June 13
13 June 2026
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The USA, led by Mauricio Pochettino, were the third and final co-hosts to play in Round 1.
The Stars and Stripes made a statement too, dismantling Paraguay in a dominant opening display.
Here are our Scout Notes from the game, featuring match stats from our World Cup Toolkit page.
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USA 4-1 PARAGUAY
Goals: Bobadilla (own goal), Balogun (x2), Reyna | Prado
Assists: Pulisic, Tillman, Freeman | Enciso
Tackle bonus: Cubas
Chances created bonus: Pulisic
Shots on target bonus: Balogun
Top points scorers: Balogun (15), Prado (9), Reyna (9), Dest (9).
TEAM STATS
PLAYER STATS
SCOUT NOTES
The USA completely dominated Paraguay and the underlying data backed that up. Mauricio Pochettino’s side controlled 65% possession, produced nearly three times Paraguay’s xG (expected goals), registered 16 shots and created four big chances. Paraguay managed just one.
Most of that dominance came during a devastating first half, where the USA scored three times. The opener started with a driving run into the box from Christian Pulisic ($7.0m). Paraguay nudged him off the ball, but it fell kindly to Weston McKennie ($6.1m). His attempted pass then deflected off Paraguay midfielder Damián Bobadilla ($5.5m) and into the net for an own goal.
Pulisic caused problems again for the second. The Milan attacker collected the ball on the left flank before threading a deflected pass into striker Folarin Balogun ($6.0m), who poked home from close range to make it 2-0.
The pressure never stopped there. As the USA tightened their grip on the match approaching half-time, Malik Tillman ($6.1m) split the Paraguay defence apart with a superb pass from the centre-circle. Balogun danced beyond both centre-backs before slotting home his second goal of the evening to make it 3-0. Interestingly, Tillman generated more xG than any other player on the pitch but couldn’t find a goal himself.
Half-time then brought a major concern for Fantasy managers. Pulisic, who played a key role in two of the USA’s three first-half goals, came off with what initially looked like a calf issue. Post-match, Pochettino clarified the situation: “Christian got a kick in the calf and we didn’t want to take a risk because he was finding it a little difficult. Hopefully it is nothing serious and he’ll be ready (for Australia).”
The match tightened up statistically after the break. Paraguay competed much better and matched the USA for big chances created, although the hosts still edged both xG and total attempts.
The 72nd-minute substitutions then saw star performer Balogun leave the pitch alongside Sergiño Dest ($4.3m). Similar to Antonee Robinson ($5.0m), Dest offered little attacking output from wing-back, but the early substitution at least secured his clean sheet points before Paraguay pulled one back moments later. Paraguay midfielder Julio Enciso ($6.6m), who recovered quickly from an injury scare in a recent friendly to start the match, placed the ball perfectly for Maurício Magalhães Prado ($4.6m) to score.
Paraguay never built on that momentum and the game soon drifted away from them. Centre-back Alexander Freeman ($4.0m) pushed forward aggressively from the right before sliding a pass into Giovanni Reyna ($5.5m). The midfielder then curled an outside-of-the-boot finish beyond the goalkeeper to make it 4-1.
Overall, it was an outstanding display from the USA from start to finish. Although he failed to produce a Fantasy return, the return of centre-back Chris Richards ($4.1m) gave the hosts another huge boost. His composure on the ball stood out throughout the match, with Richards completing all 83 of his attempted passes. No player has recorded a better passing accuracy in a World Cup match since 1966.
Fantasy managers will now wait closely for further updates on Pulisic ahead of Round 2.
