USA 4, Paraguay 1: Is the USMNT Good at Soccer Now? | OneFootball

The United States scored more goals in its opening game at the 2026 World Cup than it managed in the entirety of its previous World Cup campaign in Qatar 2022. The 4-1 win against Paraguay at the Los Angeles Stadium in Inglewood, California, on Friday gave the co-hosts the perfect start and immediately put them in a good position to qualify for the knockout rounds.

The convincing nature of the win was celebrated, and rightly so. If you can’t enjoy soccer when your team has just won 4-1 in its World Cup opener on home soil, when can you?

Alongside this, questions were also asked about how much we can actually learn from this result. The US was expected to win, but took us aback with the convincing manner of the first half performance.

Amid the brash declarations on right-wing social media websites that the USA will win the entire World Cup on the back of this opening game victory, there were also some altogether more cautious queries sent into the soccersphere asking what a 4-1 scoreline against Paraguay actually means in the grand scheme of things.

As is typical of one of those platforms, formerly known as Twitter, the most popular post was both brash and factually incorrect.

“JUST A REMINDER,” posted USMNT Only, an account that is part of the Men in Blazers content aggregation network.

“Paraguay beat Brazil and Argentina and had the best defensive record in South American World Cup qualifying.

“They just lost 4-1 to the USMNT in their opening match at the 2026 World Cup final.”

The best defensive record in South American (Conmebol) World Cup qualifying actually belonged to Ecuador, but there is still some truth in the engagement farming statement.

Paraguay did have the joint-second best defense in qualifying, and did manage to pick up famous wins against Argentina and Brazil. Having only scored 14 goals in 18 qualifying matches, Paraguay needed its defense to be good, and it was, as it conceded just 10 goals.

Based on their qualifying campaign, the BBC’s South American football expert Tim Vickery wasn’t wrong when he said prior to the game that Paraguay “can defend like a group of nightclub bouncers. ‘Your name's not on the list, pal. You’re not getting in our penalty area.’”

What transpired was not this version of Paraguay. Its defense was not good in this game. It failed to man the door, and the US continuously found a way past that much-hyped rearguard.

The opening goal was a bit of a shambles from Paraguay’s point of view, but still required quality play from American players to make it happen. That quality came from Alex Freeman, Weston McKennie, and Christian Pulisic. It may have been an own goal by Damián Bobadilla, but the positive pass from Freeman, McKennie’s box-to-box work, and Pulisic’s ability to beat two men with one dribble made the goal happen.

From there, a team like Paraguay, which isn’t a prolific scorer and whose game is focused on not conceding, can be at a loss as to what to do next, and as it turned out, it didn’t know what to do.

The US getting that opening goal was key to getting the win, but on top of that, what came after was one of the most encouraging performances in World Cup history for the United States men’s team.

A striker, Folarin Balogun, got on the scoresheet twice, becoming the first USMNT player to score multiple goals in a single World Cup match since Bert Patenaude scored a hat-trick against the same opponent in the 1930 World Cup.

All players looked comfortable in their roles in this setup under Pochettino, which has very specific in and out of possession assignments for each player, but also allows for some positional flexibility within that. The wildcard squad pick, Gio Reyna, came off the bench to score a classy goal.

The only way it could have gone any better was if the defense kept a clean sheet and if New York City FC goalkeeper Matt Freese had had a few saves to make to boost his own confidence, but Paraguay looked more like Conmebol Paraguay in the second half.

La Albirroja nabbed a goal back, and the flow of the game was more like what many expected before kickoff, but at the same time, the US knew it had won the game in the first 45 minutes, so it no longer needed to force the issue. They also did enough defensively in the second half not to make it a nervy ending.

Pochettino could even afford to take Pulisic off at halftime after his star player picked up a knock. "He received a kick in his calf, and he felt tight at the end of the first half,” the US coach said after the game. “We didn't want to take any risks. It was difficult for him to walk, but we hope that it is not a big issue and he can be ready for the next game." The nature of the injury, a knock rather than a strain, should mean he is available for the next game.

The conclusion for those of us wondering what to make of this result should probably be along the lines of: don’t overrate the win, but don’t downplay the first-half performance. Enjoy the wins and the performances when they come, because in soccer and in sport, you never know what’s around the corner.

The plain facts mean it should be enough to see the US through to the next round. At this stage of a tournament, results are what matter most, but a performance like this from the USMNT was certainly a welcome one from a co-host.