The Paraguayan fans’ hope of victory lasted seven minutes at the Los Angeles Stadium, on Friday night (12).
That was how long it took for the United States to open the scoring and begin the run-over that ended in a 4-1 rout of Paraguay, in the opening game of group D of the World Cup.
And the name of the game was precisely a player son of Nigerian immigrants, Balogun, who scored twice and took over the competition’s top scorer.
The match started with high tension, with both teams going on the attack with quick touches, and the United States showed greater technical capacity than their rivals.
After 7 minutes, Pulisic made a beautiful move on the left, passing two players. He then passed the ball into the box to McKennie, who deflected it first time to Balogun. Midfielder Bobadilla, who defends São Paulo, tried to cut, but the ball ended up hitting him and going towards the goal, scoring an own goal.
The Paraguayans were stunned by the goal and began to miss everything they tried. The hosts took the opportunity to press even more, trying to extend the score.
At 28 minutes, Pulisic again made a beautiful move on the left and passed to Balogun to extend the score, but the attacker was offside at the beginning of the move.
In the next play, however, it paid off. Once again, the number 10, nicknamed Captain America by the fans, passed by Cáceres and played in the center for Balogun. The number 20 completed it first time and increased the score, to the despair of the Paraguayans, who put little threat to goalkeeper Freese.
To end the American dominance in the first half, Balogun scored his second and his team’s third in the 49th minute. He received a quick ball, entered the area, beat Alderete in the tackle, cut Gómez and finished left-handed into Gill’s right corner, scoring a great goal.
The second half started again electric, this time with Paraguay trying to be more incisive in attack. The Americans, on the other hand, maintained their offensive posture and created good chances to extend the score.
But after the coaches made substitutions, the game became more open and Paraguay took the opportunity to reduce the score, with Brazilian Maurício, a naturalized Paraguayan. At 27 minutes, Enciso played into the area and Maurício came forward to shoot across goalkeeper Freese.
In the rest of the duel, the two teams had other chances to change the score, but they stopped at rival defenses almost until the final whistle. In stoppage time, however, Reyna, who entered at 36 minutes, scored the fourth for the USA.
Reyna, by the way, was born in England while her American parents worked professionally in the country.
The two teams return to the field next Friday (19). The Americans face Australia at 4pm, at Seattle Stadium, and Paraguay faces Turkey at midnight (0am on Saturday), at the San Francisco Bay Area Stadium, in Santa Clara.
The other teams in group D, Australia and Türkiye, face each other at 1 am (Brasília time) this Sunday morning (14), in Vancouver, Canada.
Before the duel, as occurred in Mexico City, on Thursday, and in Toronto, on Friday afternoon, an opening ceremony of the World Cup was held. In the first part, there was a 15-minute show with Brazilian Anitta alongside singers Lisa and Rema. Afterwards, pop star Katy Perry sang “Wonder” alongside Norwegian boy Tius Luka.
As the stadium is close to Hollywood, several celebrities were seen in the stands, such as actors Tom Cruise and Sofia Vergara, director George Lucas, businessman Bill Gates and the singers who participated in the opening party.
VAR warns and referee gives yellow card for foul simulation
At the beginning of the second half, for the first time in this World Cup, the VAR called the referee to warn that a foul simulation had occurred. Paraguayan midfielder Almirón went to the baseline and fell, as if he had been touched from behind by defender Ream.
After evaluating the images by the VAR, Dutch referee Danny Desmond Makkelie issued a yellow card to Almirón and used the stadium’s loudspeaker to warn the fans of the infraction.
