Paraguay scores late against USMNT in World Cup return after 16 years

Gustavo Alfaro barely changed his expression when Mauricio Magalhaes found space in the area and cut into a 3-0 deficit against the USMNT. The goal did not change the outcome, but it said plenty about Paraguay’s return to World Cup football after 16 years away: even trailing heavily, Alfaro’s team kept hunting for one more opening.

That goal came in Paraguay’s debut at the 2026 World Cup on June 12 at Los Angeles Stadium in Group D, and it arrived after the Americans had looked comfortably in control. For Paraguay, the moment carried more weight than the scoreboard suggested. It was the team’s first appearance at the tournament since South Africa 2010, a comeback that marked the end of a long absence and the start of a new phase under Alfaro.

Before the match, Alfaro framed the return as something larger than participation. He described it as a moment of great fulfillment and made clear that Paraguay had not traveled to simply make up the numbers. FIFA also pointed to the Argentine coach’s previous World Cup experience with Ecuador in Qatar 2022 and to the way he had rebuilt Paraguay’s path back to the finals after taking over in a period of deep trouble.

Paraguay’s 26-man squad, announced on June 1, reflected that reset. Julio Enciso, Miguel Almirón, Antonio Sanabria, Gustavo Gómez, Fabián Balbuena, Diego Gómez and Mauricio Magalhaes were among the players selected to carry the team’s first World Cup campaign in more than a decade and a half. Paraguay earned its place by finishing sixth in CONMEBOL qualifying, a campaign that restored a sense of credibility around a side that had been searching for its level.

The late goal also sharpened the historical edge of a matchup that had almost no World Cup history to it. The only previous meeting between the United States and Paraguay at the tournament remained the Americans’ 3-0 win in Uruguay in 1930, a match that included Bert Patenaude’s first hat-trick in World Cup history. Ninety-six years later, Paraguay’s late response in Los Angeles was small in scoreline but telling in spirit, a reminder that tournament football is often shaped by the standards a team refuses to abandon even when the result is already slipping away.