IRVINE, Calif. – The U.S. Men’s National Team is just three days away from its group stage opener on Friday, June 12 at Los Angeles Stadium, and after a regenerative-led session on Monday in front of more than 5,000 fans and the mayor, the team sharpened its focus at Orange County Great Park on Tuesday toward preparing for the next opponent.
And with that focus comes fuller strength – all 26 rostered USMNT players participated in team training for the first time since camp began at the Arthur M. Blank National Training Center last month. The full group includes defender Chris Richards, who sat out of the team’s send-off matches to recover from an ankle injury and midfielder Tyler Adams, who was held back Monday due to load management.
Friday’s match will kick off a group stage that features three teams the U.S. has faced in roughly the past year. Paraguay, Australia and Türkiye were all opponents the U.S. lined up against in 2025. All three of those 2025 meetings were determined by 2-1 scorelines, two in favor of the U.S.
Paraguay comes first for the USMNT at FIFA World Cup 2026. While all three opponents bring some familiarity, a strong result against the No. 41 team ranked in FIFA would lay positive groundwork for the USA’s run this summer.
“This game sets the tone for the tournament,” midfielder Cristian Roldan told reporters Tuesday.
Roldan cited the defending champions of the tournament, Argentina, a team led by Lionel Messi that dropped its opening match in the 2022 edition in Qatar. After losing to Saudi Arabia in what was considered a heavy upset in its group stage opener, Argentina went on to win Group C and then the whole tournament.
That path is the exception rather than not the rule, Roldan says, and one the U.S. doesn’t wish to follow.
“I want to see a strong performance,” he said. “I want to see a team that’s on the front foot, a team that’s ready to compete at a very high level, and hopefully with a win against Paraguay.”
Getting three points in the opening match would put the U.S. in a strong position to advance to the knockout rounds out of Group D. The U.S. will follow Friday's opener with matches versus Australia at Seattle Stadium on June 19 and Türkiye at Los Angeles Stadium on June 25. But the U.S. is not looking far beyond this Friday – the group wants to take care of business first with a victory.
USA-Paraguay most recently met just over six months ago. As a host nation, the U.S. didn’t participate in World Cup qualification. To stoke the fires of competition, U.S. Soccer brought World Cup-qualified opponents, such as Paraguay, for the USMNT to face heading into hosting the sport’s biggest tournament.
“Our preparation started in November,” Roldan said. “Being able to play them was really nice.”
Paraguay may look slightly different this time around than they did in November. Sixteen players from that winter meeting in Chester, Pa. are on Paraguay’s World Cup roster. Still, there are some characteristics of Paraguay that Roldan and company still expect in terms of style of play and overall mentality.
“[They’re a] really intense team, a team that fights, a team that’s very direct,” he said.
The U.S. won that November match with goals on either side of halftime by two different scorers who are both on the current roster – midfielder Gio Reyna and striker Folarin Balogun. The opening goal arrived just four minutes into the match from Reyna with a flicked header. The finish set an early tone, similar to how the U.S. wants to start the team’s campaign this summer on home soil.
“There was a really, really intense game,” Reyna said. “I was happy to score a goal, and it was a good win for the team, but obviously it will be completely different now. The World Cup is hard to compare. We have to be ready to match the intensity and energy we did last time with our talent. We believe we can find a way to get over the line and win the game.”
When the two teams meet again on Friday, with the highest stakes, the intensity-meter will reach a passionate peak, and the U.S. will be looking to match – and surpass – the scrappy quality Paraguay brings to the pitch.
“Paraguay is a team who likes to bring intensity,” defender Joe Scally said. I thought it was a perfect game last November that we played. We had our chances, and we limited them. We'll touch up on things from that game that we need to work on, and we'll be well-prepared.”
