Three days into the 2026 FIFA World Cup co-hosted by the United States, one moment already stands out as a potential tournament icon — and it will take something extraordinary to unseat Gio Reyna’s masterful late finish as the goal of the competition. The stunning strike capped a dominant 4-1 opening match victory for the U.S. Men’s National Team over Paraguay at Los Angeles Stadium, and it was the perfect encapsulation of the free-flowing attacking soccer manager Mauricio Pochettino has built this squad around.
With the match deep into second-half stoppage time, clocked at 96 minutes and 10 seconds, the USMNT only needed to hold possession to kill the clock and secure their win. Paraguay had already pulled one goal back in the second half, and any late lapse could have sparked an unwanted rally for the South American side. What unfolded over the next 70 seconds, though, was nothing short of soccer brilliance: Pochettino’s side strung together 26 consecutive passes, moving the ball from their own left defensive end all the way across the pitch to the attacking final third. Not a single Paraguayan defender managed to get a touch on the ball, left gasping and chasing shadows as the American side shifted the play with clinical precision.
The sequence ended with Gio Reyna, an 82nd-minute substitute brought on to replace the standout Malik Tillman, collecting a well-weighted pass from Alexander Freeman just outside the 18-yard box. The attacking midfielder took one calm touch to control the pass, a second to carry the ball into the penalty area, and curled a perfectly placed strike with the outside of his right boot past Paraguay goalkeeper Orlando Gill into the far corner of the net. The goal sent the capacity crowd of American supporters into a frenzy, and the celebration quickly spilled off the field: as Reyna wheeled away, hands pressed to his ears in a widely interpreted nod to years of criticism following his 2022 World Cup controversy, he was mobbed by teammates, on-pitch substitutes and even Pochettino, who sprinted from the touchline to join the historic moment.
Pundits were quick to draw parallels between Reyna’s strike and the most iconic team goal in World Cup history: Carlos Alberto’s late finish for Brazil against Italy in the 1970 World Cup final. That legendary goal, which also came in a 4-1 win, featured a similarly smooth multi-pass sequence finished by the Brazilian captain late in the match. While the 1970 strike came with a world title on the line, the 2026 opening goal carried enormous stakes of its own for the USMNT: it served as a resounding opening statement against a Paraguay side that boasted one of the strongest defensive records among South American qualifiers. For context, the USMNT has already scored more goals in this single opening match than they managed across the entire 2022 Qatar World Cup, where they netted just three times before bowing out in the Round of 16.
The moment also carried deep personal significance for Reyna, who returns to the World Cup stage after a highly public controversy in 2022. Four years ago in Qatar, then-manager Gregg Berhalter publicly revealed that he nearly sent Reyna home from the tournament over allegations of a lack of effort in training and matches. The fallout dominated the USMNT’s lead-up to this cycle, and Pochettino made a notably bold choice to include Reyna in his 2026 squad despite the player making just four league starts for Borussia Mönchengladbach in the 2025-26 season, with none coming after December 19.
Political figures even weighed in on the historic win: former U.S. President Donald Trump offered public congratulations via his social media platform on Saturday, writing, “Congratulations to Team USA on their Big Win, 4-1, over a very good Paraguay team. Keep it going!”
The result marks a major milestone for the USMNT project Pochettino has built since taking over as manager in 2024, after previous successful stints leading Paris Saint-Germain, Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur. The side reached the Gold Cup final in 2025, and Pochettino has never hidden his ambition to compete for the 2026 title on home soil, with “Why not us?” adopted as the team’s unofficial tournament motto.
The Argentine manager emphasized that the extended preparation window ahead of the World Cup has allowed him to implement his system fully, something that is rarely possible for international managers ahead of major tournaments. “When you only have few days to reunite and to play, you only select players, but you cannot coach players,” he explained after Friday’s match. “Only in this type of tournament like the Gold Cup or now the World Cup, because you have preparation, two, three, four weeks, I think that is the only moment that we can coach.”
Reyna’s goal, he added, was the perfect example of his philosophy of prioritizing collective play over individual stardom. “One thing we need to praise is the collective effort,” Pochettino said.
Fans will long debate whether this is the greatest goal in USMNT World Cup history, with several iconic strikes standing out from decades past. In 1989, Paul Caligiuri’s long-range volley against Trinidad and Tobago secured the U.S.’s first World Cup qualification berth since 1950. At the 1994 World Cup, the last time the U.S. hosted the tournament, Eric Wynalda’s memorable free kick against Switzerland earned the Americans their first World Cup point since 1950. More recently, Benny Feilhaber’s match-winning volley claimed the 2007 Gold Cup title for the U.S. But few can deny that Reyna’s spectacular team goal has set an early high bar for the 2026 tournament, both for the USMNT and for the rest of the competing nations.
