U.S. men rout Paraguay 4-1 in World Cup opener

The U.S. men's national soccer team defeated Paraguay 4-1 in its World Cup opener Friday at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California.

The U.S. took the lead in the seventh minute when Paraguayan midfielder Damián Bobadilla deflected the ball into his own net. Striker Folarin Balogun made it 2-0 in the 31st minute and added a second goal in first-half stoppage time with a strike into the top left corner.

Paraguay pulled one back through midfielder Mauricio in the 73rd minute. Winger Gio Reyna scored in second-half stoppage time to complete the 4-1 result.

The win gives the U.S. three points and first place in Group D, which also includes Australia and Turkey. The U.S. plays Australia on June 19 in Seattle.

The Americans scored only three goals in four matches at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar and had never scored more than three in a World Cup match. They produced four goals against Paraguay in front of a crowd of 70,492 while playing under new coach Mauricio Pochettino.

Balogun, born in New York and raised in London, made his World Cup debut and became the first U.S. player to score twice in a World Cup match since 1930. He chose to represent the U.S. three years ago and plays professionally for Monaco.

Christian Pulisic assisted on the first goal and created the second before he was replaced at halftime by Sebastian Berhalter. Pulisic signaled to family in the stands that he was not injured.

Pulisic set up the first two goals with runs down the left. In the seventh minute, he split two defenders and passed to Weston McKennie, whose touch deflected off Bobadilla for the own goal. Three minutes after an apparent Balogun goal was disallowed for offside, Pulisic again drove forward and found Balogun for the second goal.

Malik Tillman sent a long pass to Balogun in first-half stoppage time, and Balogun fired into the far top corner for his second goal.

Reyna scored his first World Cup goal in the 90th minute after entering in the second half. He had limited playing time at the 2022 World Cup during a dispute involving former coach Gregg Berhalter.

Tom Cruise, George Lucas, Bill Gates, Halle Berry, Leonardo DiCaprio and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar attended the match.