The U.S. is already dreaming of the title

After the US men’s national team’s biggest World Cup win and a convincing opening match, two-goal scorer Folarin Balogun quickly set his sights on the ultimate goal at this World Cup: the title. The co-hosts won their opener against Paraguay 4-1 and immediately established themselves as favorites in Group D.

With two goals, Balogun played a decisive role in the team’s impressive debut performance. Denis Zakaria’s club teammate at AS Monaco then recalled the words of his coach, Mauricio Pochettino: “He’s said it often: Why not us? We have to believe in it. If you don’t believe in yourself, you won’t achieve anything,” said the striker. “It’s a dream. That was a magical night.”

A home game that feels like one

Leverkusen pro Malik Tillman wasn’t exactly looking ahead to the World Cup final on July 18 just outside New York, but the assist provider for Balogun’s 3-0 goal also saw the opener in front of celebrities like Tom Cruise, David Beckham, and U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio as a sign of great strength and confidence in handling the high expectations at this tournament.

“We can go into the next two games with a lot of confidence,” said the Nuremberg-born pro, who particularly enjoyed the loud and frenetic support at the stadium south of Los Angeles. “We’ve had our share of challenges before. For example, last summer in the Gold Cup against Guatemala, the entire stadium was against us, even though it was a home game,” he recounted.

Against Paraguay, however, the vast majority of the officially reported 70,492 spectators—some seats and suites remained empty for the entire duration of the match—created a genuine World Cup atmosphere and a clear home-field advantage. “As an American, having this crowd, all that red, white, and blue, all the red and white stripes on the shirts—it was great,” said Christian Pulisic. The U.S. captain had been substituted at halftime with the score at 3-0, but gave the all-clear after the match. He had only taken a knock to his left calf and wasn’t worried.

Balogun has experts raving

With an own goal by Damian Bobadilla (7th minute), the match had taken the direction US fans had hoped for early on, and two-goal scorer Balogun (31st/45th) ensured a jubilant atmosphere and a perfect debut before halftime. “That was the best first half ever by a men’s national team at the World Cup level. Complete dominance. It doesn’t get any better than that,” said former national team player Alexi Lalas at halftime on FOX.

Lalas had been unable to go beyond a 1-1 draw with the U.S. against Switzerland in the opening match of the last World Cup on home soil in 1994. Thirty-two years later, his successors had to concede a 1-3 goal by Mauricio (73rd minute), they also scored the fourth goal of the evening through Mönchengladbach’s Giovanni Reyna in the eighth minute of stoppage time—thus sealing the record-breaking victory for a men’s national team at a World Cup.

“That was definitely a statement. Three goals in the first half, in the opening match. It definitely felt like a real statement,” said Balogun.