World Cup: Nigerian-born striker hits brace for US in 4-1 thrashing of Paraguay
The United States of America got their World Cup underway with an emphatic 4-1 thrashing of Paraguay at the Los Angeles stadium, on Friday. The World Cup co-hosts were propelled to the crushing victory by their striker of Nigerian heritage, Folarin Balogun, who hit two goals. An own goal had set them on the path […]
The United States of America got their World Cup underway with an emphatic 4-1 thrashing of Paraguay at the Los Angeles stadium, on Friday.
The World Cup co-hosts were propelled to the crushing victory by their striker of Nigerian heritage, Folarin Balogun, who hit two goals.
An own goal had set them on the path of victory, with Giovanni Reyna also on the scoresheet for Mauricio Pochettino’s home side.
Christian Pulisic and Weston McKennie combined for the opener, the former bursting through with pass to find McKennie whose cutback was inadvertently knocked into the net by defender Damian Bobadilla for 1-0 on seven minutes.
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Arsenal youngster, Balogun, came to the fore to pull the USA into a three goal lead, slotting home another Pulisic pass for 2-0 on 31 minutes before adding the third in first half added time with a well-placed curler to send fans into dreamland at halftime.
Balogun becomes only the second US player to net multiple goals in one match in the World Cup, and the first since 1930.
Paraguay reduced the deficit against the run of play through Mauricio, but the US capped their dominant performance with the fourth goal with virtually the last kick of the match, Reyna expertly curled a 20-yard strike beyond the goalkeeper for the icing on the cake that secured USA’s joint-biggest win in a World Cup.
It is also the first time the USA will score four goals in a World Cup match, and they jumped to the top of Group D while Paraguay languish at the bottom in their first World Cup match in 16 years.