Soccer is the best.
The United States had one of their best performances ever at a World Cup while an all-New England Revolution affair between Canada and Bosniafirst-ever and Herzegovina was actually decided by the greatest state in the region as the Canucks earned their first ever World Cup point.
UNITED STATES 4, PARAGUAY 1
Josh Nye had the recap for this one, so we'll tackle some other oddities and tidbits from this game in which the USMNT were utterly dominant in the first half and maybe the first hour in total.
Folarin Balogun recorded the first multi-goal game for the USA since 1930 when Fall River, Massachusetts native Bert Patenaude recorded a much disputed hat trick, also against Paraguay, that was officially credited in 2006 by FIFA ending a near century of mismatched record keeping.
The opening own goal by Damian Bobadilla is the third fastest in US World Cup history behind John O'Brien's 4th minute strike in 2002 against Portugal and Clint Dempsey's 2014 opener 30 seconds in against Ghana.
Josh Nye
Chris Richards returned to the starting lineup after missing both warm-up friendlies and though he had a shaky moment or two cleaned up by Tim Ream, he went 83-for-83 on passing. 100 percent accuracy. Hasn't been done since 1966 with that number of attempts.
Christian Pulisic was removed at halftime as a precaution; he took a minor knock/kick to his calf, but told Tom Rinaldi after the game he should be ready for the next game but might not be 100%. Hopefully; the USA can get him enough rest during the extended group stage and avoid having to play him in the final group game if they've secured a spot in the knockouts.
Jake Catanese
Did Pulisic's injury lead to the US sort of taking their foot off the gas in the second half? Maybe.
The US certainly was applying pressure up until the hour mark and gave Paraguay a chance to rightly get on the scoreboard. I know you don't want to be that team running up the score just because, but goal difference is so much more important with third-place standings that the USA not getting their fourth earlier could be a bad thing.
Luckily Gio Reyna reminded everyone that very few players in the US talent pool can do this:
🇺🇸🧊 Gio Reyna trivela. Perfect angle pic.twitter.com/wlppRKD5P7
— Tom Bogert (@tombogert) June 13, 2026
On the last kick of the game. All sauce. And if followed an impressive 26-pass build up. Anyway, this was a tremendous performance from start to finish despite giving up the one goal. I don't think the USA beating Paraguay at home is necessarily surprising, but the level of dominance and extended pressure the US was able to exert on a Paraguay team that allowed just 10 goals in 18 CONEMBOL qualifiers. Especially in the first half when the US was pushing 70% possession and living in Paraguay's half, is just not something we've seen from the USMNT this cycle against CONCACAF teams let alone World Cup level competition.
Pulisic's injury is worrying only insofar as how much he can play against Australia. Given how well the USA played. The number of top individual performances as well were notable. Balogun up top, Malik Tillman was tremendous, Alex Freeman has really taken over that wide centerback spot with several good games. How much Pochettino might want to keep pushing with this lineup versus rotating a bit to keep Pulisic, Richards, and/or Adams fresh for a potential group decider against Turkey is an interesting conversation to have.
Coming off this performance though, I don't think there's a wrong answer with nearly a week off before facing Australia and plenty of capable options available to tinker with. Turkey and Australia will begin their tournament in Group D action later tonight.
CANADA 1, BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA 1
Two former New England Revolution wingers lined up in this one, Tajon Buchanan for the Canucks and Esmir Bajraktarevic for the Zmajevi (Dragons).
Both of the Revs were subbed off in the second half, Buchanan making way at the hour mark for Ali Ahmed and Bajraktarevic about 15 minutes later for Ivan Sunjic.
The two teams traded big chances early with Jovo Lukic for Bosnia skying a 3rd minute chance in the center of the box and Jonathan David for Canada forcing a smart save to Nikola Vasilj's right in the 17th.
However, it was Bosnia who scored first, when Sead Kolasinac flicked a near post header straight behind him to a waiting Lukic who nodded home from two yards out for his first international goal.
Jake Catanese
Canada had a few solid chances to equalize, including a Tani Oluwaseyi skied effort after he created a lot of space in the box around the half hour mark. Canada however was inches from tying in the 54th minute when Stephen Eustaquio played in Richie Lareya in the left channel only to have his shot cleared into the crossbar and out by Kolasinac. Bosnia cleared another off the line in the 68th but Oluwaseyi's slow rolling header was cleared away by Ermedin Demirovic.
Then our hero emerged, entering the game in the 76th minute for Oluwaseyi, is former #1 overall MLS SuperDraft pick out of the University of Connecticut, Cyle Larin. Barely two minutes after his introduction, Larin latched onto a ball at the top of the box from Promise David, turned while shielding the ball, and fired home into the side netting past Vasilj.
SHOUTOUT CYLE LARIN – UCONN'S OWN 🐺
— Men in Blazers (@MenInBlazers) June 13, 2026
Earned Canada their first point in World Cup history 🏆
Poutine Pelé 🇨🇦 pic.twitter.com/epVhhttMmv
The draw puts both Canada and Bosnia on solid footing to get into the next round provided they pick up a win in their final two matches. It should be noted Alphonso Davies did not play in this match though it seems he is close to being fully recovered from a hamstring issue he suffered during the UCL semifinals.
Switzerland and Qatar will finish up Group B later today.
UPCOMING MATCHES
Thursday, June 18
Match 27: Canada vs. Qatar, 6 p.m. on FS1 (Vancouver)
Friday, June 19
Match 29: United States vs. Australia, 3 p.m. on Fox (Seattle)
Both the USA and Canada will have good chance to pick up three points in their next matches and would nearly have knockout round spots locked up on four points. The Americans are looking to solidify themselves atop Group D with another win before a potential group decider against Turkey while Canada can ill afford to drop points against Qatar with their toughest matchup looming in their final game against Switzerland.
