U.S. cruises past Paraguay 4-1 in World Cup opener

The U.S. men’s national soccer team made easy work of Paraguay in its World Cup opener Friday, defeating the South American side 4-1 at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California.

The U.S. was dominant from kickoff. Their first score came on an own goal in the 7th minute, when the ball ricocheted off Paraguayan midfielder Damián Bobadilla and into the net.

Star striker Folarin Balogun extended the U.S. lead to 2-0 when he slid the ball past Paraguayan goalkeeper Orlando Gill in the 31st minute. Then, in stoppage time of the first half, Balogun added a second with a brilliant strike into the top left corner of the goal.

Midfielder Mauricio pulled one back for Paraguay in the 73rd minute, but it was too little too late. And in stoppage time of the second half, winger Gio Reyna added the exclamation point with a stunning strike. 

The win gives the U.S. three points and puts it atop Group D, which includes Australia and Turkey, who will face off Saturday. The U.S.’s next match is against Australia on June 19 in Seattle. 

The U.S. scored only three goals combined in its four matches at the Qatar World Cup four years ago, and it had never scored more than three in a World Cup match. But the Americans were a team transformed while playing in new coach Mauricio Pochettino’s more creative system in front of a passionate, star-studded Los Angeles crowd of 70,492.

The New York-born, London-raised Balogun 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.

Christian Pulisic, who assisted on the first goal, was replaced by Sebastian Berhalter at halftime, but the U.S. didn’t immediately indicate whether the AC Milan standout was injured. Pulisic appeared to signal to family in the stands that he was fine.

Pulisic created the first two U.S. goals with exceptional runs down the left side. In the seventh minute, he cleverly split two defenders and passed to Weston McKennie, whose centering touch hit Paraguay midfielder Damián Bobadilla’s outstretched foot and went in, setting off pandemonium in the SoFi Stadium 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.

With first-half injury time winding down, Malik Tillman weighted a long pass to a streaking Balogun, who held up to create space and fired a brilliant shot into the far top corner.

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.