At long last, the United States men’s national team begins its 2026 World Cup campaign against Paraguay tonight. Below, we examine the biggest questions going into the Group D contest.
Date: Friday, June 12
Time: 9 p.m. ET
Venue: Los Angeles Stadium (Inglewood, Calif.)
Watch: FOX (U.S.), TSN (Canada)
Will possession turn into chances?
The United States should dictate its World Cup opener.
Paraguay isn’t your “prototypical” South American squad predicated on attacking flair and boundless creativity. Far from it, in fact. Under manager Gustavo Alfaro, the Paraguayans are more than happy to sit deep, absorb pressure, and grind through matches with defensive resilience and physicality while trying to strike on the counterattack or through set-piece opportunities.
The onus, then, will be on the U.S. to craft opportunities in possession; the Americans are likely to dominate the ball from the opening whistle.
Projected XI vs. Paraguay
(Source: FotMob)
Christian Pulisic, who finally snapped his months-long goal drought just before the tournament, will need to find pockets of space between Paraguay’s tight and well-drilled defensive lines. Once he receives those line-breaking passes, he can turn and run at the Paraguayan defenders, either beating his marker on the dribble or forcing the defense to scramble before slipping the ball out wide to wing-backs Sergino Dest or Antonee Robinson.
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They can then find either Folarin Balogun or an onrushing Weston McKennie in the penalty area. The latter, despite his average size, is an incredible aerial threat in the box and is coming off the most prolific scoring season of his career at Juventus.
Sharp, decisive attacking actions will be key to unlocking the resolute Paraguayan backline. The U.S. will struggle if it plays slow, sterile passes from side-to-side and allows Paraguay to maintain its shape for 90 minutes.
Can Adams own the midfield?
Robin Alam/ISI Photos / ISI Photos / Getty
Pulisic is the United States’ best player, Balogun is the most clinical finisher, and center-back Chris Richards, available again after shaking off a lingering ankle injury, is the team’s top defender.
But Tyler Adams is, quite simply, the USMNT’s most important player.
Given the formation and tactical system that Mauricio Pochettino has finally landed on going into the World Cup, the Bournemouth star and former U.S. captain carries huge responsibility on his shoulders. He essentially holds the entire midfield together on his own. McKennie wants to surge forward and crash the penalty area, Malik Tillman provides added creativity and playmaking ability, and the aforementioned wing-backs charge up the flanks at every opportunity. It all leaves a lot of space for Adams to cover on his own in transition when the U.S. loses the ball.
Paraguay thrives on the counterattack. That’s exactly how La Albirroja scored their lone goal in their last meeting against the United States in November, with Miguel Almiron breaking free and setting up Alex Arce early on.
Adams needs to break up transition opportunities whenever they arise. That task should be made easier by the expected absence of Paraguay’s star playmaker Julio Enciso, who left his team’s final pre-tournament friendly in tears with hamstring and thigh problems, but remains with the squad.
How to manage the moment?
Vincent Carchietta / Getty Images Sport / Getty
Emotions will be sky-high Friday night at SoFi Stadium. Understandably so. It’s not every day you play a World Cup match on home soil in front of roughly 70,000 partisan supporters, after all.
The U.S. needs to strike the right balance between feeding off the energy and excitement of the occasion without going over the edge against a Paraguayan outfit that will attempt to make the game feisty and uncomfortable at every turn. Take their most recent meeting, for example.
The United States’ 2-1 “friendly” win over Paraguay in November ended in a stoppage-time melee. Alex Freeman and Gustavo Gomez were wrestling for the ball after it went out of play, and tempers flared as the two sets of players converged, with Miles Robinson briefly in a headlock before the dust settled.
Pochettino and his players have spoken openly about the need to get a better handle on the “dark arts” of the game that so many other teams have already mastered. Friday’s contest, on the biggest stage, will be a good test of just how much progress the U.S. has made in that area.
“We know we have to be ready to battle. It’s not about just playing beautiful football – we have to do the little things and compete,” Pulisic said ahead of his team’s World Cup opener. He’s right, of course. Success is rarely the byproduct of skill and technique alone. That needs to be combined with graft and, where necessary, some guile.
Cristian Roldan went further.
“I think that’s one thing that we can get better at for sure,” the veteran midfielder told reporters earlier this week when asked about Paraguay’s street smarts. “I think being a little bit more savvy, being too honest at times is probably too much of a fault for us.
“We need to be a little bit savvier in the way we manage games, the way we take fouls, stay on the ground a little longer. I think these are things that we can learn from different nations, but Paraguay does a really good job of that.”
Can the Americans engage in the extracurriculars while maintaining their self-control?
Prediction 🔮
United States 2, Paraguay 1
The United States goes into its World Cup opener on the back of two very encouraging pre-tournament performances – against Senegal and Germany, respectively – that helped to quell some of the biggest concerns about Pochettino’s side prior to the competition. This one won’t be pretty – Paraguay will do everything possible to turn this into a scrappy, disjointed affair – but the U.S., channeling the enthusiasm of the home crowd, will make the most of its talent advantage, especially with Enciso nursing an injury.
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