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The United States opened their World Cup campaign with a fine win - but not before a sequence of events that left everyone inside SoFi Stadium scratching their heads as the video assistant referee (VAR) made history.The co-hosts were comfortably leading Paraguay 3-0 when confusion reigned in the Group D game.Veteran defender Tim Ream, 38, conceded a free-kick and was shown a yellow card for his 'challenge' on Miguel Almiron.After the free-kick was taken, Dutch referee Danny Makkelie was sent to the screen by the VAR and overturned his decision - something officials have not previously been allowed to do.After rescinding Ream's caution, Makkelie instead booked former Newcastle United forward Almiron, who had clearly dived.It is the first VAR intervention for mistaken identity at the World Cup, even if it perhaps was not used in the way most expected it to be.The rule states that if a player is booked or sent off - but the foul was actually committed by the opposition team - the decision can be changed.Another new law is second yellow cards leading to a red card can be reviewed, but not first yellow cards. The only reason referee Makkelie was able to rescind the decision was by using the mistaken identity law.The officials allowed the game to restart before stopping, which also confused fans as normally once the game resumes it cannot be pulled back.Former Everton and Wales defender Ashley Williams, speaking to BBC Sport, added: "They let them take the free-kick, which was bizarre but clearly the right decision."It's the first time we have seen it but fair play."Former England midfielder Danny Murphy, who was co-commentating for BBC Sport, added: "Any adaptation of the rules which means diving gets more punishment is good."The United States, managed by former Tottenham boss Mauricio Pochettino, won the match 4-1 to get their campaign off to a winning start in front of a jubilant home crowd.Following an own goal by Damian Bobadilla, the US led 3-0 at half-time after Folarin Balogun scored twice.In doing so he became just the second US player to score more than once in a World Cup match.Paraguay pulled one back through Brazilian-born Mauricio before the goal of the night from substitute Giovanni Reyna, who curled a 20-yard shot home with the outside of his right foot with the final kick of the game.VAR, timewasting and subs - World Cup law changes explainedEverything you need to know about the World Cup

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Across the parking lot from Los Angeles Stadium sits the Forum. In the 1980s, it served as the stage for one of American sports’ most enthralling entertainment outfits, the Los Angeles Lakers. Opening their campaign at the 2026 World Cup in front of 70,492 fans, the US men’s national team embraced the Lakers’ Showtime ethos.The US began their campaign with aplomb, playing Paraguay off the pitch in a 4-1 win.A day earlier, Mauricio Pochettino had preached quiet confidence. There was no need for a fiery pep talk for a group that has long aspired to impress at this home World Cup. Citing advice from a member of Argentina’s victorious 1986 World Cup side, Pochettino said his players needed to play with joy and focus.He got exactly what he asked for in a dazzling first half.The US created their own luck by taking the initiative from the opening whistle. Christian Pulisic and Malik Tillman seemed to be in a competition to see who could nutmeg the most opponents, baiting two Paraguay defenders into yellow cards. The opening goal came in less than 10 minutes. Tim Ream fizzed a ball along the back to Alex Freeman, who played a well-weighted ball up the channel for Weston McKennie. The Juventus midfielder scampered upfield, getting the ball to Pulisic as both players advanced on the box. Pulisic squared the ball for McKennie, whose shot caromed off Damián Bobadilla and tumbled into the net.Past versions of the US often took their foot off the gas after scoring at World Cups. On Friday, this group of players kept pouring on the pressure. On his World Cup debut, Folarin Balogun bagged a brilliant 20-minute double. In the 31st minute, he finished off a cross from Pulisic. His second came with the final kick of the first half: he ran on to a ball up the channel from Tillman and, after some nimble work to bypass Gustavo Gómez, he placed a shot into the top corner.Pulisic was taken off at half-time, although the move appeared to be due to caution rather than injury. Evidently, Pochettino saw no sense in subjecting the team’s star player to petty shin-kicks as Paraguay scrapped to get back into the game. Paraguay improved after the break, monitoring Balogun’s movement and tightening ranks to close down the half-spaces that were often available to the US in the opening 45 minutes.Eventually, Paraguay were able to pull a goal back. In the 73rd minute, the US were caught out of position after a restart by goalkeeper Orlando Gill. Tyler Adams’s attempted clearance found Miguel Almirón just outside the box, and he quickly prodded the ball to Julio Enciso. From there, Enciso played the ball into substitute Maurício’s stride, and the Palmeiras winger ushered his shot beyond Matt Freese.It was a consolation for Paraguay as well as a reminder that this US team have faults. There were holes for Paraguay to exploit across the defence and some concerns about Freese’s reluctance to leave his line. The US’s next opponents, Australia and Turkey, will most likely test Freese’s instincts more, and the defense will need to be sharp, even if they hold a healthy lead.But those are problems for another day. Since the US were announced as co-hosts for this World Cup, every move by a US international has been viewed in the context of this summer’s tournament. Rather than buckle under the pressure, on Friday this team played with a determination to prove they belong at this tournament.It’s hardly a show if you don’t hit the high notes at the end. With Paraguay trying to preserve their goal difference, Gio Reyna – who entered as a late substitute – placed the ball beyond Gill with the outside of his boot.This World Cup cycle was seldom pretty, but it was all mere prelude. These are the bright lights under which this US team have prepared to play – and for 45 minutes, they didn’t flub a single line.

