The USA and Paraguay teams played the highest-scoring match of the start of the 2026 World Cup, and the "Yankees" overran their South American rival 4:1.
The first goal came after a painful early own goal by the guests, scored by Damian Bobadilla (8'), and then the big show of Falorin Balogun (31', 45'+5') began, who went wild and miraculously did not retire at half-time with a hat trick. In fact, he sent the ball into the opponent's goal three times, but his first goal, which fell in the 28th minute, was canceled due to offside, and then scored two regular goals. After the break, reserve Mauricio (73') scored an honorary goal, with which they tried to return the intrigue.
This is the first match of the world football finals that the "Yankees" welcome, after in the previous two days the other hosts of the forum Mexico and Canada have already made their magnificent openings. Now the match is at "SoFi Stadium" in the Inglewood district of Los Angeles, California, with the first referee's signal to sound around 4:00 Bulgarian time. The match is from group "D" of the championship on the planet, and this is also the first meeting here. The remaining two teams, Australia and Turkey, will play each other in about 24 hours tomorrow, June 14 (Sunday), again at an early hour for European time - 7:00.
On bnt.sportal.bg you can follow this, as well as all 104 clashes from the 2026 World Cup with a real-time picture.
Compared to the test played on June 6 (Saturday) against the four-time world champion Germany, the coach of the "Yankees" Mauricio Pochettino released an identical lineup. Then the USA lost 1:2 to the Bundesliga Team and both in the test and in the first official match, Pochettino relied on prominent players from the top 5 championships in Europe, with the stars from the Italian Serie A expected to shine in the form of Weston McKennie from Juventus and Christian Pulisic. Midfielder Anthony Robinson, who scored against the Germans a week earlier, was also present.
Your XI for Match #1 at the @FIFAWorldCup.#USMNT x The @HomeDepotpic.twitter.com/0LHLne0ibK
Paraguay, for their part, entered the match after taking their last victory with a decisive 4-0 against the modest Nicaragua team. Romero and Almiron, who scored two of the goals in that expressive victory, were also among the starters on the "green carpet" today. The other two scorers in the match in question, also played on June 6 (Saturday) - Maidana and Galarza, started on the bench then, but today the coach Gustavo Alfaro decided to take advantage of their services from the first referee's signal.
A little more than 60 seconds were needed for the South Americans to organize a speedy attack, in which Sanabria entered the penalty area and found Enciso, who tried to shoot from almost zero angle at the goalkeeper of the "Yankees" Matt Freese. The hosts, on the other hand, did not wait long to respond through their central striker Balogun, who came into a shooting position, but tapped the ball too lightly and sent it into the arms of the opposing goalkeeper Orlando Hill, as he was pressed with his body in the back by a Paraguayan defender.
This explosive start to the match motivated the US players to increase the tempo and very soon they exploded with a new attack, which this time brought immense joy to the fans, who filled the "SoFi Stadium" in Los Angeles to the limit. Christian Pulisic did the big job after a killer break, entering the opponent's penalty area, then found his colleague from Serie A, Weston McKennie, with a pass, and he only tapped the ball. However, the latter did not send the ball into the Paraguayan goal, and the South American player Bobadilla did, scoring a painful own goal.
In the 10th minute, the first yellow card was also shown. The renowned referee from the European Champions League made an official warning to Cáceres from the guests.
In the 16th minute, Sergínio Dest took the ball long into the penalty area and could have shot dangerously, but instead tried to pass sharply and won a corner. After his performance, a long play followed, which ended with a cross, and there in the penalty area Chris Richards collided very badly with a Paraguayan defender, and so we saw the first situation in which the health of football players was threatened. In the end, both players managed to continue playing, and coaches Pochettino and Alfaro had no reason to worry.
The game was temporarily suspended for the traditional water break in the middle of the half, and immediately after the resumption of events on the pitch, Florian Balogun burst out with a goal. However, it was disallowed, as the linesman raised his flag in real time and flagged an offside.
