USMNT Beats Paraguay, Final Match Stats, Highlights & World Cup Group D Scenarios

The United States men's national team opened its home World Cup in style with a 4-1 win over Paraguay in Group D play.

Folarin Balogun scored twice to put the Americans on top of Group D through two days of play at the 2026 World Cup.

The USMNT's opening goal of the tournament wasn't scored by any of its players. An own goal by Paraguay's Damian Bobadilla occurred in the seventh minute.

Balogun extended the first-half scoring spree with a pair of tallies in the 31st and 45th minutes.

Gio Reyna finished off the victory with an incredible effort of his own to hand the Americans a three-goal lead. The goal came 17 minutes after Mauricio brought one back for Paraguay.

Balogun had two of the six USMNT shots on target. The Americans took 17 shots in total and only allowed one attempt to reach Matt Freese in net. The full stat sheet from Friday's game can be found here on FIFA.com.

The victory allowed the USMNT to sit on top of Group D for at least one day.

Group D Table

1. United States - 3 points, +3 goal differential
2. Australia - 0
3. Turkiye - 0
4. Paraguay - 0 points; -2 GD

Australia and Turkiye open their respective World Cup campaigns at Midnight ET on Saturday night at BC Place in Vancouver.

The Americans return to action next Friday in Seattle against Australia. Paraguay next place Turkiye next Friday in Santa Clara, California.