Key events For years, we’ve heard about the Golden Generation – Pulisic, McKennie, Adams, Weah, Dest, Robinson. Then they added Balogun. This game is their masterpiece – the best game they have played as a collective. The best game – so far … Thanks for following along with us. See you for the next one. Player of the Match is Folarin Balogun. Two goals, and yet you could make a case for other players as well. If Pulisic had played the second half, he might have had an argument. Gio Reyna is trending on Bluesky. What a world we live in. Post-match mailbag Alex Adams is back: “Now the game is sewn up, can we turn our attention to what Poch is wearing? It looks like something you’d wear if you were going to spend the afternoon poolside, in a nice cabana maybe, but have no intention of actually going for a swim. It’s like he’s studied what Pep and Scott Parker have been wearing on the touchline recently, and drawn every wrong conclusion it’s possible to make.” They can’t all be Jesse Marsch. The Canadian coach looked like he was meeting with a company CEO after the match. Charles Pearson: “Paraguay have been mostly pretty awful, just like South Africa was yesterday. So far, I’m not a fan of 16 less competitive teams to the WC finals. Would be interesting to see how those 16 teams fared after that first week, and definitely at the end of group stage. I have a feeling that they will have mostly served to help the bigger players get warmed up. I guess the tension is quantity vs quality – I don’t feel like I’m getting added quality at the moment!” I think we’re going to see one of the minnows in the field spring an upset. I also think we’re going to see a game won by eight or more goals. Player ratings: Every player on the US team was good. Balogun was fantastic and may have deserved a third goal. Tillman was a constant menace. McKennie had incisive passes. Pulisic shredded the defense. Adams picked off every pass in his immediate vicinity. Robinson and Dest had no worries in their defensive duties and created chances moving forward. Ream, Richards and Freeman had little to do but did it well. Matt Freese collected a high cross and otherwise could’ve taken a nap. Complete performance. Everything a coaching staff and supporters group could have wanted. Jeff Rueter has the game report. Final: USA 4-1 Paraguay Some missed chances and one defensive lapse. Other than that, a comprehensive win for the co-hosts. GOAL! USA 4-1 Paraguay (Reyna 90 +7) Pass, pass, pass, and then Reyna sees space in front of him. He takes a touch forward, then uses the outside of his right foot to curl the ball past the keeper. Demons well and truly exorcised. Gio Reyna with the icing on the cake! Photograph: Daniel Cole/Reuters 90 min +6 At this point, it’s just an exhibition of passing while the US men bask in the applause. 90 min +4 Berhalter draws a foul – at first glance, maybe falling a bit too easily, but replay shows clear contact to his leg. It’s close enough to take a crack at goal, but they instead pass it. And pass it again. And pass it again. And so on. Smart, professional play here. 90 min +3 Adams picks the ball away from a Paraguayan attacker. Another player has a chance to settle it, but Adams claims the ball again. He’s pulled down, and Alonso gets a yellow. Cubas is down injured for Paraguay, and it must be legit because there’s no way Paraguay would want to waste time here. 90 min +2 Jedi Robinson wreaks havoc in the Paraguayan box. And he gets it again and crosses to several US players lining up for their shot at making this 4-1. 90 min +1 Reyna absorbs another hard foul. Ouch. Free kick 10 yards outside the corner of the box. Seven minutes of stoppage time. 90 min Another Paraguayan giveaway, and Pepi is through on goal! Gill comes out to play it, but Berhalter ends up with the ball 40 yards out and Gill desperately retreating. Berhalter loses his footing before he can unleash a good lob. 89 min Ream plays ahead for McKennie, who centers for Pepi. The sub blasts a shot well high. He appeals for a corner kick, but replay shows it’s unlikely that anyone deflected it. Maybe if we had the cricket replay system with the sound detector. 