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By Wyatt Blatt

Los Angeles, California, USA, 6/12/26

To kick off the 2026 World Cup hosted across Mexico, Canada, and the United States, the US has started their home campaign off with quite a shocking beatdown of Paraguay. Coming into the tournament, the US was ranked 17th in the official FIFA rankings and drew a group of Paraguay, Turkey, and Australia and was generally expected to finish at least top two in their group. However, that looks more than likely now following their recent results. 

In the most important game under new head coach Mauricio Pochettino, the United States seems to have adopted the Argentine manager’s tactics quite well already. Pochettino, who’s coached Tottenham, PSG, and Chelsea before starting the job at the US National Team in 2025’s tactics center around a high defensive press when out of possession and fluid possession, making for a more attacking-minded team. His ideas of bringing the fullbacks up to create a high press and building possession from the back especially showed up in the match, with fullbacks Antonee Robinson and Sergino Dest standing out in the attack, even being close to the winger position at times. These offensive strategies clearly worked, with the US breaking the record of most goals scored against a top-50 opponent in Pochettino’s tenure, as the team would open the scoring in only the 7th minute off of a Paraguay own goal. 

The Attack

The early strike would not be lonely though, as striker Folarin Balogun would score a brace before halftime with the first goal coming as a result of Balogun dropping his initial defender and leaving him alone in the box with only one Paraguay defender and the keeper, who he would beat with a clean strike off of his weak foot into the top left corner. In addition to just Balogun, the main household name of the USMNT, Christian Pulisic also played particularly well providing key passes and a nice assist on Balogun’s first goal before being subbed off for Sebastian Berhalter after halftime to reduce any risk of injury. After taking a three-nil lead before the half, the US slowed down their offensive possession in the second half, conceding a goal in the 78th minute before substitute attacking mid Gio Reyna hit in a beautiful trivela goal in the 8th minute of stoppage time. 

The Defense

The US didn’t only show out on the attack though, as standout centerback Chris Richards and the USA defense would only concede one goal. Though injury concerns left his status of the opening few World Cup games in question following a long club season at Crystal Palace, Richards was clearly fit to play as he set an all-time World Cup record (!!) for most passes completed without a miss, going 83/83 and beating the prior record of 71/71.

It was hard to find anything to nitpick in the American win, as even 38-year-old captain centerback Tim Ream, whose selection for the national team was widely questioned, held his own against Paraguayan midfielder Almiron. The substitutes also didn’t hold the US back, although the offense did seem to slightly slow down after Pulisic was subbed off, with Tim Weah and the aforementioned Reyna providing nice attacking options. Personally, I thought Weston McKennie was also one of the most impressive players on the pitch despite not registering a G/A.

Charlie Kirk Sacrifiece?

Additionally, there is some extra speculation around supporting factors of US success at this world cup, with some saying that for a nation to win the World Cup, an icon of their country must first be sacrificed. In 2022, we saw Argentina win their first World Cup since 1986 following the death of legend Diego Maradona, and this year the US is off to an exceptional start following the death of Charlie Kirk, which very well could be the reason for continued success at this year’s tournament.