by Craig Laycock
Original article:
Canada 1 - 1 Bosnia & Herzegovina
USA 4 - 1 Paraguay
Day two of the World Cup saw remaining co-hosts Canada and the USA enter the chat.
The day’s highlights:
We saw Canada and Bosnia play out an entertaining match that had, at times, echoes of yesterday’s South Korea v Czechia game: an energetic ball-on-the-deck side coming up against a more physical side who could make the most of set pieces.
There was more evidence on show of the value of set pieces at this World Cup, with Bosnia’s goal coming from a classic flick-on from a corner resulting in a tidy header. Textbook.
In the USA game, we also saw the first own goal of the 2026 World Cup thanks to Paraguay’s Raúl Bobadilla. We resisted the urge to sing the Eiffel65 song “blue” with his name in the chorus, even though he was definitely blue when he biffed that one home.
Canada picked up their first ever World Cup point.
How were the games? What did we learn?
Canada looked as intense as we predicted, but lacked an end product - that will be a concern for Jesse Marsch.
The USA started very strongly. Positive and threatening, coming out of the traps on the front foot. The quality of the opposition was definitely a factor, Paraguay looked way off the pace. (USA are ranked 15th, Paraguay 42nd in the live rankings). Nevertheless, it’s exactly how the hosts would have wanted to start.
***
Canada v Bosnia
A really entertaining match against two sides that perhaps showed as much of their weaknesses as their strengths.
For Canada’s part, they huffed and puffed, broke forwards at every opportunity, counter-pressed, looked for rapid outlets and got crosses in the box. But they looked, frankly, profligate. Every attempt on goal was completely wasted until the second half came round.
From a Bosnia perspective, they lacked the ability to take control of the game. Without the set piece they scored from, you couldn’t see them necessarily threatening Canada. But when they did get their chance, they sure as heck took it.
Bosnia took the lead through a flick from a corner. Sead Kolasinac’s aerial diversion allowed Jovo Lukic to head home in clean fashion from point blank range.
Canada’s Liam Millar wins dodgy haircut of the tournament already
But Canada got themselves back in the game after a triple-substitution from Marsch saw Larin get himself on the scoresheet in the 76th minute after an assist from fellow substitute Promise David that will have the first choice players sweating over their inclusion in the next match.
***
USA v Paraguay
A great game for the USA that’s found me sweating over my prediction for them to struggle to find their feet in the group.
They really came out of the traps well in this one, playing a high press and trying to pin Paraguay back in the incredible surroundings of the SoFi Stadium in LA.
Buoyed by a huge amount of home support, they completely controlled the first half, forcing an error from Bobadilla under pressure that saw the Paraguay player poke into his own goal.
Further pressure saw USA have a 2nd ruled out after a comically late offside flag, but they made their pressure count not long later through Folarin Balogun. Paraguay couldn’t get out of their own half and looked helpless to resist the high harrying of the USA attack.
When Paraguay did have the ball they did little with it, passing it around their own half before hitting aimless long balls forwards. It was a truly awful first half performance from them as they seemed to suffer from extremely low composure under the press.
And that led to a third USA goal coming through that man Balogun. A defence splitting assist came to him, followed by Balogun riding a challenge and rounding his man before smacking it into the top corner in smart fashion. Impressive.
In the second half, Paraguay did their best to play for pride, and the USA perhaps took their foot off the gas a little. In doing so they let Paraguay get a toe back into the game, with Mauricio making it 3-1 with a tidy finish to the bottom right corner.
Even with the USA having withdrawn their best players, Paraguay didn’t really look like threatening too much more.
With the final kick of the game, with 7 minutes played of 7 minutes of stoppage time, Reyna scored a beautiful trivela finish to make it 4 and send the home crowd into raptures.
Bring on day three!
10 min read
Canada 1 - 1 Bosnia & Herzegovina
USA 4 - 1 Paraguay
Day two of the World Cup saw remaining co-hosts Canada and the USA enter the chat.
The day’s highlights:
We saw Canada and Bosnia play out an entertaining match that had, at times, echoes of yesterday’s South Korea v Czechia game: an energetic ball-on-the-deck side coming up against a more physical side who could make the most of set pieces.
There was more evidence on show of the value of set pieces at this World Cup, with Bosnia’s goal coming from a classic flick-on from a corner resulting in a tidy header. Textbook.
In the USA game, we also saw the first own goal of the 2026 World Cup thanks to Paraguay’s Raúl Bobadilla. We resisted the urge to sing the Eiffel65 song “blue” with his name in the chorus, even though he was definitely blue when he biffed that one home.
Canada picked up their first ever World Cup point.
How were the games? What did we learn?
Canada looked as intense as we predicted, but lacked an end product - that will be a concern for Jesse Marsch.
The USA started very strongly. Positive and threatening, coming out of the traps on the front foot. The quality of the opposition was definitely a factor, Paraguay looked way off the pace. (USA are ranked 15th, Paraguay 42nd in the live rankings). Nevertheless, it’s exactly how the hosts would have wanted to start.
