Doha: The United States national football team opened its 2026 World Cup campaign with an emphatic 4-1 victory over Paraguay, marking the country's largest margin of victory in its World Cup history. The Group D match was played on Friday night before a star-studded crowd of 70,492 at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California.

According to Qatar News Agency, the Americans established control early, taking the lead in the seventh minute when a cross engineered by Christian Pulisic and Weston McKennie was deflected into the net by Paraguayan midfielder Damian Bobadilla. The play resulted in the first own goal of the tournament.

Folarin Balogun, making his World Cup debut, doubled the American advantage in the 31st minute. Balogun struck again in the fourth minute of first-half stoppage time, putting the host nation ahead 3-0 at the interval.

Paraguay showed greater urgency in the second half and capitalized in the 73rd minute via Mauricio. However, the United States maintained defensive composure and sealed the victory seven minutes into stoppage time when Giovanni Reyna finished a counterattack with an outside-of-the-foot strike.

With the victory, the United States claims three points to move to the top of Group D, ahead of Saturday's match between Australia and Turkiye.