USA nearly made it 4–0 after Paraguay lost control of the ball in their half amid a wild scramble. However, they couldn’t make it count.
Unlike the thrilling first half, a long goal drought set in after USA’s early goal threat. Paraguay were beginning to step up their game and press high up the hosts’ half, but their biggest problem was creating chances with the USA defence doing a great job of foiling their offensives.
Towards the hour mark, Mauricio Pochettino’s men began to regain control again, and in the 57th minute, they were within inches of a fourth goal. However, the Paraguayan goalkeeper pulled off a great save to keep it at 3–0.
16 minutes later, USA got their shock of the night as Paraguay pulled one back against the run of play. The hosts mistakenly gave away the ball following a misplaced pass at the back and Paraguay had their first big chance attacking high up the field with Mauricio beating USA goalkeeper Freeze to score.
However, the drama was far from over as USA responded by committing more bodies forward and ramping up their attack.
Paraguay were also pushing forward with counter attacks when on possession as the clock ticked towards the end, but they were vulnerable during such occasions, leaving exploitable gaps at the back.
This brought their backline under constant USA attacks and it wasn’t long before they conceded again. Giovanni Reyna nailed the final goal of the night in stoppage time, finishing brilliantly after his side’s breakaway to make it 4–1 at the blast of the final whistle.
USA have now gone top of Group D with three points and will look to sustain their winning start when they host Australia in their second group clash on Friday.
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