US rocks SoFi Stadium in World Cup opener

Todd Harmonson, Los Angeles Daily News on Jun 12, 2026

Published in Soccer

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INGLEWOOD, Calif. — After nearly 32 years of waiting, raucous American soccer fans left no doubt that they were ready for the World Cup’s return to the United States.

They showed up to SoFi Stadium several hours early and braved daunting traffic and ticket prices that rivaled rent payments. They gave a local American football star polite applause but roared when the U.S. men’s national team simply took the field to warm up.

When the U.S. pressure forced an own goal by Paraguay in the opening minutes Friday, the near-capacity crowd rattled SoFi with the type of energy that often takes a Richter scale to measure. When Christian Pulisic, the biggest American star, fed Folarin Balogun perfectly later in the first half to make it 2-0, the U.S. fans burst into another celebration.

And when Balogun capped off the first half with his second goal, a beauty in the top left corner of the net, he gave the Americans the best possible start to the World Cup that they could imagine.

Any concerns that the World Cup’s opening in the United States — co-hosts of the 48-team tournament with Canada and Mexico — would be received with less than full-throated enthusiasm were vanquished decisively.

Sure, there were a small number of empty seats — though nothing like the wide-open sections Thursday in Guadalajara that set off alarms — and local hotels had more rooms available than they would’ve liked.

But the first World Cup action in the United States since it hosted the 1994 tournament and Americans’ first World Cup home game since they fell to Brazil in the Round of 16 that year was a celebration by a fan base that was more than ready.

The U.S. was the third of the hosts to open play following Mexico’s 2-0 victory over South Africa on Thursday in Mexico City and Canada’s late score for a 1-1 draw against Bosnia and Herzegovina earlier Friday.

Finally, it was the Americans’ turn.

The build-up to the game action generated some enthusiasm, especially once the ceremony started to zero in on the pageantry of the World Cup.

Shortly after a “Believe” flag — inspired by the series “Ted Lasso” — was shown on the SoFi Stadium big screen, the show’s star, Jason Sudeikis, took to the center of the field to introduce the parade of nations. The flags of the 48 participating countries were carried out, with the host nations the final three to arrive on the scene.

During the parade, Katy Perry took the stage with young Norwegian singer Tius Luka to perform “Wonder.” Perry was the titular headliner for the pregame show, though her involvement amounted to the one song after the teams’ warm-ups split the show into two parts that weren’t at all connected.

The early part of the pregame show featured K-pop star Lisa with Anitta and Rema on the song “Goals,” which got an elaborate presentation in front of a lot of empty seats, well more than an hour before the game. Crews then tore down the set that included an inflatable World Cup trophy so the teams could take the field to prepare.

The supporters who arrived long before kickoff blended together in their similar red, white and blue — Paraguay’s red and white stripes were vertical; the Americans’ horizontal. And while there were passionate sections of fans from Paraguay, the pro-USMNT crowd drowned them out regularly.

Chargers safety Derwin James was the first of many celebrities flashed on the SoFi big screen, but the polite applause for him at his home stadium was nothing compared to what Oscar winner Halle Berry received a moment later. Several others followed before and during the game, including actor Tom Cruise and his buddy, former English national team and L.A. Galaxy star David Beckham, who arrived after he received his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Back in 1994, there weren’t a lot of stars in the stands for the World Cup, and the U.S. men’s national team members only started to make names for themselves.

Thirty-two years later, the wattage found throughout the seats at SoFi Stadium was matched Friday — and even surpassed at times — by what Balogun, Pulisic and the rest of the American team delivered in their first step of what they hope will be a long journey in the World Cup. Next up is their meeting June 19 in Seattle with Australia before a return to SoFi on June 25 to finish group play against Türkiye.