World Cup: Tillman starts for United States against Paraguay | OneFootball

The United States will host Paraguay in the opening game of Group D in the 2026 World Cup. Mauricio Pochettino handed a start for Bayer Leverkusen’s attacker Malik Tillman, while Borussia Mönchengladbach duo Gio Reyna and Joe Scally are among options from the bench.

USMNT also have seven players in their squad with previous Bundesliga experience – Chris Richards (FC Bayern and Hoffenheim), Tyler Adams (RB Leipzig), Weston McKennie (Schalke), Ricardo Pepi (Augsburg), Christian Pulisic (Borussia Dortmund), Brenden Aaronson (Union Berlin) and Haji Wright (Schalke and Sandhausen). 

The United States last lost their opening game of the World Cup in the 2006 edition staged in Germany (3-0 defeat to Czech Republic). The two national teams met during the group stage of the inaugural competition in 1930 when Bert Patenaude wrote history by scoring the competition’s first-ever hat-trick. The 3-0 victory for the United States saw them qualify for the semi-final as the group winner.

Former Hertha BSC center-back Omar Alderete starts for Paraguay after helping newly-promoted Sunderland qualify for Europa League. The South Americans last competed in the World Cup back in 2010, where they narrowly lost to eventual winners Spain in the quarter-final stage.

Confirmed United States vs. Paraguay Lineups

United States: Freese; Freeman, Richards, Ream ©; Dest, Adams, McKennie, Robinson; Tillman, Pulisic; Balogun

Paraguay: Gill; Caceres, G. Gomez ©, Alderete, Alonso; D. Gomez, Bobadilla, Cubas, Almiron; Sanabria, Enciso