Balogun scores twice as US crush Paraguay 4-1

Folarin Balogun and Gio Reyna gave the United States the kind of World Cup opening that can change a tournament’s mood in one night. The 4-1 rout of Paraguay at Los Angeles Stadium, known as SoFi Stadium, in Inglewood, looked like proof that Mauricio Pochettino has finally found a credible attacking core, even if the scale of the win also reflected how badly Paraguay unraveled.

The hosts struck first through a Damián Bobadilla own goal in the seventh minute, after a move started by Weston McKennie and Christian Pulisic. Balogun then had one effort ruled out for offside before Pulisic set him up for the second goal in the 31st minute, and the striker added another before halftime with a finish into the top corner in first-half stoppage time. Balogun was later named FIFA’s player of the match. Paraguay pulled one back in the 73rd minute through Mauricio, set up by Julio Enciso, but Reyna killed the contest in the eighth minute of added time with a long-range strike.

Pulisic was central throughout, operating as the main outlet from the left and driving the move that produced the own goal. McKennie and Malik Tillman helped overload the middle, while Sergiño Dest grew more influential as the match wore on, giving the United States a more varied and aggressive shape than it has often shown on the World Cup stage. Reuters described the performance as evidence that Pochettino’s attacking blueprint is taking shape, and that view was hard to dispute by full time.

The result carried real historical weight. The 4-1 margin was the United States’ largest in a World Cup since 1930, and Balogun became the first American to score two goals in a World Cup match since the inaugural tournament. FIFA also noted that he became the fourth player in the last four World Cups to score a double in the opening match for a host nation, following Neymar, Denis Cheryshev and Enner Valencia.

There was also a deeper national context to the night. This was the first World Cup with 48 teams and three co-hosts, Canada, Mexico and the United States, and the Americans used the occasion to announce themselves as more than ceremonial hosts. Their only previous World Cup meeting with Paraguay came in Uruguay in 1930, when Bert Patenaude scored all three goals in a 3-0 win. In nine meetings overall, the United States now leads the series 5-2 with two draws, and after one round it sits atop Group D with three points and a plus-three goal difference. For a team chasing a deep run, the attack finally looked like an asset rather than a question.