The United States faces Paraguay at SoFi Stadium (70,240 capacity) in Los Angeles on June 12, 2026, with kickoff at 6:00 PM PDT (UTC-7) in Group D’s opener. It is the USMNT’s first match on home soil at a World Cup since 1994, played in front of the largest Latino population in the United States.

History between these sides is thin. At the inaugural 1930 World Cup in Uruguay, they met once in the group stage and Paraguay won 1-0, a footnote that carries irony given how far American football has developed since then.

America’s most celebrated tournament was 1930 itself, when they reached the semi-finals and finished third. In the modern era, hosting the 1994 tournament was a breakthrough moment, reaching the Round of 16. Their 2002 quarter-final remains their best recent result. After missing 2018 entirely through a qualifying failure that shocked the domestic game, they returned in 2022 with a young squad that reached the Round of 16.

Paraguay’s World Cup history includes a quarter-final appearance in 2010, where they were eliminated by Spain. Traditionally a physical, organized team, the Guarani have been consistent CONMEBOL qualifiers across multiple generations.

A 6:00 PM PDT kickoff in Los Angeles means 9:00 PM EDT on the US East Coast, 2:00 AM BST the following morning in London, 3:00 AM CEST in Paris and Berlin, and 10:00 AM JST the next morning in Tokyo. For American fans across the continental US, this is a comfortable prime-time or evening start.

SoFi Stadium in Inglewood holds 70,240 fans and sits in the heart of Los Angeles. The crowd will be diverse and passionate, drawn from the city’s vast diaspora communities. For the US team, opening at home in Los Angeles generates the kind of electricity that the program’s young stars have been anticipating throughout their careers. A home win in Match 1 sets the tone for everything that follows.