USA open their 2026 FIFA World Cup campaign against Paraguay in Group D.
USA are making their 12th appearance at the World Cup, whilst Paraguay are making their ninth appearance at the tournament.
Team News
USA have no fresh injury concerns to report ahead of this match, with Tyler Adams likely to have his game time managed for fitness reasons.
Paraguay could be without Julio Enciso due to a thigh injury.
When is Kick-Off?
USA host Paraguay at SoFI Stadium, Inglewood, on Friday 12 June at 8pm PDT (2am BST, Saturday 13 June), live on BBC1 and iPlayer in the UK.
Stat Attack
- USA won their only previous World Cup meeting against Paraguay by a 3-0 result in 1930, with all three goals scored by Bert Patenaude.
- Paraguay have won one of three previous competitive meetings against USA in all competitions (W1, L2), which came in July 2007 in a 3-1 group-stage win at that year’s Copa America.
- USA have won just one match in 2026 (W1, L3), across which they scored six goals and conceded 11 goals.
- Paraguay have won just one of their eight previous opening group matches at a World Cup (W1, D4, L3).
Prediction
As tournament co-hosts, USA will be considered favourites in this match but their defence has been poor since the turn of the year, so a stronger defensive effort is going to be needed although their attack is strong enough to deliver if can find a solid balance across the pitch.
Paraguay though could be more difficult than expected after they conceded just ten goals in Qualifying, but their opening group-match record at previous editions make for tough reading so I do think that they ideally need to score first then turn on their defensive resilience to get the win.
I however can just see USA finding a way to snatch something here in an open Group D.
Prediction: USA 1-1 Paraguay
Result: USA 4-1 Paraguay
Leave a Reply