Alex Freeman was USMNT’s unflappable unsung hero in World Cup debut

IRVINE, Calif. — Yes, the U.S. men’s national team really did that.

A dominant performance to beat Paraguay 4-1 on Friday night felt even better in the cold light of day. The U.S. had never scored four times in a World Cup game before; Folarin Balogun became the first American with a World Cup brace since 1930; 15.6 million watched on Fox.

“The United States won with absolute justice and clarity,” Paraguay manager Gustavo Alfaro said in Spanish. “They surpassed us tactically, they surpassed us technically, and they surpassed us physically.”

The three points gained all but guarantees the USMNT will go through to the knockout round given the format in which eight of 12 teams that finish third in the group will advance. Their goal, however, should clearly be winning Group D — something that looks completely attainable now.

Here are some next-day observations from the opener.

• — The game’s unsung hero was Alex Freeman. The 21-year-old seemed to win every duel in a dominant first half and won 9-of-14 in the game, per SofaScore’s tracking. He was incisive passing the ball, starting the sequence that led to the first goal with a smart ball into Weston McKennie, and kept finding space. He ended the game with an assist as well on Gio Reyna’s 4-1 goal. For someone so young, who was making his national team debut a year ago, to look so confident on a World Cup stage is incredible. Very few players are asked to do more in Mauricio Pochettino’s system than Freeman, who’s tasked with playing as something between a right center back and a traditional right back, with huge responsibilities in both attack and defense.

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• Everyone’s biggest concern coming into this game was the USMNT’s back line. It’s hard to really make judgments there because Paraguay never tested the American defense for any sustained period, with Mauricio’s goal being its only attempt on target. What we did see from Tim Ream and Chris Richards, though, was largely positive. Ream is a favorite punching bag of fans, but completed 93 percent of his passes Friday, including a few that helped lead to chances. Richards didn’t miss a single one, going 83-for-83 which, according to Opta, is the most passes with 100 percent accuracy in a World Cup game since 1966.
  
  “He was too perfect,” Ream said. “That’s Chris. He comes in, nothing fazes him, gets stuck in. He’s a huge boost to have with the group.”
  
  Both players made mistakes leading to Paraguay’s goal — Richards backed off instead of contesting the ball off Omar Gill’s goal kick, and Ream misjudged it off the bounce — but otherwise, the few moments in which they were forced into action defensively were largely positive.

• McKennie was unlucky to finish without any goal involvements. When Pochettino named this roster, the question was if its composition was a sign McKennie would end up playing deeper than he usually has for the USMNT. This game was an example of why that would hamstring the Americans. McKennie found so many pockets of space in buildup, and played terrifically off both Christian Pulisic and Malik Tillman.

• Don’t brush this performance off because it was against Paraguay. La Albirroja did not have a good night, and they are not one of the tournament favorites, but this team beat Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay in qualifying, conceding just 10 goals in 18 games to finish tied for third in CONMEBOL. It’s not as if the USMNT just beat up on a country that was here only because the tournament expanded.

• One lingering worry, aside from being completely sure that Christian Pulisic is completely OK: Tyler Adams’ yellow card. FIFA’s yellow-card rules are more forgiving in this format, with the single yellows resetting after the group stage and after the quarterfinals, but two yellows in the group stage still means a suspension in the Round of 32. Given that Adams likely will play every meaningful minute of the tournament as long as he’s available, that means one of the USMNT’s most important defensive players will need to get through two full games without picking up another caution.