88 min Freeman falls at midfield, thinking he was fouled. The referee disagrees. But Berhalter barrels in to win the ball, and Alex Arce fouls Reyna. That’s yellow for Arce. 86 min Adams wins a ball just outside the US penalty area and is fouled in the process. Several good plays from the midfield cornerstone in this match. Mailbag from 14 minutes ago: “It’s worth pointing out that for as excellent as the US have been, Paraguay have been atrocious,” writes Alexander Adams. “Their shape is about as robust as a fart in the wind, and someone should tell them they are allowed to pass the ball forwards. My suspicion is Poch took Pulisic off because there is simply no need to keep him on. There’s nothing for him to do. Paraguay could play this game all weekend and they still won’t score.” Mailbag from 9 minutes ago: “Well, don’t I feel stupid,” Adams writes. And right on cue a through ball nearly catches the US napping. I’ll say once again – this game is absolutely not over. 83 min Weah with a needless foul 35 yards out, which will make many fans with long memories shudder. Richards wins the ball on the free kick, but after it’s cleared, we get a delayed offside call. Replay shows it wasn’t close. 81 min Another US possession deep, but Paraguay eventually get going the other way. Substitution: Gio Reyna, he of the huge controversy in the last World Cup, replaces the luckless Tillman, who did so many things so well but found his final touch going astray. 79 min Paraguay in possession for a while, but Pepi puts an end to that. And once again, they play it to Tillman, who draws a foul. Yellow to Gustavo Gómez. (We’re pretty sure this time.) Almiron’s night is done. He and Caceres are out, replaced by Sosa and Gustavo Velazquez. Paraguay squeeze in another one – Gamarra replaces Gomez. 77 min Weah take a crack at goal, and it’s quite clearly deflected by Gill. But the AR doesn’t see it, and it’ll be a goal kick. 76 min US keep possession for a while, but there’s enough pressure that they have play back to Freese, who blasts the ball rather aimlessly up the field. But Cubas fouls, and the US keep the ball. 75 min Tillman tries a through ball to Pepi, but it’s too far. 75 min A breakdown in the Paraguay defense, and Tillman puts his shot straight at the keeper. He holds his hands up to his head in exasperation. Malik Tillman should have made it 4-1. Photograph: Jose Breton/NurPhoto/Shutterstock GOAL! USA 3-1 Paraguay (Maurício 73) A breakdown in the US defense, and Maurício makes no mistake with his finish from 15 yards. Maurício scores to give Paraguay a sliver of hope. Photograph: Matthew Childs/Reuters 73 min US subs – there’ll be no hat trick for Balogun. He’s out, as is Dest. Weah and Pepi are in. Hydration mailbag: “I’m completely fine with Poch wrapping Pulisic in bubble-wrap and putting him on the shelf for the rest of this match,” says Daniel Stauss, whose comment came in before Jeff posted a similar sentiment. I’m not sure about that. This game isn’t over. Desi Duncker: “Between the “quarters” (due to the water breaks), pre-game and halftime shows, and commercials, we really are “Americanizing” this sport. Lol.” Yeah, but a lot of that is driven by Fifa. Also Desi: “This is a different US team. 1-2s, Pulisic dribbling through double-teams, impromptu attacks, the verve, the creativity! Downright un-American! Compared to US offenses of the past, where it was just defending and hoping to hit on the counterattack. This is MUCH more fun to watch. Desi on Balogun, who is leaving the game now: “Wow. As anyone who watches elite club soccer can tell you, it’s a completely different game when you have a legit striker. Someone you can actually rely on to put the ball in the net when the run of play goes well. It goes from, ‘Wow, we really outplayed them, but it’s still 0-0 or only 1-0’ to ‘Wow, we really outplayed them, and we’re up 3-0.’” Jeff Rueter Assuming Pulisic is indeed alright, I don’t mind the halftime hook from Pochettino. It felt like this game would inevitably provide him with a scoring chance, but Paraguay has clearly been wrankled by his on-ball initiative. Simply not worth opening him up to petty shin kicks and a possible injury. Everybody hydrate! 67 min Do Paraguay know they’re down three goals? Not much of a sense of urgency here, as they let the US pass the ball comfortably. 