Get free access to the most comprehensive World Cup coverage in The Athletic app.The United States got off to a flying start at the World Cup, thrashing Paraguay 4-1 on Friday in Los Angeles — the first time the men’s team has scored four goals in a World Cup game.The result takes the USMNT (the United States Men’s National Team) to the top of Group D and puts them in the driving seat to reach the knockout stages.After such an impressive performance, belief will no doubt grow within the roster that this tournament could be historic for the team, which has not reached the quarterfinals of the World Cup since 2002.If you found yourself getting swept up in the excitement, but have not watched much soccer lately, or you’re entirely new to the world’s game, The Athletic is here to provide all the context you need to help you get up to speed with the USMNT.How big was the win against Paraguay?Pretty huge, actually. Going all the way back to 1930, the USMNT has won its opening World Cup game just three times in 11 attempts, meaning it has often had to play catch-up to qualify for the knockout stages.This result, along with providing a big boost in confidence for a roster short on World Cup experience, puts them in a strong position to advance to the round of 32 and potentially beyond. According to our comprehensive prediction model, this result gives the United States a 97 per cent chance of qualifying for the knockout stages.Folarin Balogun scored twice for the USMNT in the first half against Paraguay (Sarah Stier – FIFA via Getty Images)Better yet, the team did it in style. After getting a helping hand (or foot) from Paraguay midfielder Damian Bobadilla, who passed the ball into his own net on the stretch in the seventh minute, the United States kept its foot on the gas.The USMNT went in 3-0 up at halftime, when head coach Mauricio Pochettino decided to take off star forward Christian Pulisic, who had picked up a minor calf injury, to ensure he’s fully rested for sterner tests down the road, such was the confidence that his team would continue dominating in front of a raucous crowd.“When you talk about America, that passion, that feeling today, they (the fans) were amazing,” Pochettino said in his post-game press conference. “And now they realize that soccer here in America is massive, it’s big. Be careful, other sports.”As you can tell, spirits are high in the United States camp. Thursday’s game against Australia offers an opportunity to secure their second win of the tournament and guarantee a first- or second-place finish. In theory, Pochettino’s toughest test should come against Turkey in the final group game, but there is a chance both teams may rotate their starting line-ups to give minutes to players lower down the depth chart if they are through to the next stage.Who are the USMNT’s star players?Pulisic has been positioned as the face of the USMNT since he left his hometown of Hershey, Pennsylvania, to join German giants Borussia Dortmund aged 16 in 2015.Considered arguably the greatest men’s soccer talent the United States has produced, Pulisic, 27, has not always had it easy. He left Dortmund for English Premier League side Chelsea in 2019, in a transfer worth $73million (£57.6m), making him the most expensive North American player of all time. There, he became a Champions League winner (the most prestigious club competition in European soccer) in 2021, but he never secured a long-term starting spot, and his progression slowed.Christian Pulisic had a brilliant game against Paraguay before being replaced at the interval (Sebastian Frej/Getty Images)He now plays for Italian giants Milan, where he is one of the team’s key attacking players. Before joining up with the national team for the World Cup, Pulisic was on a five-month scoring drought for club and country, but he ended it in the USMNT’s pre-tournament 3-2 friendly win over Senegal, and his performance against Paraguay suggests he is playing at the top of his game.He played in attack alongside Folarin Balogun, a player the USMNT should thank air travel restrictions for.“What?” I hear you ask.Well, Balogun’s mother was seven months pregnant when she visited her sister-in-law in the United States from the United Kingdom in 2001, and was not permitted to fly home to London while heavily pregnant. As it transpired, she gave birth to Balogun in Brooklyn, granting him U.S. citizenship by birth and making him eligible for the USMNT. And thank the skies and their laws she did, because he seems to have solved the long-term, generational lack of true goalscorers in the men’s national team.Balogun, who grew up in London and progressed through Arsenal’s youth academy, ended the season in fine form for his club, Monaco, in the French top division, and has carried his goalscoring touch into the World Cup. His second goal, a left-footed, curled finish into the top corner, was first-class.Many of the USMNT were born in or spent significant time in Europe during their childhoods. Star defender Antonee Robinson was raised in Liverpool, England, but was eligible to play for the USMNT through his father, Marlon, who emigrated to New York state and became a citizen.Weston McKennie was raised primarily in Texas but fell in love with soccer while spending three years in Germany, where his father was stationed at a United States Air Force base.Antonee Robinson, No 5, plays in the Premier League for Fulham (Getty Images)He was joined in midfield on Friday by Malik Tillman, whose father is an African-American who served in the U.S. military in Germany, though he was born and raised in the Western European nation, and by