However, Balogun was uncompromising and did not act like a creative player and found himself uncovered in the penalty area, intercepting the ball with a shot from the move, which turned into an impossible situation for goalkeeper Orlando Hill to neutralize. Thus, the "Yankees" They went up and at least at that moment they completely erased the good impressions that the Paraguayans left at the beginning, and they more or less ruined their reputation from the opening minutes of a team that should not be underestimated.
With the goal, the US players demonstrated their deadly efficiency, as after exactly two accurate shots from the beginning of the match they already had a two-goal lead.
In the 43rd minute, McKennie went out alone against the Paraguayan goalkeeper Hill, who made his first save and prevented the lead from swelling to a mind-blowing classic.
Furthermore, the head referee Danny Makeli called a sufficiently long added time, in which the North American machine had time to show more of what it can do, and after several speedy attacks, the fifth minute of the extra time became another nightmare moment for the Paraguayans. Then Balogun came face to face with Hill and fired high into the net to create a classic, and the USA duly sent the first half off, making it the highest-scoring half of the 2026 World Cup.
The second half started in exactly the same way as the first and Enciso fired a dangerous shot. Similar to the situation in the opening minutes of the clash, the visitors missed and began to mentally hope that they would not be hit soon after, as happened in the previous case. The Paraguayan goal was not hit for the fourth time, but something else unpleasant happened for the South American dreamers.
This happened in the 52nd minute, when Miguel Almiron decided to cheat, fell and went begging for a foul. However, it was not called, as doubts remained in real time that something was wrong. This led to a review of the situation through the VAR system, and the referee Dani Makeli personally conducted the check and categorically decided to mark the Paraguayan with a "yellow" card.
Here things continued to be similar to those in the first half and the Paraguayans significantly reduced their pace after the unpleasant moment they experienced and seemed to completely give up chasing some miracle.
In the 63rd minute, the "Yankees" had very serious reasons for a fourth goal, but there was simply no one to deliver a bombshell strike at the empty goal.
In the 65th minute, the guests finally came to life again and Gustavo Gomez decided to shoot from the move from the edge of the penalty area. However, he did it inaccurately and hard, sending the ball into the stands, and the television camera caught a happy fan who took the leather ball from the stands and posed with it before returning it to the game.
The similarities with the first half continued, as after the water break in the middle of the half, another goal was scored. This time, however, things turned around and it was in the goal of the selection Mauricio Pochettino. The guest coach Gustavo Alfaro demonstrated enviable skills near the touchline, as it was one of his reserves who scored, and it was Mauricio, who returned the difference of two goals and the intrigue regarding the outcome of the match returned some of its value.
The reaction of the "Yankees" was lightning fast and they instantly tried to regain their three-goal advantage. First, in the 73rd minute, Richards missed a shot on Hill, and in the 77th minute, reserve Timothy Weah hit a very strong diagonal shot. Initially, it was thought that he had gone out of bounds, as referee Makeli had ruled, but the television replay showed that goalkeeper Orlando Hill had made the necessary intervention to deflect the ball with the tips of his glove and prevent it from entering his net for the fourth time.
USA 4:1 PARAGUAY
1:0 Damian Bobadilla (8' - own goal)
2:0 Folarin Balogun (31')
3:0 Folarin Balogun (45+5)
3:1 Mauricio (73')
4:1 Giovanni Reina (90';+8')
WORLD CUP 2026, GROUP PHASE
GROUP "D", ROUND I
STARTING LINEUPS
USA: 24. Matt Freese, 16. Alex Freeman, 3. Chris Richards, 13. Tim Ream, 2. Serginho Dest, 8. Weston McKennie, 4. Tyler Adams, 5. Anthony Robinson, 17. Malik Tillman, 10. Christian Pulisic, 28. Folarin Balogun
Coach: Mauricio Pochettino
PARAGUA: 12. Orlando Hill, 4. Juan Caceres, 15. Gustavo Gomez, 3. Omar Alderete, 6. Junior Alonso, 8. Diego Gomez, 14. Andres Cubas, 16. Damian Bobadilla, 10. Miguel Almiron, 9. Antonio Sanabria, 19. Julio Enciso
Coach: Gustavo Alfaro
STADIUM: "SoFi Stadium", Los Angeles (California - USA)
CHIEF REFEREE: Dani Makeli (Netherlands)