The United States of America kicked off their World Cup campaign in spectacular fashion, securing an impressive 4-1 victory over Paraguay in their Group D opener.
Playing in front of a raucous home crowd in Los Angeles, Mauricio Pochettino’s side wasted no time asserting their dominance, taking the lead just seven minutes into the match courtesy of an own goal by Paraguay’s Damian Bobadilla.
The star of the show was Nigerian-born striker, Folarin Balogun, who spearheaded the American attack with a brilliant brace.
After seeing a 28th-minute effort ruled out for offside, the Monaco frontman found the back of the net three minutes later, thumping home a precise pass from Christian Pulisic.
Balogun then extended the co-hosts’ lead before halftime, latching onto a through ball from Malik Tillman, shaking off Omar Alderete, and curling a sublime effort past goalkeeper, Orlando Gill, into the top corner.
Paraguay managed to claw one back against the run of play after the restart when Brazilian-born Mauricio was slipped in by Julio Enciso to slot past Matt Freese.
However, any hopes of a Paraguayan comeback were firmly dashed with the final kick of the game. Substitute Giovanni Reyna capped off the dream start for the Americans by unleashing a spectacular 20-yard shot with the outside of his right foot to seal the 4-1 rout.
Meanwhile, in Toronto, fellow tournament co-hosts Canada made history by earning a hard-fought 1-1 draw against Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The Europeans had initially silenced the Canadian crowd in the 21st minute when Jovo Lukic headed in his first international goal, converting a corner that had been flicked on by former Arsenal defender Sead Kolasinac.
Canada’s historic saviour was striker, Cyle Larin, who had been on the pitch for just over two minutes when he superbly spun away from Tarik Muharemovic and fired a deflected shot past Nikola Vasilj to equalize.
The crucial draw marks the first time in history that Canada has avoided defeat in a World Cup finals match, having suffered consecutive losses in all of their group stage games during the 1986 and 2022 tournaments.