65 min Paraguay win the ball, leaving Freeman holding his face in pain. Adams stands his ground, and the possession ends with Diego Gómez blasting the ball high. 64 min Balogun races with the ball into space. His best options are to shoot or pass to Tillman. He opts instead to center the ball for the onrushing Berhalter, but Paraguay’s defense is there. Possibly the only thing Balogun has done wrong aside from drifting offside early in the game. 62 min I’m starting to think there are multiple US players named “Tillman.” He’s in the center. He’s on the left. He wins the ball. He shoots. He crosses. Paraguay sub: Alex Arce replaces Antonio Sanabria. Alex Arce 61 min Balogun loses the ball in the box, but Tillman is there to shoot. A Paraguayan defender gets a foot on the ball as Tillman kicks it, so it’s a painful effort in the end. We still don’t really know why Christian Pulisic is out. Fox sideline reporter Jenny Taft says he sent a thumbs-up to his family. 59 min It’s not a bad corner kick, but the US can’t get a head on it. Adams gets a yellow for fouling Mauricio before Paraguay can get anywhere. Not much of a protest from the US midfielder. 58 min Dest attacks on the right, slips (as several players have tonight) and wins a corner. 57 min Robinson is open on the left and floats a cross too high. The US maintain possession, and Tillman’s shot from 15 yards is blocked. 56 min McKennie makes several good touches on the ball and one bad one. But before Paraguay can get the ball forward, Adams breaks things up and is fouled for his troubles. 55 min There’s a shout for a penalty as Balogun falls just inside the box, but it’s incidental contact. 54 min Bad giveaway by Paraguay with the goalkeeper well off his line, and Tillman will regret trying to pass rather than lobbing. I’ll mention as I may have mentioned before – everyone in soccer forgets that “attempts to trip” is in the Laws of the Game, so you don’t have to see contact. But Ream clearly wasn’t attempting that. This is very strange. The ball was barely cleared when the ref blew the whistle to listen to the VAR crew. He goes to review the play and sees what we all saw – Ream made no contact. Now he has a red card in hand? No, that’s a ruse. He had both cards in his hand, and he wipes out the yellow to Ream and shows it to Almiron instead. He announces over the PA, clearly saying “simulation.” Miguel Almiron gets the yellow card. Finally. Photograph: Sarah Stier/FIFA/Getty Images 50 min A curious delayed decision from our referee. Almiron slips past Ream. The US captain slides and misses the ball but also misses Almiron. The Paraguayan attacker takes a few steps forward and then falls down. Ream gets a yellow card. Now we’re getting a VAR check for … mistaken identity? 48 min Now we’re seeing signs of competent play from Paraguay, but they literally get in their own way on offense. But here’s a bad giveaway from the US, and Diego Gómez ends up with a shot that caroms off a defender’s leg and drifts over the upper corner. 47 min We’ve resumed, and the USA have possession deep in the Paraguayan half. Balogun’s audacious bid for a hat trick is deflected. Pulisic out Interesting substitution at the half: Sebastian Berhalter replaces Christian Pulisic. For Paraguay: Mauricio has replaced Damian Bobadilla. Christian Pulisic doesn’t come out for the second half. Paraguay will be pleased. Photograph: Jose Breton/AFP7/Shutterstock But if you’re looking ahead as a US fan, it’s worth noting – Paraguay have shown no signs whatsoever of being a competent World Cup team. They were dreadful. The defenders were lost. The midfielders couldn’t complete passes. For the record, the USA have indeed won a World Cup group before – 2010, thanks to the Tim Howard-to-Landon Donovan-to-Clint Dempsey and Donovan on the rebound goal that sent every sports bar in the US into prolonged fits of joyful screaming. They took first on goals scored ahead of a team I’m blanking on … I think they wear white or red? (But maybe this is the year for England.) Still a long way to go, though. That was one half out of six. This team is capable of playing much worse than this. Post navigation 1,569 দিন এবং গণনা: রাশিয়া এবং ইউক্রেনের মধ্যে যুদ্ধ এখন WWI এর চেয়ে দীর্ঘ নিউ ইয়র্কের অ্যাঙ্কর বিল রিটার তার সর্বশেষ প্রত্যক্ষদর্শী সংবাদ সম্প্রচারের সময় আলঝেইমার রোগ নির্ণয়ের ঘোষণা করেছেন
For years, we’ve heard about the Golden Generation – Pulisic, McKennie, Adams, Weah, Dest, Robinson. Then they added Balogun. This game is their masterpiece – the best game they have played as a collective. The best game – so far … Thanks for following along with us. See you for the next one.
