The United States opened their 2026 World Cup campaign with a 4-1 win over Paraguay at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California, on June 12. The match drew 70,492 fans to the venue [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7].

The US took an early lead when Paraguayan midfielder Damian Bobadilla scored an own goal in the 7th minute, gifting the home side their first goal of the match [1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 8]. Folarin Balogun then doubled the lead with two first-half goals, scoring in the 31st minute and again in the fifth minute of first-half stoppage time. These marked Balogun's 10th and 11th international goals [9, 1, 2, 10, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 11].

Christian Pulisic assisted on both the own goal and Balogun's first strike, but he was substituted at halftime for undisclosed reasons [1, 3, 6, 11]. Matt Freese started as goalkeeper, making his first World Cup start over Matt Turner [1, 3, 8]. Defender Chris Richards returned from an ankle injury that had caused him to miss pre-World Cup friendlies [1, 3, 8].

Paraguay’s Mauricio scored a goal in the 73rd minute to pull one back for the visitors, but Giovanni Reyna sealed the victory with a late goal in second-half stoppage time, finalizing the score at 4-1 [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8].

Prior to this match, the United States had never scored four goals in a single World Cup game [5, 6, 8]. Coach Mauricio Pochettino praised Balogun’s impact after the game, while Balogun called the result "a dreamy night". Christian Pulisic described Balogun as "insane" [6, 11]. Midfielder Tyler Adams called Balogun one of the best players in his position worldwide [11].

Weston McKennie said, "I think I realized early on that they were struggling to follow my deep runs. If it’s not broken, don’t fix it. I keep trying to do it until they figure something out," reflecting on his own game during the match [12]. He also commented on Pulisic’s performance saying, "Christian's a guy that shows up in the big moments when you need him. And I think that's what he did today" [11].

The USA will face Australia next on June 19 in their second Group D match, set to take place in Seattle [2, 4].