After multiple opening ceremonies, the three World Cup hosts jumped right into the action. Mexico went first, playing in the Azteca, and easily won 2-0 over South Africa. It was easy, but it wasn’t really a strong showing. South Africa earned the first two red cards of the World Cup, finishing with nine players. Mexico failed to take advantage of being up one and then two players.
Julian Quinones opened the scoring after just nine minutes. But instead of piling on a clearly weaker team, Mexico immediately slowed the play. Even the first red card after 49 minutes didn’t give them any sense of urgency. The home crowd let their feelings be known by whistling and jeering the team for much of the second half. Raul Jimenez doubled the lead after 67 minutes, but that did little to chance the pace of the game. Mexico just wanted to play at a walking pace. Their casual approach may have encouraged South Africa to try and sneak a goal. Cesar Montes got caught daydreaming in defense and stupidly chopped down Khuliso Mudau to earn a straight red card. That rules him out of the next game against South Korea, which will be much tougher.
Canada played their first match as a World Cup host in Toronto. They hosted Bosnia-Herzegovina in front of a packed house. Missing stars Alphonso Davies and Marcelo Flores, Jesse Marsch’s team looked short of attacking ideas. The Bosnians came with plenty of support and shocked Canada by taking an early lead from a corner kick. Jovo Lukic headed in at the near post, sucking the wind out of the home crowd.
Marsch made changes during the second half as Canada desperately chased an equalizer. In the 78th minute Cyle Larin, on as a substitute, whirled and fired in the goal that lifted his nation. The teams settled for a draw. For Canada, the draw represents the first time they have not lost a World Cup game. With that point they remain well-placed in Group B, because the other opening game between Switzerland and Qatar was also a draw.
Ahead of the USA’s opening match, few people knew what to expect. In March, they were comfortably outclassed by Portugal and Belgium. They had an encouraging win over Senegal and a decent performance in a narrow loss to Germany during the pre-World Cup camp. The biggest concern was Chris Richards’ fitness. The Crystal Palace defender hadn’t played in over a month, but pronounced himself fit on the eve of the opener.
What we saw from Mauricio Pochettino’s team was nothing like anyone has seen before. The Americans came out and ripped Paraguay apart from the opening whistle. This looked like the big win over Uruguay last November. They played at a blistering pace, never letter Paraguay settle on the ball and rarely allowing them past midfield.
By halftime the USA had run up three goals and that probably flattered Paraguay. The first goal may have been an own goal, but the USA created it with some superb work down the left from Antonee Robinson and Christian Pulisic. Folarin Balogun added two more before the break. Pulisic set up the first with a terrific run, splitting two defenders, before squaring to his center forward. On the second, Balogun ran on to a perfect through ball from Malik Tillman and broke down two defenders before whipping a left-footed shot into the top corner.
Pulisic left at halftime after taking a kick on an already sore calf. Pochettino called the move precautionary. Pulisic has resumed training, but on a modified program and should be ready for Australia on Friday.
Without Pulisic, the US attack slowed. They still created plenty but didn’t stretch the score into an embarrassingly high number. Paraguay took advantage of a bit of shoddy defending to get on the scoreboard, but substitute Gio Reyna capped off a perfect night with a delicious shot with the outside of his right foot. The “trivela” finish came at the end of a 26 pass move that involved nearly every American on the field. It’s hard to imagine that most of these same players were involved in the Copa America debacle two year ago. The 4-1 blowout of Paraguay ranks among the best performances any USA team has even given at a World Cup. Now, they have to do it seven more times and improve along the way.
