Ahead of the 2026 World Cup opener vs. Paraguay, good point(s) made to the US team about a winning start
Friday’s World Cup opener against Paraguay isn’t a must-win match for the US men’s soccer team. It just can’t loseif it wants to stay in the tournament. Its own history tells it that.
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Since the Americans returned to the global stage three dozen years ago, whenever they’ve lost their initial Cup outing — as they did in 1990, ′98, and 2006 — they’ve gone three-and-out.
When they’ve won their first match as they did in 2002 and ′14, they’ve moved on. Not without anxiety, of course. But grabbing 3 points off the jump provides a huge boost, especially if you’re the hosts.
It amps up the excitement across the country, gets the chatter going among the citizenry and has TV sets switched on in living rooms and taverns that usually are tuned to baseball.
This opener, in Inglewood, Calif., will be shown in primetime (9 p.m. Eastern, Fox). The finale against Turkey two weeks from now also will be a night event.
Ideally, the Americans won’t have to produce a victory in that one, or hope for outside help in order to be one of the three teams that makes it to the Round of 32. But that would be a welcome novelty.
A draw in the opener isn’t necessarily a drawback if it’s followed by a victory. That’s what the United States did when it last hosted in 1994, tying Switzerland and shocking Colombia. This time, the road onward is less demanding.
Based on rankings, the Yanks are the best bunch in their group. But based on results against the other three, they’re not the best by much and aren’t demonstrably better than the Turks, who beat them in a Connecticut friendly last year.
Paraguay will be a tough nut to crack. La Albirroja might have finished sixth in the 10-team South America qualifying round-robin, but they had the same number of points as three other rivals, including Brazil.
The Paraguayans don’t score much — they managed only 14 goals in the 18 matches. But they allowed even fewer — 10 in all, two of them on penalties. They beat Argentina, the defending Cup champion, blanked Brazil, and played to five scoreless deadlocks.
La Albirroja can make a banquet out of a single goal, which usually comes from a quick counter in transition.
Its playing style is built around rigorous defending and vigorous tackling, and a stubborn and defiant approach known as “La Garra Guarani” — the clawing underdog mentality which inspires and unites the populace.
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This will be the Paraguayans’ first Cup match since 2010, when they made it to the quarterfinals before going out to eventual champion Spain.
It’ll also be the first time they’ve faced the yanquis in Cup play since the inaugural tournament in 1930 when Bert Patenaude, the Fall River magician, turned the hat trick in a 3-0 triumph.
This encounter likely will be emotional and physical in the wake of last November’s 2-1 US victory in a Pennsylvania not-so-friendly marked by a rough tangle between Paraguay captain Gustavo Gomez and Alex Freeman on the sideline near the end of the match that cleared both benches.
“When the aggression is coming from the other side, we need to defend ourselves,” US coach Mauricio Pochettino said. “And that was a good moment to say we feel proud about who we are.”
The way that match played out is the way Pochettino wants his players to operate. The Americans took the lead in the fourth minute on a header by Gio Reyna. And after Paraguay equalized in the 10th, the United States went on to close things out on Folarin Balogun’s strike in the 71st.
Pochettino wants his men continually on the move, urging them upfield to apply pressure, create chances, and finish them.
To advance in the Cup, the Americans need to score and they need to score first, preferably early. When they upset the Portuguese in 2002, John O’Brien tallied in the fourth minute. When they beat Ghana in 2014, Clint Dempsey broke through in the first.
That won’t be easy against La Albirroja, traditionally difficult to break down at any time in the match. After 16 years of watching el Mundial on a screen, the Paraguayans will be perfectly content to emerge from their reentry with 90 scoreless minutes and a precious point.
Goals were painfully hard to come by for the United States in Qatar four years ago. The Yanks produced only two in group play, and yet still went through following a brace of draws (1-1 with Wales and 0-0 with England) and a victory (1-0 over Iran).
What the Americans have learned multiple times over the decades is that they don’t want their fate hanging on the bounce of the ball or a referee’s call in the third match.
When you draw the opener, you open yourself up to happenstance. Three points is three times better than 1. Everyone on the planet understands that arithmetic.
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