{"id":864216,"date":"2026-06-13T09:24:38","date_gmt":"2026-06-13T09:24:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/864216\/"},"modified":"2026-06-13T09:24:38","modified_gmt":"2026-06-13T09:24:38","slug":"photos-u-s-defeats-paraguay-in-its-world-cup-opener","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/864216\/","title":{"rendered":"Photos: U.S. defeats Paraguay in its World Cup opener"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The U.S. men\u2019s national team made its first World Cup game on home soil in 32 years one to remember, defeating Paraguay 4-1<\/a> in front of a sold-out crowd at Los Angeles Stadium (SoFi Stadium) in Inglewood on Friday night.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s a look at some of the best moments before and during the game as captured by the Los Angeles Times photography staff:<\/p>\n

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

U.S. fans march to Los Angeles Stadium (SoFi Stadium) before the start of the U.S.-Paraguay World Cup match Friday.<\/p>\n

(Ronaldo Bolanos \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n

1 <\/p>\n

\"Sir <\/p>\n

2 <\/p>\n

\"Katy <\/p>\n

3 <\/p>\n

\" <\/p>\n

1.<\/strong> David Beckham, right, and Tom Cruise waves to fans before the World Cup group stage match. (Allen J. Schaben \/ Los Angeles Times) 2.<\/strong> Katy Perry, right, and Tius Luka perform during the World Cup opening ceremony before the U.S.-Paraguay match. (Allen J. Schaben \/ Los Angeles Times) 3.<\/strong> U.S. players, left, and Paraguay players enter the pitch before their World Cup group stage match. (Allen J. Schaben \/ Los Angeles Times) <\/p>\n

\"United <\/p>\n

U.S. forward Christian Pulisic, right, controls the ball in front of Paraguay defender Juan Jose Caceres during the first half Friday.<\/p>\n

(Ronaldo Bolanos \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n

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

U.S. defender Antonee Robinson, right, and Paraguay midfielder Diego Gomez battle for the ball during the first half. (Kelvin Kuo \/ Los Angeles Times) <\/p>\n

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

U.S. midfielder Weston McKennie celebrates after a U.S. goal in the first half against Paraguay. (Kelvin Kuo \/ Los Angeles Times) <\/p>\n

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

U.S. star Christian Pulisic celebrates after a goal in the first half of a 4-1 win over Paraguay at the World Cup on Friday at Los Angeles Stadium (SoFi Stadium).<\/p>\n

(Kelvin Kuo \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n

\"United <\/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

1 <\/p>\n

\"Paraguay <\/p>\n

2 <\/p>\n

\"Paraguay <\/p>\n

3 <\/p>\n

\"A <\/p>\n

1.<\/strong> Paraguay midfielder Cristian Roldan heads the ball over U.S. striker Folarin Balogun during the second half. (Robert Gauthier \/ Los Angeles Times) 2.<\/strong> Paraguay forward Julio Enciso jumps over U.S. defender Chris Richards during the second half. (Robert Gauthier \/ Los Angeles Times) 3.<\/strong> A stage is placed for the opening ceremony before the start of the U.S. vs. Paraguay match at Los Angeles Stadium (SoFi Stadium) on Friday. (Robert Gauthier \/ Los Angeles Times) <\/p>\n

\"Fans <\/p>\n

Fans cheer during the United States\u2019 4-1 win over Paraguay at the World Cup on Friday.<\/p>\n

(Robert Gauthier \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The U.S. men\u2019s national team made its first World Cup game on home soil in 32 years one…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":863716,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5123],"tags":[1582,276,352290,2378,24255,184305,352291,16636,2961,224,352288,2444,5337,58083,53137,20517,58326,352289,1439,352287],"class_list":["post-864216","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles","tag-ca","tag-california","tag-first-world-cup-game","tag-friday-night","tag-front","tag-good-moment","tag-home-soil","tag-inglewood","tag-la","tag-los-angeles","tag-los-angeles-stadium","tag-los-angeles-times","tag-losangeles","tag-national-team","tag-paraguay","tag-photo","tag-sofi-stadium","tag-sold-out-crowd","tag-u-s","tag-world-cup-opener"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116742082306579850","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/864216","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=864216"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/864216\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/863716"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=864216"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=864216"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=864216"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}