{"id":6937,"date":"2026-06-13T17:13:56","date_gmt":"2026-06-13T11:28:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/timesasian.com\/?p=6937"},"modified":"2026-06-13T17:13:56","modified_gmt":"2026-06-13T11:28:56","slug":"usa-announces-world-cup-ambitions-with-dominant-4-1-victory-over-paraguay","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/timesasian.com\/?p=6937","title":{"rendered":"USA Announces World Cup Ambitions with Dominant 4-1 Victory Over Paraguay"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-size: 18px;\">New York, June 13, 2026 &#8211; The United States made a dream start to their FIFA World Cup 2026 campaign, defeating Paraguay 4-1 in front of a packed home crowd of more than 70,000 fans in Los Angeles. The emphatic victory puts the Americans at the top of Group D and sends a strong message to their rivals in the tournament. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 18px;\">Folarin Balogun emerged as the star of the night, scoring twice in a dominant first-half display. An early Paraguay own goal opened the scoring before Balogun struck two excellent goals to give the hosts a commanding 3-0 lead at halftime. Gio Reyna added a spectacular late goal to complete the rout. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 18px;\">The victory was historic for the U.S. men&#8217;s national team, marking the first time they have scored four goals in a World Cup match. Balogun also became the first American player since 1930 to score a brace in a World Cup game. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 18px;\">Captain Christian Pulisic played a key role in creating the opening goals but was substituted at halftime as a precaution after experiencing calf tightness. Team officials expressed optimism that the injury is not serious ahead of the next match against Australia on June 19. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 18px;\">Head coach Mauricio Pochettino praised his team&#8217;s attacking performance, while analysts highlighted the fluid style of play and confidence shown by the co-hosts. The result has fueled hopes that the United States could make a deep run in the tournament on home soil.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 18px;\">Key Facts<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-size: 18px;\">&#8211; United States 4-1 Paraguay<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-size: 18px;\">&#8211; Group D, FIFA World Cup 2026<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-size: 18px;\">&#8211; Folarin Balogun scored twice<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-size: 18px;\">&#8211; Gio Reyna added a late fourth goal<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-size: 18px;\">&#8211; USA moves to the top of Group D with 3 points<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-size: 18px;\">Next match: United States vs Australia (June 19)\u00a0<\/span><br \/>\n<!--\/data\/user\/0\/com.samsung.android.app.notes\/files\/clipdata\/clipdata_bodytext_260613_072712_938.sdocx--><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>New York, June 13, 2026 &#8211; The United States made a dream start to their FIFA World Cup 2026 campaign, defeating Paraguay 4-1 in front of a packed home crowd of more than 70,000 fans in Los Angeles. The emphatic victory puts the Americans at the top of Group D and sends a strong message [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":6938,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[31,28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6937","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-highlights","category-sports"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/timesasian.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/APTOPIX_Paraguay_US_WCup_Soccer_22757_54349c-7.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesasian.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6937","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesasian.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesasian.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesasian.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesasian.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6937"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/timesasian.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6937\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6939,"href":"https:\/\/timesasian.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6937\/revisions\/6939"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesasian.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/6938"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesasian.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6937"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesasian.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6937"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesasian.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6937"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}