This was the U.S. soccer breakthrough we'd been waiting to see | Estes

Assembling a respectable collection of international soccer talent does not guarantee a team that’s worthy of respect in international soccer.

With the United States men’s national team, that’s been the lesson of this decade.

Until now.

Our country’s golden generation of men’s soccer players finally looked every bit of it during a stunning 4-1 whipping of Paraguay, kicking off the Americans’ run as hosts for the 2026 World Cup in dream fashion. After an uninspiring buildup to the hyped June 12 opener in Los Angeles, who could’ve imagined this?

Never has a U.S. men’s team looked this dominant for a full World Cup game.  

Never has a U.S. men’s team scored four goals in any World Cup game.

Never has a U.S. men’s team dominated a quality opponent so thoroughly on the world’s largest stage, controlling possession and stacking offensive opportunities against a step-slow Paraguay defense. Four goals was the low end. This game could have easily held more scoring for the Americans, who took an early lead and didn’t back off to protect their lead. They kept swarming.

For the graybeards (hand raised) who’ve spent the past 36 years watching U.S. teams sit back and absorb pressure from more capable foes in this event, looking for counter-attacks while hoping the goalkeeper stands on his head enough to somehow steal a point, this game was delightful viewing.

OK, so Paraguay isn’t Argentina or Brazil. But it isn’t the Falkland Islands, either.

This was a legitimate South American qualifier that the U.S. embarrassed, and no victory can ever be taken for granted in any World Cup.

Since ending its 40-year drought by qualifying in 1990, the U.S. played 30 games in the eight World Cups prior to this one. It won six. That’s 20%.

Of those six victories, all were by one-goal margins except one. In 2026, the U.S. has already scored more World Cup goals than it did in the entire 2022 World Cup, when it scored three times in four games.

But these young American prospects were basically toddlers then. The resounding lesson from an unforgettable night in Los Angeles: They’ve grown up. They were ready for the spotlight of a World Cup in their home country.

U.S. coach Mauricio Pochettino had them ready. This was a statement for him. While highly regarded in the European pro ranks, he hadn’t a ton of success in his current role. Until now.

It was quite a statement, too, for the top players on the U.S. team. Guys like Christian Pulisic and Weston McKennie and Tyler Adams and Sergino Dest and Folarin Balogun. These young, gifted players, the kind of European prospects that the U.S. has seldom produced, have long been touted as the ones to finally take American soccer to the next level.

It just hadn’t been that way. Past U.S. squads, MLS-heavy and led by the likes of Landon Donovan, Clint Dempsey, DaMarcus Beasley or Brian McBride, weren’t as talented. But they’d been better teams.

Prior to this World Cup, realistic expectations weren’t much different for the U.S. than in previous World Cups. Hopefully, you advance out of the group stage. Then maybe you get a game or two after that. Reaching the quarterfinals would be a nice accomplishment, but historically, it would’ve only equaled what an underdog U.S. team accomplished way back in 2002.

Soccer, in general, has come a long way in the U.S. in the 24 years since that run. But the men’s national team hasn’t often reflected that growth when it matters most. There has continued to be a nagging sense of unrealized potential. That men’s soccer’s big American breakthrough, still unrealized, may never be realized, even with talented players and an elite coach. This was an understandable fear.

Until now.

Now, you’ve got a World Cup in the United States, featuring a United States team that looks up for the challenge. Suddenly done with lay-ups, it has just shown the world that it, too, can dunk.

Buckle up, y’all. These next few weeks could get fun.

Reach Tennessean sports columnist Gentry Estes at gestes@tennessean.com and hang out with him on Bluesky @gentryestes.bsky.social

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Opening World Cup win was a long-awaited breakthrough for U.S. soccer