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For the first time in the history of the men’s World Cup, Les Rouges have a point. It lifted pressure on a team scarred by disappointment on the biggest stageIsmaël Koné almost passed out. Cyle Larin was almost deafened.Seventy-eight minutes into a Friday lunchtime where “almost” looked like becoming a Canadian curse, perhaps it was the jarringly definitive nature of that one single, swivelling moment that sparked such an uproarious outpouring of, well, everything.Until last week Toronto Stadium was BMO Field. In his post-match press conference Jesse Marsch’s head was still scrambled enough from the afternoon’s events that he tripped over the names of the stadium: “It doesn’t feel like the same BMO … I guess … you guys didn’t hear that,” Canada’s coach said.No one has heard the home of Canadian football sound like it did when Larin lashed in his late equaliser to grab a first-ever men’s World Cup point for the tournament’s co-hosts in their 1-1 draw with Bosnia and Herzegovina. The wild joy, the depth-of-the-chest relief of it all, the vocal cords still stretched as brains began some Group B mathematics and permutations. It all came out.“Honestly, I felt like I was going to faint. It was crazy,” said Koné, the man whose slaloming run in off the left had sparked the breakthrough. “I felt like we did everything to give ourselves the chance to score. We were on top of them, we were pushing the game, we had momentum, we hit the bar. We deserved it. It was just a relief.”Larin had been dropped to the bench for this long-awaited home opener, and he took just two minutes to prove his point after coming off the bench. The decibels soaring, he wheeled away to the southwest corner and put an index finger into each ear. Protecting the cochleae? Not quite.“That’s for the fans, the reporters, and the journalists who say I shouldn’t have been where I’m supposed to be,” said Larin after the game. His first international goal in 18 months had arrived when his country needed it most. “But I’ve always proved them wrong. And I did it again. Hopefully now they can shut up.”In one sense, perhaps. But maybe not definitively. Marsch had originally reshuffled his attack after two insipid displays in warm-up games against Uzbekistan and Ireland. Larin and Jonathan David, Canada’s record scorer, hadn’t clicked and the lack of finishing was causing the coach to even get a little cranky in the week leading in here. “We’re going to score more goals,” Marsch insisted on Monday. “So I don’t have to put up with any more stupid questions from you guys.”Marsch was just 12 minutes away from a full press conference worth of questions he’d find stupid. Larin helped him avoid feeling foolish. So now what?David’s glaring early miss and otherwise ineffective performance was probably the biggest negative from an afternoon that ended with such positivity. Tani Oluwaseyi, who’d replaced Larin in the starting XI, blazed an equally great opportunity over too. On the hour when Marsch called one David ashore to replace him with another, Union-SG’s Promise David, he was chasing the game and those scoring demons. That lasted only 16 minutes until Larin was unleashed and did the business, thanks in large part to a delicious flick from Promise David in the buildup.Marsch was asked if he hoped this would be the dam-buster, not for Larin but for his entire attack. “On one level you can say the subs we made [had] a big impact so they were some good decisions,” he said. “But I gotta figure a way to get more out of the starters too.”Next, his team jet across the country to Vancouver, where they will play Qatar on Thursday. One luxury afforded the co-hosts is an extra day’s break between games. Marsch could do with it as he weighs up his options. He admitted Jonathan David “didn’t have his best day” but reached for an intriguing example when he argued that Larin’s goal could spark a wider release.“A home World Cup is a different occasion. It’s a different feel,” the American added. “I do think we’ll learn from this and if you look at World Cups historically, doesn’t matter if it’s Argentina losing to Saudi Arabia last World Cup or different scenarios where it starts a little bit tense in the beginning stages. Then the games come more to life and you see truer versions of teams.”In the second-half when Canada were building that momentum which Koné referenced – and the Sassuolo midfielder was most responsible for that – Alphonso Davies sat on a cooler on the edge of the home dugout, his chin perched in the palm of one hand. The captain needs time to recover from injury. So too does defender Moïse Bombito.Perhaps the greatest gift that Larin delivered was time. The equaliser also helped give Canada its moment of belonging at its own World Cup. That’s significant.“I haven’t scored in a while, but I knew it was coming,” he said. “I’ve always come up [big] when Canada needed me.”