Player of the Match is Folarin Balogun. Two goals, and yet you could make a case for other players as well. If Pulisic had played the second half, he might have had an argument.
Post-match mailbag Alex Adams is back: “Now the game is sewn up, can we turn our attention to what Poch is wearing? It looks like something you’d wear if you were going to spend the afternoon poolside, in a nice cabana maybe, but have no intention of actually going for a swim. It’s like he’s studied what Pep and Scott Parker have been wearing on the touchline recently, and drawn every wrong conclusion it’s possible to make.” They can’t all be Jesse Marsch. The Canadian coach looked like he was meeting with a company CEO after the match. Charles Pearson: “Paraguay have been mostly pretty awful, just like South Africa was yesterday. So far, I’m not a fan of 16 less competitive teams to the WC finals. Would be interesting to see how those 16 teams fared after that first week, and definitely at the end of group stage. I have a feeling that they will have mostly served to help the bigger players get warmed up. I guess the tension is quantity vs quality – I don’t feel like I’m getting added quality at the moment!” I think we’re going to see one of the minnows in the field spring an upset. I also think we’re going to see a game won by eight or more goals.
Player ratings: Every player on the US team was good. Balogun was fantastic and may have deserved a third goal. Tillman was a constant menace. McKennie had incisive passes. Pulisic shredded the defense. Adams picked off every pass in his immediate vicinity. Robinson and Dest had no worries in their defensive duties and created chances moving forward. Ream, Richards and Freeman had little to do but did it well. Matt Freese collected a high cross and otherwise could’ve taken a nap. Complete performance. Everything a coaching staff and supporters group could have wanted.
Final: USA 4-1 Paraguay Some missed chances and one defensive lapse. Other than that, a comprehensive win for the co-hosts.
GOAL! USA 4-1 Paraguay (Reyna 90 +7) Pass, pass, pass, and then Reyna sees space in front of him. He takes a touch forward, then uses the outside of his right foot to curl the ball past the keeper. Demons well and truly exorcised. Gio Reyna with the icing on the cake! Photograph: Daniel Cole/Reuters
90 min +4 Berhalter draws a foul – at first glance, maybe falling a bit too easily, but replay shows clear contact to his leg. It’s close enough to take a crack at goal, but they instead pass it. And pass it again. And pass it again. And so on. Smart, professional play here.
90 min +3 Adams picks the ball away from a Paraguayan attacker. Another player has a chance to settle it, but Adams claims the ball again. He’s pulled down, and Alonso gets a yellow. Cubas is down injured for Paraguay, and it must be legit because there’s no way Paraguay would want to waste time here.
90 min +2 Jedi Robinson wreaks havoc in the Paraguayan box. And he gets it again and crosses to several US players lining up for their shot at making this 4-1.
90 min +1 Reyna absorbs another hard foul. Ouch. Free kick 10 yards outside the corner of the box. Seven minutes of stoppage time.
90 min Another Paraguayan giveaway, and Pepi is through on goal! Gill comes out to play it, but Berhalter ends up with the ball 40 yards out and Gill desperately retreating. Berhalter loses his footing before he can unleash a good lob.
89 min Ream plays ahead for McKennie, who centers for Pepi. The sub blasts a shot well high. He appeals for a corner kick, but replay shows it’s unlikely that anyone deflected it. Maybe if we had the cricket replay system with the sound detector.
