USA's Unforgettable World Cup Opener Turned Dreams Into Reality

LOS ANGELES STADIUM — How do you celebrate scoring twice in your World Cup debut and helping your team open the tournament with a 4-1 victory? "You know, watch some Netflix," USA striker Folarin Balogun joked after recording half the goals in the U.S. men’s national team’s rout over Paraguay on Friday. Balogun called it "a dreamy night," and he couldn’t have described it better. That’s because the Americans hardly could have scripted a more perfect start to this home World Cup.

Even Balogun, who had envisioned what this moment might feel like, said the real thing measured up. "Yeah," he said, flashing a smile. "It was pretty similar." There were 70,492 hopeful fans who battled Los Angeles traffic in order to support this squad. They were decked out in their patriotic best, had paid a premium to be there and maybe expected to witness a bit of history. While the team has always had a loyal following, this World Cup presents an opportunity to expand that base.

The Americans’ tournament opener drew everyone from Leonardo DiCaprio and Katy Perry to Bill Gates and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. And those in the stands, along with the millions watching from home, were rewarded with one of the most entertaining U.S. performances in recent memory. "For everyone who says soccer is boring, well, you had five goals today," midfielder Weston McKennie, who had dyed part of his hair red, white and blue, told reporters after the game. "So hopefully they might not say that anymore, and they’ll feel the electricity in the stadium and the passion by viewing the fans who have been with us for years and for decades.

"One thing that’s gonna change soccer is having the World Cup here, because I think a lot of people will be touched by the passion that a lot of fans have and the extent that they go through to be here." Whether you arrived as a diehard fan or not, the first 45 minutes sucked you in. The U.S. put on a show, scoring three goals before halftime — matching its entire output from four matches at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.

In the seventh minute, Alex Freeman sparked the attack, McKennie made a dizzying cut away from a defender, and Christian Pulisic split two defenders near the box before slipping the ball back to McKennie. His attempted pass toward Balogun took a fortunate deflection off Paraguay defender Damian Bobadilla and rolled into the goal to give the U.S. an early 1-0 lead. The pro-American crowd erupted, overflowing with optimism and celebration as beer rained down from the upper deck.

"It meant everything for us," Pulisic said of the visible and vocal fan support. "I mean, a half like that, to go as it did and to have the fans really excited about our performance, it felt amazing." Balogun added two more stellar goals before halftime — one that was shot directly into the upper left corner. And then Gio Reyna, whose debut World Cup four years ago was marred by drama, scored a beautiful fourth and final goal for good measure with the outside of his right foot.