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Equipment stolen during transportation from FloridaFA will liaise with police in bid to retrieve match bootsEngland have been the victims of a security breakdown after the team’s match boots were stolen before their first World Cup training session in Kansas City.The theft is understood to have taken place while equipment was being transported from the squad’s pre-tournament base in Florida to their training camp at Swope Soccer Village in Missouri. Boots belonging to England’s star players were understood to be among the stolen items, along with official tournament balls and training equipment.Thomas Tuchel’s side will train at their base for the first time on Saturday afternoon. The Football Association declined to comment when approached by the Guardian. It will have to liaise with local police as they attempt to retrieve the equipment.England face Croatia in their opening Group L game in Dallas on Wednesday. The FA has meticulous plans in place as Tuchel attempts to lead the men’s side to their first piece of silverware since 1966, but the incident presents staff with a headache.There were positive vibes during England’s acclimatisation camp in the heat of West Palm Beach, Florida. England won friendlies against New Zealand in Tampa and Costa Rica in Orlando.The performance in the latter was hugely encouraging and featured an eye-catching display from Jude Bellingham, who has boosted his chances of starting over Morgan Rogers at No 10 against Croatia. Bukayo Saka is in a race to prove his fitness after struggling with an achilles problem while Ezri Konsa and John Stones could keep Marc Guéhi out in central defence.

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England were victims of a theft of their training equipment before their arrival in Kansas City on Saturday.The Football Association is trying to ascertain what was stolen, with balls and boots among the items feared to have been taken, after vehicles transferring equipment to their Swope Soccer Village base in Kansas City were broken into.Thomas Tuchel and his squad will arrive in Kansas City on Saturday afternoon and the equipment was due to be in place beforehand.Police officers, who are in touch with the FA, were on site on Friday night dealing with the matter.The Three Lions start their World Cup campaign against Croatia on Wednesday (21:00 BST).When do England play and how can you follow it?Bellingham, but no Guehi - England's expected teamPlay BBC Sport's new World Cup predictor game

