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In the FIFA World Cup, historically, wins and goals have been hard for the U.S. to come by, but not last night. The Americans beat Paraguay 4-1 in the first game of their run. The most goals the U.S. has ever scored in World Cup game. NPR's Becky Sullivan was there in Los Angeles and has this report.
BECKY SULLIVAN, BYLINE: U.S. striker Folarin Balogun was born in New York City. His parents are Nigerian and he was raised in England. All of that made Balogun eligible to represent three different national teams. A few years ago, he chose the U.S.
FOLARIN BALOGUN: When I committed to them, throughout the whole cycle and the whole journey, to me, being at this point, I've always said, you know, the fans gave me so much, you know, motivation, you know, showed me so much support. And for me, the most important thing has always been to be able to repay that.
SULLIVAN: His World Cup debut paid that back and more. His first goal came in the 31st minute off a perfect cross from forward Christian Pulisic. Then the second was all his own. He shed one defender, then another. Then put the ball in the far upper corner of the net, where the Paraguayan goalkeeper had no chance to save it.
BALOGUN: Yeah. I visualized my debut, you know, in the World Cup scoring. Yeah, you know, the reality did surpass, though, scoring two goals. And the second goal was a fantastic goal as well. So as I said, I'm very dreaming - dreaming that.
SULLIVAN: Balogun's performance Friday was one for the history books. No American has scored multiple goals in a World Cup game since the very first tournament back in 1930, and this was the most lopsided World Cup win for the U.S. men's team since then. There's one small concern - the health of Pulisic, who was pulled from the game at halftime after he was kicked in the calf. But after the game, Coach Mauricio Pochettino made it clear he was thrilled with his team's performance.
MAURICIO POCHETTINO: He was amazing, of course. Balogun was amazing, of course. Tim Ream was amazing, of course. Chris Richards was amazing. Yes.
SULLIVAN: He kept naming guys on the team, one right after another, amazing, amazing, amazing.
POCHETTINO: The performance of the team, overall, was really good. But it's only one game. It's only one game. We need to keep improving in meeting another team (ph) and knowing that it's going to be - surely going to be really, really difficult.
SULLIVAN: In other words, last night's victory won't be enough to guarantee that the U.S. will move on from the group stage and into the knockout round. But another win next Friday, against their next opponent, Australia, would almost certainly be enough.
Becky Sullivan, NPR News, Los Angeles.
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