The United States team won and was pleased in the debut match of the 2026 World Cup. The USMNT was much superior at the Los Angeles Stadium. The collective performance was positive, but Chris Richards established an individual record that will be difficult to break.

With a double from Folarin Balogun, a goal from Giovanni Reyna and an own goal from Damián Bobadilla, the United States beat Paraguay 4-1. This was an unthinkable result before the start of the tournament. The USMNT dominated the match from start to finish.

One of the highest points on defense was Chris Richards. The Crystal Palace footballer was the leader of the USMNT's last line. Richards offered a clean start throughout the match.

Wearing number 3, Chris Richards had a perfect game in terms of completed passes. The American defender left the Los Angeles Stadium with a 100% effectiveness in his passes (83 passes awarded in 83 attempts).

The data indicates that this is the highest record in the history of the World Cups since this type of lines have been counted. No one has played a duel with such a high number of positive passes since the 1966 World Cup.

There have been other players with perfect passing nights, but none with the amount of Richards. In Russia 2018, John Stones left a record of 71-71 in a duel against Panama; In that same World Cup, Joao Miranda left a record of 59-59 in a duel against Serbia.

This is how the 2026 World Cup is going