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Real Madrid also among midfielder’s potential suitorsCastellanos an option for Everton amid likely exitsManchester United are leading the race to sign Mateus Fernandes from West Ham. The midfielder also has interest from Arsenal, Real Madrid and Paris Saint-Germain, but the strongest early moves have come from United as they look to boost Michael Carrick’s squad.West Ham hope to receive £80m for Fernandes, although they may face financial pressure to drop their asking price after their relegation from the Premier League. The club lost £104.2m last year and need to raise more than £100m in transfer sales this summer.Fernandes, who joined West Ham from Southampton for £38m last summer, is one of their biggest assets and has caught the eye of a host of top clubs. United are keen to bolster their midfield after Casemiro’s departure on a free transfer and have already signed Éderson from Atalanta.It is believed that United are Fernandes’s likeliest destination if he moves to another English club. However, sources have cautioned that there could be a push from Madrid, who have just reappointed José Mourinho as their new manager. United will be wary of missing out on Fernandes to their former coach.Arsenal are thought to feel that West Ham’s asking price for Fernandes is too high. There is more confidence around United. They have been keen on Elliot Anderson but are likely to be outbid by Manchester City for the England and Nottingham Forest midfielder. Fernandes is more within their price range.West Ham are expected to lose a host of top talent after dropping into the Championship. There is plenty of interest in Jarrod Bowen and Crysencio Summerville, who could be in even bigger demand if he impresses for the Netherlands at the World Cup. Taty Castellanos, the Argentinian striker, is an option for Everton.

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In a super-sized edition that makes Australia a middle power their young squad can budget for four matches at the tournament with the hope of moreThe selections, the sessions, the sweat left steaming on the Oakland grass. These are all now behind the Socceroos, as they fly to Vancouver to begin an adventure that comes around just once every four years.Australia’s best men’s footballers are back again at the World Cup, this time in a super-sized edition that makes a nation that was once a football underdog a middle power.The Socceroos are one of 48 teams at the tournament spread across the United States, Canada and Mexico, in an expansion that has drawn criticism for experimenting with the tried and true 32-nation format established at France 1998.It is now more than 20 years since the Socceroos missed qualification for a World Cup. Australia joined the Asian confederation two decades ago to mitigate their exposure to do-or-die play-offs that had handed only heartbreak against Argentina, Iran and Uruguay. It has also changed expectations, amending the country’s football culture.If hope is the currency of football, the old days delivered Australian fans endless riches. To lose a painful qualifier, and then watch a World Cup six months later and wonder how far one’s nation might have gone – all the time, hope growing for the next – was an experience shared by football’s outsiders across the world.Today, however, followers of the Socceroos have little in common with wide-eyed supporters from Curaçao or Cape Verde – nations who will compete at the World Cup in 2026 for the first time alongside Jordan and Uzbekistan.Australia’s aspiration will be met at this tournament by opportunity. The Socceroos were handed a favourable draw by avoiding any giants in their group. They were also given a marquee match against co-hosts the US, the soccer-off between two proud, sporting countries who prefer football’s alternative name to denote its secondary status.The larger format has changed the dynamic for teams, like Australia, once on the World Cup periphery. Now they are entitled to budget for four matches at the tournament instead of three. The introduction of a round of 32 essentially creates a knockout elimination in 2026 with the same number of participants as the group stage in previous tournaments.The qualification of eight of the 12 groups’ third-placed teams in 2026 means the Socceroos should expect to progress out of Group D, despite the challenge posed by Turkey, the US and Paraguay.Indeed, elimination at the first stage would be a backward step for this Socceroos team given the round of 16 exit in Qatar, where they pushed eventual champions Argentina in a narrow knockout loss.The team flies from Oakland to Vancouver on Friday local time ahead of the match against Turkey the following day, an opponent widely seen as the toughest in the group. It is the last step in a World Cup journey that began all the way back in November 2023, when the Socceroos walloped Bangladesh 7-0.That night at AAMI Park goal scorers included Jamie Maclaren, Mitch Duke and Brandon Borrello, all forwards ultimately overlooked when Popovic finalised his squad two weeks ago.The Socceroos at this tournament are instead brimming with young talent, including 17 debutants in the 26-player squad. Led by defenders Alessandro Circati, Jordy Bos and Lucas Herrington, and forwards Mo Toure and Nestory Irankuna, the next generation gives hope that Australia might emerge as a genuine threat at the World Cup in coming years.Rather than look ahead to 2030 or 2034, however, this tournament is ripe for the taking. Injury clouds hang over key players on each group rival: influential Turkey winger Kenan Yildiz, standout US defender Chris Richards and Paraguay playmaker Julio Enciso.Coach Tony Popovic enjoys support in the Socceroos dressing room, having won 10 of 18 matches since taking over from Graham Arnold in 2024. That record secured him a contract extension on the eve of the World Cup, which keeps him in the role until at least the Asian Cup in January next year.Back home there will be a healthy television audience, given kick-off times in Canada and the US make for convenient weekend watch parties. Expect Federation Square in Melbourne, and other live sites around the country, to be heaving.Yes, there will be consternation about the right of the US to host a global event given Donald Trump’s decision to send military into Venezuela and missiles into Iran, let alone his record domestically. Teeth will grate at the so-called hydration breaks, which may or may not coincide with advertising. Fans will gripe about dynamic ticket pricing, like many of Fifa’s decisions. Eyes will roll at on-field play acting.Eventually, though, the charm of the World Cup will soak through. Socceroos veteran Aziz Behich said it best, just as his third and almost certainly final World Cup got under way. “I still get butterflies, like I did the first time around in Russia [in 2018],” the 35-year-old said. “That’s why I’m still here.”

