The United States men’s national team walked into SoFi Stadium on Friday night carrying the weight of a nation that barely knows it’s there. By the time the final whistle blew on a 4-1 dismantling of Paraguay, nobody in the building could pretend they hadn’t seen something real.
Folarin Balogun scored three times in the first half — one was called back for offside — and his third, a curling rocket into the top corner, felt like a statement the USMNT has been waiting years to deliver. The Monaco striker wasn’t just finishing chances; he was punishing Paraguay for showing up in Los Angeles without answers for a U.S. attack that moved in perfect rhythm.
Let’s rewind. For months, Mauricio Pochettino has been asked one question on repeat: Can this team actually win the World Cup? His response has been consistent: “Why not? We can dream.” After Friday, the coach might need to shift gears from building belief to managing the expectations that come with a 4-1 statement on home soil.
The first half was damn near perfect
For 45 minutes, the US played with a balance that has often eluded Pochettino’s two-year tenure. Sergiño Dest torched the right flank with direct dribbling that left Paraguay’s left-back chasing ghosts. On the opposite side, Christian Pulisic drew double teams and still found space to set up Balogun’s opener before exiting at halftime — a deliberate move, according to Pochettino, who wanted to manage minutes and test depth.
Weston McKennie floated between lines like a quarterback reading coverages, threading passes that turned Paraguay’s defense into a game of pinball. The midfield maestro finished the match with no goal but three hockey assists — the kind of quiet dominance that stat sheets don’t capture but coaches frame.
Pulisic’s burden just got lighter
For years, the USMNT’s hopes have rested almost entirely on Christian Pulisic’s shoulders. The Milan star has shouldered billboards and ad campaigns, smiled through pressure that would crack most players. But Friday offered a glimpse of something different. Balogun’s finishing, McKennie’s orchestration, and Gio Reyna’s late curling strike off the bench all suggested that this team’s attack no longer runs through one man.
Reyna’s goal sealed the win and gave fans something they haven’t seen in years: a U.S. team that looks dangerous from multiple angles. Pochettino has been testing lineups and tactics for the better part of two cycles, and this performance suggests he’s finally stumbled onto a formula that works.
The audience was split — and that’s the point
Los Angeles showed up in two flavors. The towering stadium was packed with Paraguay fans waving red-and-white stripes, almost matching the U.S. supporters in volume. Tom Cruise, David Beckham, Hilary Duff and Vince Vaughn were shown on the Jumbotron. But outside the arena, a city of millions barely registered the game was happening.
That’s the thing about the World Cup in America: it’s both the biggest show on earth and invisible to most of the country simultaneously. The USMNT’s job, as Pochettino has framed it, is to make the tournament impossible to ignore. This win was a start. The next step is turning a 4-1 opener into something that grips a nation still learning the game’s vocabulary.
Paraguay pulled a goal back through substitute Mauricio in the second half, briefly threatening to make things tense. But the U.S. response was immediate and clinical. Reyna’s finish in the 71st minute was the kind of goal that quiets skeptics: a swerving, arcing strike from outside the box that kissed the far post before nestling in the net.
By full time, the roaring crowd had gone quiet — not from disappointment, but from the dawning realization that this team might actually be something special.
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