Team USA opened its home World Cup with its best ever showing in the global tournament.
In front of more than 70,000 fans in Los Angeles, the Stars and Stripes dominated Paraguay and secured a 4-1 victory.
This was the most goals Team USA has ever scored in a World Cup game, and the first time a player has scored multiple goals in a World Cup game since the inaugural tournament in 1930. And that game was also against Paraguay.
Goal one came just seven minutes into the match. Christian Pulisic charged up the left side, splitting two defenders before shipping the ball down and front to Weston McKennie, who tried to cross it, but it bounced off a Paraguayan defender and crossed the goal line.
The next two goals came from Folarin Balogun 31 minutes in and then five minutes into the first half stoppage time, making him the first USA player to score more than one goal in a single World Cup game since 1930.
Team USA went into half time with a 3-0 lead. They got the ball past Paraguay’s goalkeeper one more time, but a video review ultimately ruled USA was offsides and the goal was rescinded.
The second half started with Pulisic surprisingly on the bench, replaced with Sebastian Berhalter.
Head coach Mauricio Pochettino ended up utilizing four of his five allowed substitutions throughout the second half, allowing multiple other starters to take a seat and demonstrating the depth of his roster.
Paraguay would find a way to get on the board 73 minutes into the game. But it would prove to be too little too late.
The final U.S. goal came within the very last minute of stoppage time as Gio Reyna fired the ball past the goalkeeper from the top of the penalty area, kicking off the already primed post-game celebration a few seconds early.
Team USA consistently dominated the game’s momentum, maintaining possession for 65 percent of the game, out-passing their opponents, out-shooting their opponents, and winning more one-on-one duels for possession.
The game also had a significant physical element. Despite having officiating that commentators deemed comparatively lenient, Paraguay racked up 17 fouls, including five yellow cards, while the United States drew 12 fouls, including one yellow card.
However, the men representing the red, white, and blue appeared to show significant composure as they worked to control the ball through a field of aggressive defenders over the 90 minutes.
The United States takes all three points from the group stage match and looks to play Australia in Seattle on June 19.
In their previous 11 World Cup appearances, the United States has advanced beyond the group stage whenever it won or tied its first game of the tournament.
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