USA Beats Paraguay 4-1 in World Cup Opener as Border Denials, a Ceremony, and Trump's July Plans Define Day Four

Since the tournament kicked off June 9, the storyline has piled up fast: visa denials, diplomatic friction, interrogations at airports. Day Four delivered a result that cut through all of it.

The U.S. beat Paraguay 4-1, according to AP News. The scoreline answers every question about whether this American squad, under Argentine coach Mauricio Pochettino, belongs at a home World Cup.

The Ceremony

Before kickoff, SoFi Stadium — officially renamed Los Angeles Stadium for the tournament — hosted an opening ceremony that the NY Post described as nearly two hours of choreographed spectacle. About 70,000 fans were inside. Drummers and soccer players emerged from all four corners of the field. A giant replica of the FIFA World Cup Trophy rose at center circle.

Rapper Future and South African singer Tyla performed "Game Time" in red, white, and blue. LISA of K-pop group Blackpink, Brazilian singer Anitta, and Nigerian artist Rema performed "Goals," the tournament's official song. Katy Perry also appeared. The NY Post called the California-born Perry "the ultimate California Girl" in its framing, a characterization that leans more toward commentary than news, but the performances themselves were confirmed by multiple outlets.

Security outside the stadium was heavy: armed police, bomb squad officers, and multiple metal detector checkpoints, according to the NY Post.

Pochettino Starts Freese in Goal

Coach Pochettino made one headline-generating call before the match: Matt Freese, not Matt Turner, started in goal. Turner, who played every minute of the 2022 World Cup, was on the bench. Turner's wife Ash reposted New England Revolution support graphics to her Instagram Story on June 12, a detail the NY Post covered in some depth. It is a human-interest note, but it illustrates how closely fans are tracking every roster decision on this squad.

Trump's Plans

President Trump called Pochettino on June 11, telling the coach "I think you've got a really good chance of going all the way," according to the NY Post. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, and Senator Markwayne Mullin were all in Los Angeles for the opener.

NBC News reported, and the NY Post confirmed, that Trump is expected to attend the World Cup final at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, scheduled for July 19. A White House official told NBC News the date is being held on Trump's schedule. The Post noted that plans could change.

The Visa Problem Has Not Gone Away

The win does not close the question that has defined the first week of this tournament.

Reason reported the cumulative toll as of this week: Iraqi player Aymen Hussein was interrogated for seven hours at Chicago's airport before entry. Swiss player Breel Embolo had his travel clearance revoked over a 2018 bar fight fine, then reinstated at the last minute. Somali referee Omar Artan was turned away in Miami after 11 hours. When 150 Ghanaian fans applied for group visas, three received them. The head of Jordan's fan association told the BBC he was personally denied, with only one Jordanian fan gaining entry. Senegal and Ivory Coast, both on the U.S. travel ban list, canceled their official fan delegations entirely.

FIFA allocated each national team 8 percent of their games' tickets for invited fans, a program that has now been functionally gutted for several participating nations.

Ivory Coast fan committee president Julien Kouadio Adonis told Agence France-Presse: "The United States has been clear with us, saying they do not want to see our supporters."

The Strongest Case for the Administration's Approach

Every country has the right to control who enters, and the post-9/11 framework for vetting foreign nationals at major events reflects a real security calculus. Hosting 48 nations across 16 American cities is a massive counterterrorism logistical challenge. Andrew Giuliani, executive director of the White House Task Force on the World Cup, said border officers found "derogatory information" on Somali referee Artan. That is a specific claimed basis for a specific denial, not a blanket ban.

But the scale of the problem undercuts a purely security-based defense. When one of 150 group visa applicants from Ghana gets through, that is not targeted vetting. That is a near-total shutdown applied to an ally. Ghana is not on the travel ban list. Jordan is not on it either. The administration bid for this tournament on the promise of open travel. Reason was blunt about the contradiction: "It's strange behavior to throw a party and turn away guests at the door."

What AP News Left Out

AP News's page on "U.S. Cities Prepare for World Cup" was unavailable in full. What AP News did confirm in its sports headlines: the 4-1 U.S. win over Paraguay, and that Ghana's Thomas Partey was sidelined for the Ghana-Panama match in Toronto due to a visa denial. That Partey detail—a named player on a participating team kept out by U.S. immigration—is the sharpest version of the access problem and deserved more prominence than it received in most coverage.

Landon Donovan's Hair

Former USMNT star Landon Donovan, 157 international appearances, showed up in LA for the opener with a noticeably different look. He has been open about hair loss since October 2025, when he posted on X about getting a hair piece. Fans on social media noticed the change on June 12. The NY Post covered it. Donovan has earned the right to be wherever American soccer is being played.

FIFA has not publicly addressed whether it will formally challenge the U.S. government on visa access for official fan delegations, or whether the Senegal and Ivory Coast situations represent a precedent that will quietly hold for the rest of the group stage.