{"id":863843,"date":"2026-06-13T05:25:25","date_gmt":"2026-06-13T05:25:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/863843\/"},"modified":"2026-06-13T05:25:25","modified_gmt":"2026-06-13T05:25:25","slug":"world-cup-u-s-offense-shines-in-win-over-paraguay","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/863843\/","title":{"rendered":"World Cup: U.S. offense shines in win over Paraguay"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

It was a game eight years in the making. The first World Cup<\/a> match on American soil in more than a generation and the start of a tournament that has the potential to alter the direction of soccer in this country for the next generation.<\/p>\n

And the U.S. seized on every bit of that opportunity Friday, with Christian Pulisic<\/a> setting up two goals and Folarin Balogun<\/a> scoring twice in his World Cup debut, sparking an impressive 4-1 victory over Paraguay in a game that was far more one-sided than the score indicated.<\/p>\n

The U.S., which needed a big effort to start the tournament, was on the front foot from the start, going in front to stay in the seventh minute \u2014 although it was Paraguayan midfielder Dami\u00e1n Bobadilla who got credit for the goal after stepping in front of Balogun and deflecting in a cross from Weston McKennie<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\" <\/p>\n

Highlights from the United States\u2019 4-1 win over Paraguay in World Cup Group D play on Friday.<\/p>\n

Pulisic, the American star who is under intense pressure to perform in this tournament, set up the goal, pushing the ball between a pair of defenders before poking it on for McKennie in the center of the box. Bobadilla then did the rest, inadvertently sticking his right foot in front of the ball and bouncing it by Paraguayan keeper Orlando Gil.<\/p>\n

Balogun appeared to double the lead coming out of the hydration break midway through the opening half, but the goal was negated by an offside call. That only delayed the second goal, however, with Balogun making it 2-0 by one-timing in a perfect feed from Pulisic from the penalty spot in the 31st minute.<\/p>\n

Balogun added to the U.S. advantage just before the intermission, running on to a perfectly weighted through ball from Malik Tillman, stepping through a challenge from Omar Alderete entering the penalty area and turning around Paraguayan captain Gustavo G\u00f3mez before left-footing a shot into the top left corner to complete his first brace for the national team.<\/p>\n

\"U.S. <\/p>\n

U.S. striker Folarin Balogun, center, celebrates with teammates after scoring his second goal against Paraguay on Friday.<\/p>\n

(Robert Gauthier \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n

Gil was just a spectator on the play, with no chance to best the save. The goal marked the first time Paraguay had given up three scores in a World Cup game \u2014 much less one half \u2014 since 2002 and it came at the end of what was arguably the best opening 45 minutes a U.S. team has played in the tournament in decades.<\/p>\n

Gio Reyna<\/a> scored the fourth U.S. goal on the final play of the game.<\/p>\n

Pulisic was substituted in favor of Sebastian Berhalter to start the second half after an injury he sustained in training flared up.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe received a kick, a knock, two days before the start \u2014 before today \u2014 in our training session,\u201d U.S. coach Mauricio Pochettino said. \u201cI hope it\u2019s not a big issue, but when [he] finished the first half when [he] started to get cold, he could not walk. I hope that it is not a big issue.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat was so rushed because it was in the last minute and we needed to change and [make a] substitution. … I think it was better and I\u2019m hopeful the next game will be a lot better.\u201d<\/p>\n

Even without Pulisic, the U.S. continued to dominate in every way it was possible to dominate, controlling the ball for nearly 60 of the 90 minutes and completing more than twice as many passes. Paraguay\u2019s first shot on goal didn\u2019t come until the 73rd minute when Mauricio, a halftime substitute, took advantage of a slow-reacting U.S. defense to pull a goal back.<\/p>\n

Pochettino also got a solid game out of center back Chris Richards<\/a>, playing for the first time since tearing two ligaments in his left ankle a month ago.<\/p>\n

