>> FULL WORLD CUP COVERAGE<\/a><\/p>\n\u201cWe know Miguel Almir\u00f3n\u2019s pace and how dangerous he can be out in open space,\u201d Longshore said. \u201cMatias Galarza, probably not expected to start tonight, but expected to play. He\u2019s been really good in this midfield.\u201d<\/p>\n
Paraguay is making its first World Cup appearance since 2010. Diego Gomez, one of the team\u2019s star players, was emotional at the pregame press conference.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat emotion is going to be a lot to deal with for the U.S., who are also going to be emotional,\u201d Longshore said. \u201cThis is the first home World Cup game since 1994. You\u2019ve got to manage the emotion in this match, and I think whoever does that best is probably going to end up coming out on the good side of it.\u201d<\/p>\n
U.S. needs strong start to energize crowd<\/p>\n
Longshore said the U.S. team needs to start strong to get the crowd engaged, similar to how Mexico scored in the first 15 minutes of their opening match at Estadio Azteca.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you can start fast and start really strong, then the crowd amps up and gets louder,\u201d he said. \u201cIf this team can start well tonight, but start well in the tournament, then you\u2019re going to get momentum building into Game 2 and into Game 3 and hopefully beyond that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Right side could be X-factor for U.S.<\/p>\n
Longshore identified the right side of the U.S. formation as a potential X-factor. Sergino Dest, the wingback, is fully healthy after injuries throughout the spring.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn 1v1 situations on the dribble, he\u2019s the best player the U.S. has,\u201d Longshore said.<\/p>\n
Behind Dest is Alex Freeman, son of former Green Bay Packers wide receiver Antonio Freeman. Freeman joined Villarreal in Spain six months ago and forced his way into the team after a midseason arrival.<\/p>\n
\u201cAlex Freeman behind Dest allows Dest to be higher up the field, take his chances,\u201d Longshore said. \u201cWhen that right side can pin Paraguay in, the U.S. can do damage tonight.\u201d<\/p>\n
Round of 16 expected, quarterfinals possible<\/p>\n
Longshore said the round of 16 is where the U.S. should be, with quarterfinals possible depending on the draw. The U.S. is ranked in the top 20.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a winnable group. It\u2019s also a group with three games that are all tough, even though you\u2019re going to be favored in every one,\u201d he said. \u201cI think it\u2019s the group of death in the tournament because somebody good is going to go home for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n
Longshore picked Spain to win the tournament, citing their balance and midfield led by Pedri and Rodri, along with young rising star Lamine Yamal.<\/p>\n
The United States and Paraguay face off in SoFi Stadium, renamed Los Angeles Stadium for the World Cup, at 9 p.m. Eastern Time.<\/p>\n
Copyright 2026 WANF. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ATLANTA, Ga. (Atlanta News First) \u2014 The United States faces Paraguay in both teams\u2019 first group stage game…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":700379,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[166971,122488,23,49853,77041,49858,302942,8363,302948,302949,302950,302951,302943,3,302952,21,19,22,20,25,302935,302936,302939,302937,302938,24,90221,302944,302945,49852,302946,302940,302941,302947,84938,302934],"class_list":["post-700378","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-states","tag-2026-fifa-world-cup","tag-2026-world-cup","tag-america","tag-anf","tag-atlanta-news","tag-atlanta-news-first","tag-atlanta-united-players-at-world-cup","tag-fifa-world-cup","tag-jason-longshore","tag-jason-longshore-atlanta","tag-jason-longshore-atlanta-soccer-tonight","tag-jason-longshore-soccer-down-here","tag-mls-players-at-world-cup","tag-news","tag-soccer-down-here","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-us-group-stage-matches-world-cup","tag-us-paraguay","tag-us-paraguay-preview","tag-us-vs-paraguay","tag-us-vs-paraguay-preview","tag-usa","tag-usmnt","tag-usmnt-roster","tag-usmnt-starting-xi","tag-wanf","tag-when-are-world-cup-matches","tag-when-is-us-vs-paraguay","tag-where-is-us-vs-paraguay","tag-why-is-the-world-cup-in-the-us","tag-world-cup","tag-world-cup-fifa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/700378","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=700378"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/700378\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/700379"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=700378"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=700378"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=700378"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}