Folarin Balogun scored on 31 and 45 minutes as the United States beat Paraguay 4-1 on Friday 12 June at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, the co-host's opening Group D match. Damian Bobadilla turned the ball into his own net inside seven minutes, Mauricio pulled one back on 73, and Giovanni Reyna finished the rout at 90+8. Balogun, born in New York and eligible for England and Nigeria before committing to the United States in 2023, became the first USMNT player to score twice in a single World Cup match since the inaugural 1930 tournament, the same opponent and the same 4-1 scoreline 1.
The selection narrative resolved cleanly. Mauricio Pochettino named Malik Tillman ahead of Reyna in the eleven, a choice flagged at team-sheet release , and Tillman repaid it with the assist for the second goal. Reyna's late entry and fourth goal showed the coach could manage his squad without burning bridges, the 4-3-3 holding the shape it carried into the opener .
The broadcast carried its own consequence. A reported 19 million American viewers made this the largest audience ever recorded for a football match on US television 2. The figure is not yet verified against a final Nielsen release, but if it holds it strengthens US Soccer's broadcast and sponsorship leverage for the rest of the tournament. It moves the commercial conversation around the game's American future further than any squad debate could.
