Soccer
USA vs. Paraguay preview: Team news, date, and how to watch World Cup match
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The third of the three World Cup co-hosts get their tournament started on Friday in the Los Angeles area as the United States will face Paraguay to kick off Group D action.
For the Americans, they will be two-time hosts of the quadrennial competition after a wildly successful USA 1994 tournament. More than 30 years later, they are the main hosts of this summer's extravaganza, and as such their expectations have risen as well.
The USMNT started the month as the world No. 16, with recognizable names scattered throughout Europe's top leagues. However, 2026 has not been kind to Mauricio Pochettino's men as they've lost three of their four games so far this year.
Pochettino and US Soccer intentionally chose top tier opposition in Belgium, Portugal, Senegal and Germany for their pre-tournament exhibitions, and they hope to use the hard lessons learned against those teams to make a long run this summer.
As for Paraguay, expectations are far lower. The South American side is returning to the World Cup after missing out on the last three editions of the tournament, and at 40th in the world no one is expected them to top Group D.
The Paraguayans have had a mixed bag of results of the past few months, including a 2-1 loss to the United States back in November.
DAZN News has all the information ahead of USA vs. Paraguay.
USA vs. Paraguay kick-off, date, venue
USA vs. Paraguay is at 6pm local time on Friday, June 12, in Inglewood, Calif.
UK viewers can watch the match at 2am BST (Saturday). Fans watching in the US and Canada can catch the game at 9pm ET and 6pm PT.
- Date: Friday, June 12
- Kick-off: 2am BST (Saturday) / 9pm EDT / 6pm PDT
The fixture will take place at Los Angeles Stadium (SoFi Stadium).
USA vs. Paraguay: How to watch
- UK: BBC
- US: FOX / FOX One
- Canada: TSN / CTV2 / Crave
USA vs. Paraguay team news
Robin Alam/ISI Photos via Getty Images
USA
Matt Freese appears to have won the starting goalkeeper job from World Cup veteran Matt Turner, and he'll be the last line of defence behind an American back line that includes 38-year-old captain Tim Ream.
Previous XI: Freese; Freeman, M. Robinson, Ream, A. Robinson; McKennie, Adams; Dest, Tillman, Pulisic; Balogun (vs. Germany, June 6)
Paraguay
The Paraguayans made wholesale changes in their most recent friendly, with 22 players making an appearance at some point in the game. Head coach Gustavo Alfaro was hesitant to tip his hand in that match, and his starting XI could be vastly different to the one that ran rampant against Nicaragua.
Previous XI: Fernandez; Caceres, Alonso, Alderete, G. Gomez; Cubas, D. Gomez, Kaku, Enciso; Sanabria, Almiron (vs. Nicaragua, June 6)
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