EE.UU. desata fiesta pop y vence 4-1 a Paraguay en el Mundial 2026

America opened its home World Cup with two messages in the same evening: a glossy pop-cultural spectacle outside and a comfortable 4-1 victory inside. At SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, near Los Angeles, a ceremony that lasted about seven minutes set the stage about 90 minutes before kickoff and asked the same question the match would answer: what kind of host is the United States trying to be?

The answer, at least on opening night, was unmistakably polished. The pregame show brought together Katy Perry, Future, Anitta, LISA, Tyla and Rema in a lineup designed to project a global, high-production image of the country. Dan + Shay performed the U.S. national anthem, while Purahéi Soul was confirmed to sing Paraguay’s anthem, giving the evening a dual-national frame that matched the broader launch of the tournament across North America.

On the field, the Americans matched the branding with a performance far more convincing than the scoreline alone suggests. The U.S. beat Paraguay 4-1 in its Group D opener, went into halftime with a 3-0 lead and controlled the game from the start. Folarin Balogun scored twice, Giovanni Reyna added the fourth goal in stoppage time, and the match also included an own goal described as the first of the tournament.

For a team trying to turn a home World Cup into a deep run, the significance was bigger than one opening result. The United States is still chasing a breakthrough beyond its best modern finish as co-host in 2002, when it reached the quarterfinals, and it remains defined by the disappointment of a 1994 campaign that ended in the round of 16 on home soil. A lopsided win over Paraguay does not settle those ambitions, but it does give the host a fast start and a clear public image: confident, entertaining and hard to ignore.

Paraguay arrived with its own story line, returning to a World Cup after 16 years away and carrying expectations that the opening match could restore some of its old tournament credibility. Instead, Gustavo Alfaro’s side was overwhelmed by the pace and precision of the Americans, leaving the opener looking less like a contest than a statement. For the United States, the spectacle and the score lined up neatly. The branding was bright, and the soccer backed it up.