88 min Freeman falls at midfield, thinking he was fouled. The referee disagrees. But Berhalter barrels in to win the ball, and Alex Arce fouls Reyna. That’s yellow for Arce.
86 min Adams wins a ball just outside the US penalty area and is fouled in the process. Several good plays from the midfield cornerstone in this match.
Mailbag from 14 minutes ago: “It’s worth pointing out that for as excellent as the US have been, Paraguay have been atrocious,” writes Alexander Adams. “Their shape is about as robust as a fart in the wind, and someone should tell them they are allowed to pass the ball forwards. My suspicion is Poch took Pulisic off because there is simply no need to keep him on. There’s nothing for him to do. Paraguay could play this game all weekend and they still won’t score.” Mailbag from 9 minutes ago: “Well, don’t I feel stupid,” Adams writes. And right on cue a through ball nearly catches the US napping. I’ll say once again – this game is absolutely not over.
83 min Weah with a needless foul 35 yards out, which will make many fans with long memories shudder. Richards wins the ball on the free kick, but after it’s cleared, we get a delayed offside call. Replay shows it wasn’t close.
81 min Another US possession deep, but Paraguay eventually get going the other way. Substitution: Gio Reyna, he of the huge controversy in the last World Cup, replaces the luckless Tillman, who did so many things so well but found his final touch going astray.
79 min Paraguay in possession for a while, but Pepi puts an end to that. And once again, they play it to Tillman, who draws a foul. Yellow to Gustavo Gómez. (We’re pretty sure this time.) Almiron’s night is done. He and Caceres are out, replaced by Sosa and Gustavo Velazquez. Paraguay squeeze in another one – Gamarra replaces Gomez.
77 min Weah take a crack at goal, and it’s quite clearly deflected by Gill. But the AR doesn’t see it, and it’ll be a goal kick.
76 min US keep possession for a while, but there’s enough pressure that they have play back to Freese, who blasts the ball rather aimlessly up the field. But Cubas fouls, and the US keep the ball.
75 min A breakdown in the Paraguay defense, and Tillman puts his shot straight at the keeper. He holds his hands up to his head in exasperation. Malik Tillman should have made it 4-1. Photograph: Jose Breton/NurPhoto/Shutterstock
GOAL! USA 3-1 Paraguay (Maurício 73) A breakdown in the US defense, and Maurício makes no mistake with his finish from 15 yards. Maurício scores to give Paraguay a sliver of hope. Photograph: Matthew Childs/Reuters
Hydration mailbag: “I’m completely fine with Poch wrapping Pulisic in bubble-wrap and putting him on the shelf for the rest of this match,” says Daniel Stauss, whose comment came in before Jeff posted a similar sentiment. I’m not sure about that. This game isn’t over. Desi Duncker: “Between the “quarters” (due to the water breaks), pre-game and halftime shows, and commercials, we really are “Americanizing” this sport. Lol.” Yeah, but a lot of that is driven by Fifa. Also Desi: “This is a different US team. 1-2s, Pulisic dribbling through double-teams, impromptu attacks, the verve, the creativity! Downright un-American! Compared to US offenses of the past, where it was just defending and hoping to hit on the counterattack. This is MUCH more fun to watch. Desi on Balogun, who is leaving the game now: “Wow. As anyone who watches elite club soccer can tell you, it’s a completely different game when you have a legit striker. Someone you can actually rely on to put the ball in the net when the run of play goes well. It goes from, ‘Wow, we really outplayed them, but it’s still 0-0 or only 1-0’ to ‘Wow, we really outplayed them, and we’re up 3-0.’”
Jeff Rueter Assuming Pulisic is indeed alright, I don’t mind the halftime hook from Pochettino. It felt like this game would inevitably provide him with a scoring chance, but Paraguay has clearly been wrankled by his on-ball initiative. Simply not worth opening him up to petty shin kicks and a possible injury.
