The USA, led by Mauricio Pochettino, were the third and final co-hosts to play in Round 1.

The Stars and Stripes made a statement too, dismantling Paraguay in a dominant opening display.

Here are our Scout Notes from the game, featuring match stats from our World Cup Toolkit page.

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USA 4-1 PARAGUAY

• Goals: Bobadilla (own goal), Balogun (x2), Reyna | Prado
• Assists: Pulisic, Tillman, Freeman | Enciso
• Tackle bonus: Cubas
• Chances created bonus: Pulisic
• Shots on target bonus: Balogun
• Top points scorers: Balogun (15), Prado (9), Reyna (9), Dest (9).

TEAM STATS

PLAYER STATS

SCOUT NOTES

• The USA completely dominated Paraguay and the underlying data backed that up. Mauricio Pochettino’s side controlled 65% possession, produced nearly three times Paraguay’s xG (expected goals), registered 16 shots and created four big chances. Paraguay managed just one.
• Most of that dominance came during a devastating first half, where the USA scored three times. The opener started with a driving run into the box from Christian Pulisic ($7.0m). Paraguay nudged him off the ball, but it fell kindly to Weston McKennie ($6.1m). His attempted pass then deflected off Paraguay midfielder Damián Bobadilla ($5.5m) and into the net for an own goal.
• Pulisic caused problems again for the second. The Milan attacker collected the ball on the left flank before threading a deflected pass into striker Folarin Balogun ($6.0m), who poked home from close range to make it 2-0.
• The pressure never stopped there. As the USA tightened their grip on the match approaching half-time, Malik Tillman ($6.1m) split the Paraguay defence apart with a superb pass from the centre-circle. Balogun danced beyond both centre-backs before slotting home his second goal of the evening to make it 3-0. Interestingly, Tillman generated more xG than any other player on the pitch but couldn’t find a goal himself.
• Half-time then brought a major concern for Fantasy managers. Pulisic, who played a key role in two of the USA’s three first-half goals, came off with what initially looked like a calf issue. Post-match, Pochettino clarified the situation: “Christian got a kick in the calf and we didn’t want to take a risk because he was finding it a little difficult. Hopefully it is nothing serious and he’ll be ready (for Australia).”
• The match tightened up statistically after the break. Paraguay competed much better and matched the USA for big chances created, although the hosts still edged both xG and total attempts.
• The 72nd-minute substitutions then saw star performer Balogun leave the pitch alongside Sergiño Dest ($4.3m). Similar to Antonee Robinson ($5.0m), Dest offered little attacking output from wing-back, but the early substitution at least secured his clean sheet points before Paraguay pulled one back moments later. Paraguay midfielder Julio Enciso ($6.6m), who recovered quickly from an injury scare in a recent friendly to start the match, placed the ball perfectly for Maurício Magalhães Prado ($4.6m) to score.
• Paraguay never built on that momentum and the game soon drifted away from them. Centre-back Alexander Freeman ($4.0m) pushed forward aggressively from the right before sliding a pass into Giovanni Reyna ($5.5m). The midfielder then curled an outside-of-the-boot finish beyond the goalkeeper to make it 4-1.
• Overall, it was an outstanding display from the USA from start to finish. Although he failed to produce a Fantasy return, the return of centre-back Chris Richards ($4.1m) gave the hosts another huge boost. His composure on the ball stood out throughout the match, with Richards completing all 83 of his attempted passes. No player has recorded a better passing accuracy in a World Cup match since 1966.
• Fantasy managers will now wait closely for further updates on Pulisic ahead of Round 2.