***
Canada v Bosnia
A really entertaining match against two sides that perhaps showed as much of their weaknesses as their strengths.
For Canada’s part, they huffed and puffed, broke forwards at every opportunity, counter-pressed, looked for rapid outlets and got crosses in the box. But they looked, frankly, profligate. Every attempt on goal was completely wasted until the second half came round.
From a Bosnia perspective, they lacked the ability to take control of the game. Without the set piece they scored from, you couldn’t see them necessarily threatening Canada. But when they did get their chance, they sure as heck took it.
Bosnia took the lead through a flick from a corner. Sead Kolasinac’s aerial diversion allowed Jovo Lukic to head home in clean fashion from point blank range.
Canada’s Liam Millar wins dodgy haircut of the tournament already
But Canada got themselves back in the game after a triple-substitution from Marsch saw Larin get himself on the scoresheet in the 76th minute after an assist from fellow substitute Promise David that will have the first choice players sweating over their inclusion in the next match.
***
USA v Paraguay
A great game for the USA that’s found me sweating over my prediction for them to struggle to find their feet in the group.
They really came out of the traps well in this one, playing a high press and trying to pin Paraguay back in the incredible surroundings of the SoFi Stadium in LA.
Buoyed by a huge amount of home support, they completely controlled the first half, forcing an error from Bobadilla under pressure that saw the Paraguay player poke into his own goal.
Further pressure saw USA have a 2nd ruled out after a comically late offside flag, but they made their pressure count not long later through Folarin Balogun. Paraguay couldn’t get out of their own half and looked helpless to resist the high harrying of the USA attack.
When Paraguay did have the ball they did little with it, passing it around their own half before hitting aimless long balls forwards. It was a truly awful first half performance from them as they seemed to suffer from extremely low composure under the press.
And that led to a third USA goal coming through that man Balogun. A defence splitting assist came to him, followed by Balogun riding a challenge and rounding his man before smacking it into the top corner in smart fashion. Impressive.
In the second half, Paraguay did their best to play for pride, and the USA perhaps took their foot off the gas a little. In doing so they let Paraguay get a toe back into the game, with Mauricio making it 3-1 with a tidy finish to the bottom right corner.
Even with the USA having withdrawn their best players, Paraguay didn’t really look like threatening too much more.
With the final kick of the game, with 7 minutes played of 7 minutes of stoppage time, Reyna scored a beautiful trivela finish to make it 4 and send the home crowd into raptures.
Bring on day three!
World Cup day two: USA arrive in style
Balo-fun
Original article:
Last updated:
Canada 1 - 1 Bosnia & Herzegovina
USA 4 - 1 Paraguay
Day two of the World Cup saw remaining co-hosts Canada and the USA enter the chat.
The day’s highlights:
We saw Canada and Bosnia play out an entertaining match that had, at times, echoes of yesterday’s South Korea v Czechia game: an energetic ball-on-the-deck side coming up against a more physical side who could make the most of set pieces.
There was more evidence on show of the value of set pieces at this World Cup, with Bosnia’s goal coming from a classic flick-on from a corner resulting in a tidy header. Textbook.
In the USA game, we also saw the first own goal of the 2026 World Cup thanks to Paraguay’s Raúl Bobadilla. We resisted the urge to sing the Eiffel65 song “blue” with his name in the chorus, even though he was definitely blue when he biffed that one home.
Canada picked up their first ever World Cup point.
How were the games? What did we learn?
Canada looked as intense as we predicted, but lacked an end product - that will be a concern for Jesse Marsch.
The USA started very strongly. Positive and threatening, coming out of the traps on the front foot. The quality of the opposition was definitely a factor, Paraguay looked way off the pace. (USA are ranked 15th, Paraguay 42nd in the live rankings). Nevertheless, it’s exactly how the hosts would have wanted to start.
***
Canada v Bosnia
A really entertaining match against two sides that perhaps showed as much of their weaknesses as their strengths.
For Canada’s part, they huffed and puffed, broke forwards at every opportunity, counter-pressed, looked for rapid outlets and got crosses in the box. But they looked, frankly, profligate. Every attempt on goal was completely wasted until the second half came round.
From a Bosnia perspective, they lacked the ability to take control of the game. Without the set piece they scored from, you couldn’t see them necessarily threatening Canada. But when they did get their chance, they sure as heck took it.
Bosnia took the lead through a flick from a corner. Sead Kolasinac’s aerial diversion allowed Jovo Lukic to head home in clean fashion from point blank range.
Canada’s Liam Millar wins dodgy haircut of the tournament already
But Canada got themselves back in the game after a triple-substitution from Marsch saw Larin get himself on the scoresheet in the 76th minute after an assist from fellow substitute Promise David that will have the first choice players sweating over their inclusion in the next match.
***
USA v Paraguay
A great game for the USA that’s found me sweating over my prediction for them to struggle to find their feet in the group.
They really came out of the traps well in this one, playing a high press and trying to pin Paraguay back in the incredible surroundings of the SoFi Stadium in LA.