67 min Do Paraguay know they’re down three goals? Not much of a sense of urgency here, as they let the US pass the ball comfortably.
65 min Paraguay win the ball, leaving Freeman holding his face in pain. Adams stands his ground, and the possession ends with Diego Gómez blasting the ball high.
64 min Balogun races with the ball into space. His best options are to shoot or pass to Tillman. He opts instead to center the ball for the onrushing Berhalter, but Paraguay’s defense is there. Possibly the only thing Balogun has done wrong aside from drifting offside early in the game.
62 min I’m starting to think there are multiple US players named “Tillman.” He’s in the center. He’s on the left. He wins the ball. He shoots. He crosses. Paraguay sub: Alex Arce replaces Antonio Sanabria. Alex Arce
61 min Balogun loses the ball in the box, but Tillman is there to shoot. A Paraguayan defender gets a foot on the ball as Tillman kicks it, so it’s a painful effort in the end.
We still don’t really know why Christian Pulisic is out. Fox sideline reporter Jenny Taft says he sent a thumbs-up to his family.
59 min It’s not a bad corner kick, but the US can’t get a head on it. Adams gets a yellow for fouling Mauricio before Paraguay can get anywhere. Not much of a protest from the US midfielder.
57 min Robinson is open on the left and floats a cross too high. The US maintain possession, and Tillman’s shot from 15 yards is blocked.
56 min McKennie makes several good touches on the ball and one bad one. But before Paraguay can get the ball forward, Adams breaks things up and is fouled for his troubles.
55 min There’s a shout for a penalty as Balogun falls just inside the box, but it’s incidental contact.
54 min Bad giveaway by Paraguay with the goalkeeper well off his line, and Tillman will regret trying to pass rather than lobbing.
I’ll mention as I may have mentioned before – everyone in soccer forgets that “attempts to trip” is in the Laws of the Game, so you don’t have to see contact. But Ream clearly wasn’t attempting that.
This is very strange. The ball was barely cleared when the ref blew the whistle to listen to the VAR crew. He goes to review the play and sees what we all saw – Ream made no contact. Now he has a red card in hand? No, that’s a ruse. He had both cards in his hand, and he wipes out the yellow to Ream and shows it to Almiron instead. He announces over the PA, clearly saying “simulation.” Miguel Almiron gets the yellow card. Finally. Photograph: Sarah Stier/FIFA/Getty Images
50 min A curious delayed decision from our referee. Almiron slips past Ream. The US captain slides and misses the ball but also misses Almiron. The Paraguayan attacker takes a few steps forward and then falls down. Ream gets a yellow card. Now we’re getting a VAR check for … mistaken identity?
48 min Now we’re seeing signs of competent play from Paraguay, but they literally get in their own way on offense. But here’s a bad giveaway from the US, and Diego Gómez ends up with a shot that caroms off a defender’s leg and drifts over the upper corner.
47 min We’ve resumed, and the USA have possession deep in the Paraguayan half. Balogun’s audacious bid for a hat trick is deflected.
Pulisic out Interesting substitution at the half: Sebastian Berhalter replaces Christian Pulisic. For Paraguay: Mauricio has replaced Damian Bobadilla. Christian Pulisic doesn’t come out for the second half. Paraguay will be pleased. Photograph: Jose Breton/AFP7/Shutterstock
But if you’re looking ahead as a US fan, it’s worth noting – Paraguay have shown no signs whatsoever of being a competent World Cup team. They were dreadful. The defenders were lost. The midfielders couldn’t complete passes.
For the record, the USA have indeed won a World Cup group before – 2010, thanks to the Tim Howard-to-Landon Donovan-to-Clint Dempsey and Donovan on the rebound goal that sent every sports bar in the US into prolonged fits of joyful screaming. They took first on goals scored ahead of a team I’m blanking on … I think they wear white or red? (But maybe this is the year for England.) Still a long way to go, though. That was one half out of six. This team is capable of playing much worse than this.