The USMNT started their World Cup in nearly perfect fashion on Friday night, racing out to a 3-0 lead in the first half as they cruised to a 4-1 victory over Paraguay in their opening match. The US started strong and a very nice passing sequence eight minutes in led to an own goal opener as Paraguay’s Bombadilla accidentally slotted home Weston McKennie’s driving cross after some very nice movement from both McKennie and Christian Pulisic in the buildup.
The US would continue to dominate but had to wait
until the 31st minute before scoring the first goal off an American boot as Folarin Balogun would bang home his first of the night off a nice Pulisic feed which was made possible by a fantastic through ball by Antonee Robinson.
The team would make it 3-0 just before the half when Malik Tillman fed Folarin Balogun on a beautiful pass and Balogun did well (and was a bit lucky) to control the ball through the tackle from the centerback and slammed home a perfect shot for his second of the night.
The US was utterly dominant through the first half with 71% possession in addition to the three goals, playing some very pretty ball along the way.
Christian Pulisic was subbed off at the half, with Sebastian Berhalter coming in which, as of the posting of this article, is a bit concerning. The team would concede a bit of possession in the second half and Paraguay took advantage in the 73rd as they scored their second of the night, but the first that would count for their team.
Tim Weah and Ricardo Pepi came on in the 72nd minute and Gio Reyna came on for a very productive Malik Tillman in the 82nd. Reyna would put the exclamation point on the game in the dying moments of the game with a beautiful outside of the boot finish for the final score of 4-1.
We’re flying high as eagles tonight, but while there are no wrong answers, there can only be one SSFC man of the match. So, who do you have? Hit the ratings below and let us know who you think were the outstanding performers in tonight’s match.