1 <\/p>\n

\"U.S. <\/p>\n

2 <\/p>\n

\"U.S. <\/p>\n

3 <\/p>\n

\"Weston <\/p>\n

4 <\/p>\n

\"U.S. <\/p>\n

5 <\/p>\n

\"U.S. <\/p>\n

1.<\/strong> U.S. midfielder Weston McKennie celebrates after a goal in the first half. 2.<\/strong> U.S. defender Chris Richards, left, slides to kick the ball away from Paraguay forward Julio Enciso in the second half. 3.<\/strong> Weston McKennie sprints with the ball in front of two Paraguay defenders. 4.<\/strong> U.S. striker Folarin Balogun scores in the first half. 5.<\/strong> U.S. striker Folarin Balogun, right, celebrates with Weston McKennie after scoring in the first half. (Robert Gauthier \/ Los Angeles Times) <\/p>\n

The Americans will face Australia in the second of three group-stage games next Friday in Seattle, where a draw will all but guarantee them a spot in the round of 32, something Pulisic said should be just the first objective for this team.<\/p>\n

This World Cup is the largest and most ambitious sporting event in history, with three host countries \u2014 Canada and Mexico, in addition to the U.S. \u2014 and a record 48 teams playing 104 games in 16 cities spread across four time zones. A long run by the American team, playing on home soil, could excite a nation and give soccer the kind of boost it hasn\u2019t seen since 1994, the last time a World Cup was played here.<\/p>\n

It could also change the narrative of a tournament whose run-up was clouded by outrageously high ticket prices, travel bans, the threat of ICE raids at tournament venues and the war in the Middle East, the first to pit a World Cup host against a World Cup qualifier.<\/p>\n

And the U.S. portion of that tournament opened with pomp despite those circumstances, with Thai pop star Lisa, Nigerian recording artist Rema and Brazilian singer Anitta headlining a 10-minute mini-concert staged before a massive replica of the World Cup trophy set over a blue map of the U.S. Katy Perry mounted a stage of her own an hour later to debut her song \u201cWonder\u201d as the flags of the 48 participating countries circled around her.<\/p>\n

President Trump did not attend the game, just as Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum skipped her country\u2019s opener Thursday in Mexico City and Prime Minister Mark Carney missed Canada\u2019s first game Friday in Toronto. Secretary of State Marco Rubio took Trump\u2019s place in the Hollywood-heavy crowd of 70,492 that packed SoFi Stadium, one which included Tom Cruise, David and Victoria Beckham, Halle Berry, Rob Lowe, Becky G, Jamie Foxx, Paris Hilton, Bill Gates, Justin Trudeau and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.<\/p>\n

That crowd was a sea of blue and red \u2014 the U.S. and Paraguay share the same colors \u2014 but the cheering was primarily for the Americans since Paraguay rarely mounted a threat.<\/p>\n

\"U.S. <\/p>\n

U.S. players and coach Mauricio Pochettino, center, celebrate after a 4-1 win over Paraguay in the World Cup at Los Angeles Stadium (SoFi Stadium) on Friday night.<\/p>\n

(Allen J. Schaben \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It was a game eight years in the making. The first World Cup match on American soil in…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":863844,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5123],"tags":[44318,20698,1582,276,2147,85471,9958,8897,352161,1910,42155,2961,224,5337,53137,1807,1443,338696,352162,21490],"class_list":["post-863843","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles","tag-31st-minute","tag-ball","tag-ca","tag-california","tag-canada","tag-christian-pulisic","tag-country","tag-folarin-balogun","tag-front-foot","tag-game","tag-goal","tag-la","tag-los-angeles","tag-losangeles","tag-paraguay","tag-president-trump","tag-tournament","tag-u-s-team","tag-u-s-offense","tag-world-cup"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116741141588942224","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/863843","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=863843"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/863843\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/863844"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=863843"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=863843"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=863843"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}