Tyler Adams, who is from New York but joined RB Leipzig in Germany as a teenager.Not exactly a soccer hotbed, the USMNT’s star defender, Chris Richards, is from Birmingham, Alabama, but rose through the ranks of FC Dallas’ youth academy before joining Bayern Munich, the biggest club in Germany and one of the most prestigious in the world. He now plays for Crystal Palace in the English Premier League.Do any of their players play in the U.S.?Absolutely!Starting goalkeeper Matt Freese plays in Major League Soccer, America’s top-tier professional league, as do his backups, Matt Turner and Chris Brady. Had Freese not turned to soccer, he may well have been a hot-shot finance guy at a bulge-bracket investment banking firm, having graduated from Harvard in economics. Instead, he has been based in New York City since 2022 with a different focus — stopping shots for MLS franchise New York City FC.He is one of seven USMNT roster members who play their club soccer in MLS, including Sebastian Berhalter, who came on as a substitute for Pulisic at halftime. If that name sounds familiar, you are probably recalling his dad, Gregg Berhalter, who coached the USMNT at the 2022 World Cup and made 44 appearances for the national team as a player. He was fired in 2024, making way for Pochettino.So, what about Pochettino?In short, Pochettino is the best and most admired coach the United States has had.He was a pretty good player in his day, making 20 appearances for Argentina and building a long career in Europe, where he is best remembered for periods at Paris Saint-Germain in France and Espanyol in Spain. But he is most revered for his accomplishments as a coach, particularly in the English Premier League with Southampton and Tottenham Hotspur.During his five-year period in charge of Tottenham, Pochettino, 54, established the north London club as league title challengers, finishing second in 2016-17 (Spurs’ best Premier League finish) and reaching the final of the Champions League in 2019. While he never won a trophy with Tottenham, he is considered a club legend and is perennially linked with a return. He won his first trophies as a coach with PSG after leaving Tottenham, collecting the league title and the domestic cup.Pochettino demands more from his players in the win over Paraguay (Jamie Squire/Getty Images)He has been the USMNT head coach since September 2024, becoming the United States’ first coach born in South America. His first national team coaching job has been up and down, recording some impressive results, including a 5-1 win against Uruguay, and some less impressive ones, notably the 4-0 and 5-2 defeats by Switzerland and Belgium, respectively.Still, judging by their recent results and performances, Pochettino appears to be getting closer to finding his feet at international level.How does qualifying for the knockouts work?Great news: our model predicts the United States is pretty much there, so you can tentatively start thinking about a fourth game. Only tentatively, however, as the USMNT’s remaining two group games have a significant bearing on which team it might face in the round of 32.Between 1998 and 2022, the World Cup had 32 teams split into eight groups of four. The two countries that had amassed the most points after their three group games would qualify for the round of 16, where the win-or-go-home knockout phase starts. Now, with the World Cup expanded to 48 teams, there are 12 groups of four, which means an extra knockout round, the round of 32.If the USMNT finishes first or second in the group, a place in the round of 32 is booked. But under the new format, the eight best third-placed teams will also advance.Still, while that extra security is nice, the third-placed finishers will play a team that finished top of their group in the round of 32, increasing the likelihood of meeting one of the favorites. A first-place finish would mean the U.S. playing a runner-up from Groups B, E, F, I, or J, while finishing second would mean a meeting with the runner-up of Group G — probably Iran or Egypt.Realistically, how far will the team get? Can the U.S. win it? Who are the favorites?There’s no better way to start a home World Cup than by thumping a respected opponent 4-1, so spirits and expectations have justifiably been raised.The USMNT has never been better-positioned for a deep run at the World Cup. For the first time in modern history, it has an elite coach who could expect to get a job at one of the world’s biggest club teams should he decide to depart his role with the national team (he actually met with representatives of Milan to discuss their vacant head coach role before the tournament), and he has a strong group of experienced high-level players to work with. In front of a home crowd, there is the potential to put together a special run.But what would qualify as a special run for the USMNT? If your (admittedly low) barometer for a special run is to reach the knockout stages, well, we’ve established that’s likely to happen.If it’s the more optimistic round of 16, well, depending on the first knockout opponents, that’s entirely possible, too. For the USMNT to reach the quarter-finals would be an outstanding achievement (matching the 2002 finish) and probably an overperformance. Anything beyond the last eight would represent one of the most unlikely and exciting runs in the tournament’s 96-year history.Then again, Morocco reached the semis in 2022, and South Korea, as a co-host, did it 20 years earlier, so there’s precedent. To do that, the U.S. will likely need to beat one of the heavy favorites: France, Spain, England, Argentina, Brazil or Portugal.