INGLEWOOD, Calif. (AP) — Folarin Balogun fired his second goal into the top far corner of Paraguay’s net and then led his American teammates to the corner of their home stadium, reveling in the frenzy created by their historic first half at their World Cup opener.
The world’s biggest soccer tournament finally returned to the U.S. on Friday night after a generation of anticipation.
With this phenomenal match, the Americans also look like they’ve arrived.
Balogun scored twice in the Americans’ three-goal barrage before halftime, and the U.S. opened its first home World Cup in 32 years with its biggest win in the tournament, a dynamic 4-1 victory over Paraguay.
Christian Pulisic had an assist in a stellar first-half playmaking performance for the Americans, who enthralled their Southern California fans with an aggressive attack while streaking to a 3-0 lead — the team’s largest in any World Cup game.
“It meant everything for us,” Pulisic said. “A half like that, for it to go as it did, and have the fans excited about our performance, it felt amazing.”
Gio Reyna ripped another goal in the dying moments of second-half injury time, giving the Americans four goals in a World Cup match for the first time in their tournament history dating to 1930.
This production, this confidence, this dominance — it was nothing like the vast majority of the Americans’ previous performances on the international stage over the years and decades.
They’ve won exactly one knockout-round game in the World Cup. They’ve almost always struggled to score in the biggest events, most recently managing only three goals combined in their four matches at the Qatar World Cup in 2022.
In this pressure-packed home opener, the Americans were a team transformed while playing in coach Mauricio Pochettino’s more creative system in front of a passionate, star-studded Los Angeles crowd of 70,492. Led by the elite talent and coach-inspired fearlessness of Balogun, Pulisic and Weston McKennie up front, the U.S. finally had its breakthrough performance at SoFi Stadium.
“It’s difficult to compare with the past,” said Pochettino, who took over in late 2024. “I don’t know what happened in the past. I think we need to talk about today, because it was a great match. It was amazing for our fans to see, to watch this type of game, and today, I am so proud and we are so proud. I think we are winning a lot of fans, adding fans for the sport here in America.”
Not everything went perfectly: Pulisic was replaced by Sebastian Berhalter at halftime for precautionary reasons. Pochettino said Pulisic was kicked in the back of his left calf during a training session this week, and felt some subsequent tightness during the match.
“Staying positive,” Pulisic said. “I don’t think it’s anything.”
Maurício scored in the second half for Paraguay, but La Albirroja fell too far behind early in their first World Cup match in 16 years.
“The U.S. won this match very clearly and fairly,” Paraguay coach Gustavo Alfaro said through an interpreter. “They dominated tactically, technically and physically as well. ... This team is a complex challenge because they have answers to everything you throw at them.”
After the U.S. went ahead on an early own-goal created by Pulisic’s playmaking, Balogun scored in the 31st minute and again in the fifth minute of first-half injury time.
The New York-born, London-raised striker made his World Cup debut with the first multigoal performance from a U.S. player in the tournament since 1930. Balogun chose to represent the U.S. three years ago instead of staying in the English system, where he likely would have struggled to make the Three Lions’ roster — and the 24-year-old Monaco professional has swiftly provided the top-level striker play historically lacking on U.S. rosters.
“Poch has said many times, ‘Why not us?’” Balogun said. “We have to believe. You can’t do anything if you don’t believe in yourself.”
Pulisic created the first two U.S. goals with exceptional runs down the left side. In the seventh minute, the AC Milan standout cleverly split two defenders and passed to McKennie, whose centering touch hit Paraguay midfielder Damián Bobadilla’s outstretched foot and went in, setting off pandemonium in the stands.
The Americans gradually amplified their attack centered around Pulisic’s runs — and three minutes after an apparent goal from Balogun was erased by an offside call, Pulisic again drove the left side and got a deflected pass to the trailing Balogun, who banged it home.
Malik Tillman then made a perfectly weighted pass in injury time to Balogun, who sidled through the Paraguay defense and beautifully found the top shelf.
The Americans were less cohesive without Pulisic in the second half, but Reyna still added the finishing touch by gliding into the box and toe-flicking home his first World Cup goal. The moment was sweet for Reyna, who barely played at the Qatar World Cup amid a messy family dispute with former U.S. coach Gregg Berhalter.
Dozens of American celebrities and cultural icons turned out for the match 10 miles south of Hollywood, including Tom Cruise, George Lucas, Bill Gates, Halle Berry, Leonardo DiCaprio and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.
___
AP World Cup: https://apnews.com/fifa-world-cup
Keep Reading
The Latest
Featured
