World Cup, Group D: USA 4 (Bobadilla 7 og, Balogun 41, 45 +4, Reyna 90 +7) Paraguay 1 (Maurico 73)After the interminable build-up and endless lectures about the role of the United States in this World Cup, football had its say. Despite the absence of the commander-in-chief, the USA team shook off the pressure of hosting this controversial World Cup with an irresistible first half that left them three goals clear of the subdued and terribly outplayed Paraguayan visitors.The crowd who gathered big, oval Sofi stadium, deep in the southwest neighbourhood of Inglewood, was sprinkled with famous faces. But, as predicted, Donald Trump stayed away. It’s unclear who took his seat as Fifa claimed the match was a sell-out: it certainly wasn’t that far away but the theme of empty seats has been established within the opening 48 hours of this tournament.A fortnight has passed since Paraguay’s president, Santiago Peña, revealed the US president had extended an invitation to join him in Los Angeles. The Paraguayan leader travelled for the occasion but Trump, who has seldom set foot in California since assuming office, had other things on his mind: the war with Iran, his 80th birthday and final preparations for the UFC extravaganza on Sunday evening – and not necessarily in that order.The scale and undiluted eccentricity of the UFC night has, naturally, thrilled fans of that sport and held the rest of the world in a spell of appalled fascination. On the US networks, it has competed with and even eclipsed the opening phases of the biggest sporting event on Earth. Debates – is it not a little indecorous to have fighters batter each other for entertainment in front of the people’s house? – will continue to rage over the weekend. But Trump has marketed this event as a unique celebration of America 250: maybe a bout of orchestrated ultra-violence on a mid-June evening, with thunderstorms forecast and the air alive with bugs, is an appropriate reflection of the wilder and extraordinary passages that has brought the republic from then until now.In any event, the absence of the president from the Sofi-stadium in Inglewood – an historically black neighbourhood that LA has reinvented and revitalised as the stadium-and-events quarter of the enormous City of Angels – made Friday night’s event simpler. After Thursday night’s euphoric win for hosts Mexico in the Azteca stadium the spotlight turned to the United States team. By then, Trump had put in a phone call to coach Mauricio Pochettino and the entire squad who had gathered to hear the president inform them that he believed “you’ve got a real good chance of going all the way”.For good measure, he told Pochettino, who has achieved a record of 15 wins, 10 defeats and a draw in his two years with the USA, that he is a “a fantastic guy, a fantastic coach”.No doubt, but he’s a fantastic guy with a contingency plan. Tony Meola, the goalkeeper for the USA back in 1994, made an appearance not long before kick-off and was asked his views about the widely reported story that Pochettino has agreed in principle to join AC Milan as head coach next season.USA fans celebrate after their team went 1-0 against Paraguay during the Fifa World Cup 2026 group game in Los Angeles, California. Photograph: EPA “I said when Mauricio got hired, I never saw him being here after this World Cup. Because the way I look at it, if he has a great World Cup, which we are all hoping, what’s the reason to stay? Are you going to go one step further four years from now? And if we have a terrible World Cup, well, we’re going to kick him out anyway. It’s kinda like the story of football management. The fact that he’s spoken to Milan ... I’m gonna take a wild guess: Milan’s not the only club [in contact] since he has been the manager of the national team. This is what the game is.”Meola clearly has not been paying attention to the lyrics of Katie Perry, who finished the prematch ceremonies with a centre-circle rendition of Wonder in which she asked the crowd, through song: “Can someone promise me our innocence doesn’t get lost in a cynical world?”Nobody could, not at this troubled moment. Perry jog-trotted off-field with admirable haste and later reappeared in the hospitality suite with her beau, Canada’s former prime minister Justin Trudeau.Still, the blistering quality of the opening 45 minutes of play from Pochettino’s team must have left Meola and the other veterans from the national team’s 1994 World Cup adventure purring. It took the hosts just over six minutes to breach Paraguay with a crisp exchange of passes between Alex Freeman, Weston McKennie and the live-wire Christian Pulisic whose face lit up as he watched the low cutting cross he intended for Folarin Balogun stabbed into his own net by the luckless Damián Bobadilla. The deflating nature of that concession set the tone of a miserable half for the visitors as their compact 4-4-2 was overwhelmed by the high-pressing and free-spirited approach from the hosts. Pulisic set an audacious tone through hard-charging tackling; a fearless, direct approach; and eye-catching flicks and touches. In the 28th minute Balogun finished another sharp passing move along Paraguay’s right wing but both he and Pulisic were offside. It was a prelude to the raid that followed just two minutes later: Antonee Robinson with a weighted pass for Pulisic, who sprinted into space along the right and cut inside, and Balogun, in an ocean of space near the penalty spot, guided the ball past Orlando Gill’s flapping right glove and Inglewood erupted. Chris Richards came close with a glancing header from a Malik Tilman corner in the 37th. In the fourth minute of injury time, Balogun put a gloss on the evening, collecting a pass and keeping his balance to shake off the despairing lunge from Omar Aldarete. The finish, with his left, was indicative of the confidence flooding through the home team. Three-nil at the break and Paraguay, hapless through every line and unable to make any impression, understood the phrase ‘down and out in LA’.Folarin Balogun (right) of USA in action against Gustavo Gomez of Paraguay during the Fifa World Cup 2026 group stage match in Los Angeles. Photograph: EPA Chants of “USA! USA!” echoed around the stadium. The local crowd was having a whale of a time. Back in the Washington, Trump may have been considering revving up the engines of Air Force One. Sated by the rush of goals, the American crowd returned from the beer taps and settled into a Friday evening baseball lull. Pochettino made the decision to replace Pulisic with Sebastian Berhalter. Nothing changed and the chief intrigue lay in whether Balogun, the Brooklyn-born Londoner who represented England in multiple under-age teams, could claim his hat-trick. But Pochettino retired him before the end also.In the 65th minute, the visitors had something approaching a shot but the strike by Diego Gomez skewed wide. In the 75th minute, they were able to send a tremor of doubt through the Americans when Prado Maurico broke into space from a rudimentary lobbed free-kick and finished cleanly. It was much too little too late. An opening night victory was vital to a USA team hoping to build momentum and engage the interest of a nation of 350 million, many of whom regard the global fascination with football as a mystery they seldom ponder.The hosts provided yet another highlight to close the evening, finishing the score with an exquisite outside-of-the-right by second half substitute Giovanni Reyna. In the end, it was the brightest possible start for the Americans in Los Angeles: a football match, with no controversies, and lightness and smiles all round.