USA blast out of the blocks and Canada get first ever point: World Cup Daily
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How did the USA perform against Paraguay in their World Cup opener?
This is The Guardian.
Hello and welcome to the Guardian Football Weekly, day two of the World Cup and let the Christian Pulisic loving commence. The US demolished Paraguay, they were relentless from the off, a brace for Balogun, Weston McKennie dominated midfield and Serginio Dest was brilliant on the right. Might they be good? Good. Also today, Canada fight back to draw with Bosnia-Herzegovina. For a lot of the game it was just Syed Kolasinac just heading everything away and clearing one sensationally off the line. Jesse Marsh made some good changes and the pressure finally paid off. It was the least they deserved. We'll look ahead to tomorrow's games.
What were the standout moments from the USA vs Paraguay match?
Scotland, Australia and Brazil all playing. And then to the big stuff. Listeners trying to diagnose Barry's ankle injury. Well, has the ham come out? All that plus your questions. And that's today's Guardian Football Weekly. On the panel today, Barry Glendening. Welcome. Hello. Our first ever pod for the Guardian US soccer reporter, Pablo Mauer. Pablo, hello. How are you doing? Yeah, good. Good to have you on. And out in Houston, Seb Hutchinson. Hey, Seb. Hi, Max. Hi, everyone. Nice to have you on. Let's begin then with that amazing victory for the USA in LA.
How did Canada manage to secure their first World Cup point?
4-1 over Paraguay, the largest margin of victory for the US at a World Cup since 1930, where they beat Paraguay again and Belgium 3-0. They were relentless from the off. Were you expecting that, Pablo?
Yes and no. I think mostly no. My own pregame prediction was 2-2. Paraguay, you know, pretty defensively sound team. Typically, you know, hard-nosed, hard-charging South American team. So no, I mean, actually, I'll just be realistic. I'm shot.
What changes did Jesse Marsh make that impacted Canada's performance?
I'm completely shot.
Yeah. It was ridiculous. You changed a lot in the last 10 seconds. I did. I was trying to couch it or something. It was absolutely ridiculous. Yeah. Where did it come from? I have no idea. I mean, it is a home World Cup, obviously. It's a huge crowd at SoFi. The U.S. looked very good in their final tune-up against Germany. But I did not expect that at all. I didn't expect that out of Pulisic. I didn't expect that out of, you know, McKinney, certainly in a battle. I mean, It's just ridiculous. Yeah. It was fun. It's rare to have fun watching the U.S., so I'm thankful for that.
Yeah, and would you say the best ever U.S. performance you've seen at a World Cup?
I mean, it has to be. The only thing that would compete would be their opening group stage game in 2002 when they won up 3-0 against Portugal, but they very nearly drew that game. They played a pretty terrible second half, and they played...
a pretty serviceable second half in this one so um yeah it has to be the most complete 90 minutes the u.s has ever played at a world cup i think bar none yeah barry i mean we have always we have always been big fans of christian putic on this podcast others have doubted him but we never had and and finally all that love and praise from us paid off in that first half
Yeah, he was quite sensational and unplayable. And the fact that the guy who's supposed to be trying to contain him, Caceres, got booked quite early certainly didn't help Paraguay.
What key players contributed to the USA's victory?
But Pulisic was the standout player in the first half. But there were so many good American performances. Weston McKinney, Sergino Dest, Anthony Robinson. I have to check my notes. Tyler Adams was great. Tyler Adams, Florent Baligan. There were... Just rampant. The two fullbacks were pressing up high. Runners were getting forward ahead of Balogun, the striker. Just gave them so many options. Midfielders were changing positions at will and the Paraguayans just didn't know how to cope. Yeah. I was certainly surprised by this performance. This was the best game of the tournament so far and this was by a mile the best performance. Yeah.
Are we trying to gauge how... Might they be good, good, Seb? I don't... I was caught in two minds. I thought, how far off it are Paraguay here? I was really worried. For a second, after seeing South Africa in the opening game, and then covering an excellent game between South Korea and Czech Republic, and I just thought, are Paraguay... Aside that they've just been completely blown away by the US in this game, but is it more about them?
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
How did the USA perform against Paraguay in their World Cup opener?
0:00–0:41
2
What were the standout moments from the USA vs Paraguay match?
0:41–1:13
3
How did Canada manage to secure their first World Cup point?
1:13–1:42
4
What changes did Jesse Marsh make that impacted Canada's performance?
1:42–3:00
5
What key players contributed to the USA's victory?
3:00–4:42
6
How did the commentators react to the performances of Pulisic and McKennie?
4:42–8:19
7
What strategies might Canada employ in their upcoming matches?
8:19–11:36
8
What are the predictions for the next set of World Cup games?
11:36–39:03
Speakers
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