Buoyed by a huge amount of home support, they completely controlled the first half, forcing an error from Bobadilla under pressure that saw the Paraguay player poke into his own goal.
Further pressure saw USA have a 2nd ruled out after a comically late offside flag, but they made their pressure count not long later through Folarin Balogun. Paraguay couldn’t get out of their own half and looked helpless to resist the high harrying of the USA attack.
When Paraguay did have the ball they did little with it, passing it around their own half before hitting aimless long balls forwards. It was a truly awful first half performance from them as they seemed to suffer from extremely low composure under the press.
And that led to a third USA goal coming through that man Balogun. A defence splitting assist came to him, followed by Balogun riding a challenge and rounding his man before smacking it into the top corner in smart fashion. Impressive.
In the second half, Paraguay did their best to play for pride, and the USA perhaps took their foot off the gas a little. In doing so they let Paraguay get a toe back into the game, with Mauricio making it 3-1 with a tidy finish to the bottom right corner.
Even with the USA having withdrawn their best players, Paraguay didn’t really look like threatening too much more.
With the final kick of the game, with 7 minutes played of 7 minutes of stoppage time, Reyna scored a beautiful trivela finish to make it 4 and send the home crowd into raptures.
Bring on day three!
10 min read
World Cup day two: USA arrive in style
Balo-fun
Canada 1 - 1 Bosnia & Herzegovina
USA 4 - 1 Paraguay
Day two of the World Cup saw remaining co-hosts Canada and the USA enter the chat.
The day’s highlights:
We saw Canada and Bosnia play out an entertaining match that had, at times, echoes of yesterday’s South Korea v Czechia game: an energetic ball-on-the-deck side coming up against a more physical side who could make the most of set pieces.
There was more evidence on show of the value of set pieces at this World Cup, with Bosnia’s goal coming from a classic flick-on from a corner resulting in a tidy header. Textbook.
In the USA game, we also saw the first own goal of the 2026 World Cup thanks to Paraguay’s Raúl Bobadilla. We resisted the urge to sing the Eiffel65 song “blue” with his name in the chorus, even though he was definitely blue when he biffed that one home.
Canada picked up their first ever World Cup point.
How were the games? What did we learn?
Canada looked as intense as we predicted, but lacked an end product - that will be a concern for Jesse Marsch.
The USA started very strongly. Positive and threatening, coming out of the traps on the front foot. The quality of the opposition was definitely a factor, Paraguay looked way off the pace. (USA are ranked 15th, Paraguay 42nd in the live rankings). Nevertheless, it’s exactly how the hosts would have wanted to start.
***
Canada v Bosnia
A really entertaining match against two sides that perhaps showed as much of their weaknesses as their strengths.
For Canada’s part, they huffed and puffed, broke forwards at every opportunity, counter-pressed, looked for rapid outlets and got crosses in the box. But they looked, frankly, profligate. Every attempt on goal was completely wasted until the second half came round.
From a Bosnia perspective, they lacked the ability to take control of the game. Without the set piece they scored from, you couldn’t see them necessarily threatening Canada. But when they did get their chance, they sure as heck took it.
Bosnia took the lead through a flick from a corner. Sead Kolasinac’s aerial diversion allowed Jovo Lukic to head home in clean fashion from point blank range.
Canada’s Liam Millar wins dodgy haircut of the tournament already
But Canada got themselves back in the game after a triple-substitution from Marsch saw Larin get himself on the scoresheet in the 76th minute after an assist from fellow substitute Promise David that will have the first choice players sweating over their inclusion in the next match.
***
USA v Paraguay
A great game for the USA that’s found me sweating over my prediction for them to struggle to find their feet in the group.
They really came out of the traps well in this one, playing a high press and trying to pin Paraguay back in the incredible surroundings of the SoFi Stadium in LA.
Buoyed by a huge amount of home support, they completely controlled the first half, forcing an error from Bobadilla under pressure that saw the Paraguay player poke into his own goal.
Further pressure saw USA have a 2nd ruled out after a comically late offside flag, but they made their pressure count not long later through Folarin Balogun. Paraguay couldn’t get out of their own half and looked helpless to resist the high harrying of the USA attack.
When Paraguay did have the ball they did little with it, passing it around their own half before hitting aimless long balls forwards. It was a truly awful first half performance from them as they seemed to suffer from extremely low composure under the press.
And that led to a third USA goal coming through that man Balogun. A defence splitting assist came to him, followed by Balogun riding a challenge and rounding his man before smacking it into the top corner in smart fashion. Impressive.
In the second half, Paraguay did their best to play for pride, and the USA perhaps took their foot off the gas a little. In doing so they let Paraguay get a toe back into the game, with Mauricio making it 3-1 with a tidy finish to the bottom right corner.
Even with the USA having withdrawn their best players, Paraguay didn’t really look like threatening too much more.
With the final kick of the game, with 7 minutes played of 7 minutes of stoppage time, Reyna scored a beautiful trivela finish to make it 4 and send the home crowd into raptures.
Bring on day three!
10 min read