How far can USMNT go at World Cup after magical win over Paraguay?

"Why not us? ... We need to dream."

It was easy to dismiss manager Mauricio Pochettino's pre-tournament proclamation that the United States needed to "really believe" it could win this summer's World Cup before play began. Just the musings of a coach trying to rally his players for the biggest event of their lives, right?

After seeing the Americans steamroll Paraguay and begin their World Cup campaign with a near-flawless 4-1 win in Los Angeles - their largest margin of victory at a men's World Cup since 1930 - perhaps Pochettino wasn't being facetious.

Here are three takeaways from Friday's auspicious USMNT opener.

Pedal to the metal

This is precisely what U.S. Soccer envisioned when, aided by some wealthy donors, it signed Pochettino to the largest contract in the history of the program. This is why you go out and hire an accomplished tactician with club pedigree who can elevate a talented but underachieving player pool.

All of the Argentine's tinkering, all of his roster management and his testing of different personnel, formations, and tactics, built to this moment. It all came together perfectly when it mattered most.

Star attacker Christian Pulisic, who later played down concerns about the calf knock that forced him out of the match at halftime, was sublime. He looked like the unstoppable creative force who dominated Serie A for the first half of the 2025-26 season, and nothing like the frustrated forward who stumbled through the second half of the campaign without a goal. Weston McKennie popped up anywhere and everywhere, often combining with Pulisic to torment the Paraguayan defense - they combined to create the seventh-minute own goal that got the ball rolling and set the tempo for the entire match.

Sergino Dest was buzzing around the right wing. Malik Tillman kept cutting Paraguay open with incisive passing. Tyler Adams proactively stepped up to quickly win back possession on the very rare occasions that Paraguay had the ball for more than a couple seconds. The backline was largely imperious.

The U.S. press, a staple of Pochettino's system, was absolutely relentless. The World Cup co-host forced 16 high turnovers in Paraguay's half - almost three times as many as any other team so far in the tournament - and applied 530 pressures when out of possession, according to Opta.

Paraguay simply couldn't get out of its own half, and had just 28% of the ball in the opening 45 minutes. Pochettino's team pressed forward in an ultra-aggressive 3-2-5 formation, smothering the opposition and trusting that Adams and the defenders would sweep up anything that squirmed through.

The U.S. totally tilted the field and effectively ended the contest by halftime, taking control of a match (and a moment) like never before.

Go with the Flo

The Americans have spent a long time looking around to find a genuine, game-breaking No. 9 who could lead the line and be relied upon to convert chances with devastating efficiency. They found one.

Folarin Balogun, the former England Under-21 striker who committed to the USMNT in 2023 after much wooing, scored two clinical goals in the first half at SoFi Stadium, including a wicked finish on the stroke of halftime that put the game to bed. He's the first American man to score multiple goals in a single World Cup contest since Bert Patenaude (also against Paraguay) in the inaugural tournament in 1930. It's been a while.

"The kid's insane. He's lethal right now," Pulisic said of his 24-year-old teammate, according to ESPN's Jeff Carlisle. "We're really lucky to have him. Let's just hope it keeps coming like this."

Balogun is everything you want in a striker. Fast, sharp, confident, skillful, and decisive in front of goal, as evidenced by the left-footed thunderbolt into the top corner that gave the U.S. a 3-0 lead.

It's a far cry from some of the meek attacking output we've seen in the past from this team. The U.S. was eliminated at the first knockout hurdle in 2010, 2014, and 2022 - the team infamously didn't even qualify for the 2018 World Cup - and has often gone cold on the biggest stage. It only scored three goals in the entire tournament four years ago in Qatar.

With Balogun taking center stage, Pochettino's men eclipsed that mark in just 90 minutes Friday.

"A real dream, it's a dreamy night," Balogun said after the match. Indeed.

Staying level-headed

It's important not to get too carried away. It was, of course, just one game, and the three points count the same no matter how you win. Pochettino and the players know that, and that will likely be the public messaging coming from the camp prior to the next match against Australia on June 19.

But, at the same time, it's important not to dismiss Friday's historic result.

The Americans will play better teams than Paraguay at the World Cup - just in the group stage alone, a very talented Turkiye side should provide stern opposition in the group finale June 25 - but the South Americans are no pushovers.

La Albirroja are gritty, physical, and (usually) defensively sound. They conceded just 10 goals in CONMEBOL qualifying, remember, and beat both Argentina and Brazil along the way to get to the tournament.

The U.S. totally overwhelmed them. That's nothing to scoff at.

Most encouraging of all, perhaps, was the raucous environment created by the 70,492 fans in attendance. The supporters, like the players, stepped up in a big way, and the brilliant atmosphere was certainly a factor.

Ever since the U.S. was awarded co-hosting duties for the World Cup eight years ago - and especially in recent months as the tournament got closer to kickoff - there was genuine concern that the team would be met with indifference at the tournament. You can put those worries to rest. Both the fans and players helped deliver a memorable soccer occasion.

Can they build on it? Why not? They need to dream.