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The top stories and transfer rumours from Saturday's newspapers...Manchester United lead the race to sign West Ham's Mateus Fernandes despite interest from Arsenal. United, however, are wary of interest from Real Madrid. - TelegraphBruno Fernandes is understood to have spoken highly of Mateus Fernandes. - TelegraphMateus Fernandes has indicated to West Ham that he is keen on joining Manchester United with Jason Wilcox, who signed the former Sporting man at Southampton, pushing for the deal. - talkSPORTArsenal are exploring a deal to sign Club Brugge forward Christos Tzolis. - The AthleticCrystal Palace are keen to match Middlesbrough's £20m asking price for Hayden Hackney despite Everton interest. - Daily MailManchester City, Manchester United and Bayern Munich are all watching Everton's Jarrad Branthwaite closely. - Daily MailManchester City have reportedly made enquiries over Chelsea defender Malo Gusto as the Citizens look to strengthen at right-back this summer. - L'EquipeInter Milan midfielder Davide Frattesi looks increasingly likely to leave the San Siro this summer, with Nottingham Forest among the clubs monitoring his situation. - Gazzetta dello SportNewcastle United have submitted their first official offer to Osasuna for highly-rated winger Victor Muñoz. - The Sun

World Cup News

Ever wanted to see a World Cup match from every angle? How about a full-pitch tactical view? Or even see the match through the eyes of a player?Well, now you can with the brand-new Fifa World Cup 3D Experience.This is a UK-first that is only available on BBC Sport.The interactive game experience gives viewers more choice to explore the match both in real-time, highlights and full-match replays.Head to bbc.co.uk/3dWorldCup to get started.The Fifa World Cup 3D Experience is available for games that are on BBC TV. For a full list of those matches, visit the match hub.Throughout the tournament, we'll also make it easy to find the experience on our website and app, in live match pages and our sport, football and World Cup indexes.You'll have full control to see all the angles as the perfect second-screen option that offers deeper insight. These include:Broadcast view where you control the camera angle.Tactical view with a bird's-eye view of the full pitch.Third-person view to follow your favourite player on the pitch.First-person view to see the match through a player's eyes.That's all in real-time as the match happens but you can also rewind key moments, switch cameras and see stats.After the match you'll have a highlights mode to see all the goals, shots and penalties as well as a full-match replay.This Beta 3D experience is all powered by live official Fifa data and technology from XR company Immersiv.io., externalThe skeletal data is used to recreate the match as it happens - similar to how semi-automated offside technology works.The Fifa World Cup 3D Experience is only available to users in the UK.What information do we collect from this quiz?Related topicsFootballFIFA World Cup 2026More on this storyPlay BBC Sport's new World Cup predictor gameEverything you need to know about the World Cup