Hey friends,

Coming to your inbox on a Monday after the greatest performance in USMNT history. Vibes are high. I hope you’re all enjoying this as much as we are.

• 🇺🇸 A Glorious USMNT Win

• 🌎️ More World Cup Action

• ⚽️ Goal of the Week

• 😂 Tweet of the Week

A Glorious USMNT Win

The USMNT had their best performance in the history of our program on Friday night in LA (I got chills writing that sentence). A resounding 4-1 opening day win against a good Paraguay team. I was in the stands for the experience. It was by far the best sporting event I’ve ever been to. My friends and I have been gushing about those couple hours in SoFi for the last 48 hours.

We simply could not have started this tournament any better. We were ambitious, aggressive, and played with a purpose that I’ve never seen this team play with. The 4 goals are the most the US has ever scored in a World Cup game.

Christian Pulisic started the party, slicing through two defenders before crossing it to Weston McKennie who passed it off a defender for the first goal in the 7th minute. Folarin Balogun followed it up in the 31st minute slotting home a cross from Pulisic to extend the lead. Then, in the last minute of the first half, Malik Tillman played a great through ball to Balogun who shrugged off one defender then put the ball in the upper 90. It was glorious. SoFi was rocking.

The US’s 53 touches in the attacking box were tied for the 8th most in a World Cup match since 1966. They also had 22 successful one-v-ones’s, the teams most in a game in the last 15 years and the most by any team in the World Cup since 2014.

Chris Richards was perfect on the night, completing 100% of his 83 passes, the most passes with 100% accuracy in a World Cup game since 1966. The ankle injury seems to be fully behind him.

This wasn’t against a bad team either. Paraguay are good. They beat Argentina, Brazil, and Uruguay in the qualifiers. They have been one of the best defensive teams in the world. But we outclassed them the entire game. Paraguay’s head coach Gustavo Alfaro said, “They dominated tactically, technically, and physically… they have a solution for every problem.”

The game ended just as it began, with a perfect coronation from the outside of Gio Reyna’s right foot. A stunning strike at the tail end of a 26 pass sequence. The Paraguayans never had a chance.

Alas we have ourselves a dominant, comprehensive win. One that makes us believe we can make a deep run. We’re now a near lock to get out of the group and ride into the knockouts oozing with confidence. Next up is a Australia team that beat Turkey and cannot be underestimated.

More World Cup Action

Here’s some other action from a packed few days of footy.

• Mexico opened up the tournament with a 2-0 win over South Africa. Raul Jimenez scored his first ever World Cup goal, an emotional moment for the striker who’s been through a lot to get here. The game featured three red cards. The 2018 and 2022 World Cup’s each had four red cards in the entire tournament.

• The heavyweight bout of the weekend was Brazil and Morocco, who dueled it out to a 1-1 draw in New York. Vini Jr. scored a brilliant goal for the five time world champions. Brazil have an immense amount of pressure on them, having not won the World Cup since 2002, an eternity in the minds of Brazilians.

• Scotland beat Haiti 1-0 in Foxborough, in front of a raucous crowd of mostly Scot’s. John McGinn scored the only goal, the first for Scotland at a World Cup since 1998 and their first World Cup win since 1990.

• Australia beat Turkey 2-0 for the biggest upset so far. They parked a low block, stifling Turkey’s many chances. Turkey had 28 shots, 20 more than Australia, and dominated 63% of possession. But sometimes ball don’t go in 🤷‍♂️ . Australia pounced on the counterattack and rallied behind the heroics of 22 year old goalkeeper Patrick Beach.

• Japan and the Netherlands played one of the best games of the tournament so far, a 2-2 draw where Japan came back from down a goal each time. Japan kept throwing crosses into the box that Virgil Van Dijk and Micky Van De Ven were easily handling… until they didn’t. They equalized in the 89th minute from a header off a corner. Pandemonium ensued. It was awesome. Watch out for this Japan team, they’re dangerous.

• Ivory Coast beat Ecuador 1-0 with a 90th minute winner from Manchester United man Amad Diallo. Both these teams looked good and had plenty of chances to score. I still expect Ecuador to get out of the group but it will be tough.

• Germany dismantled Curacao 7-1. No surprise here. But the Caribbean island nation got their goal, an incredible moment for smallest nation to ever qualify.

Goal of the Week

👏 

Tweet of the Week

I can’t get over the scenes coming out of this tournament.

This is a fun thread too.

Quick Hits

• FIFA covers brand logos on condiments at World Cup stadiums (Link)

• The Athletic is making it’s World Cup coverage free for the rest of the tournament (Link)

That’s all. What a start to the tournament. We’ll be back in your inbox soon.

Max & Mason