Pulisic leads USA into home World Cup opener against Paraguay with hard-won experience

Christian Pulisic will lead the United States into their 2026 FIFA World Cup Group D opener against Paraguay in Los Angeles on Friday, carrying the lessons of a Qatar campaign that ended in the round of sixteen and the weight of a nation hosting the tournament for the first time since 1994.

Speaking to reporters at the U.S. training base in Irvine, California, ahead of coach Mauricio Pochettino’s final session before the match, the 27-year-old AC Milan forward was composed — even gently ribbing the assembled media as questions flew at him from every direction. “Jeez,” Pulisic joked. “Let me talk.”

The calm, he explained, is earned. “In some ways I feel a little bit more relaxed” than in 2022, Pulisic said. “Been there before, and we’ve played in a match like this. So I think the experience has calmed me down a bit.”

Pulisic’s career arc is unlike any American man who has played the game before him. He already averages more international goals per game than all-time U.S. record-holders Clint Dempsey and Landon Donovan. In 2021, while at Chelsea, he became the first American to play in and win the UEFA Champions League. Four years ago in Qatar, it was his strike against Iran — scored at the cost of a collision with the opposing goalkeeper that sent him briefly to hospital — that put the United States through to the knockout stage.

The home setting adds a layer of significance that no American player in this squad has experienced at a World Cup. A crowd of roughly 70,000 is expected at the Los Angeles venue, with the majority anticipated to be backing the Stars and Stripes. “I’m gonna look around, I’m gonna try to take it in,” Pulisic said. “I’ll have friends and family in the stands. It’s a special moment, so I want to try to enjoy it.”

But sentiment only goes so far. The Americans know from experience that opening matches can define a group stage. In Qatar, the U.S. surrendered a first-half lead to Wales and settled for a 1-1 draw in their curtain-raiser, a result that made every subsequent point a necessity. Against Paraguay on Friday, Pulisic and his teammates will be expected to convert home advantage into a winning start — and to show that the experience of 2022 has sharpened rather than simply settled them.