USMNT can take critical Paraguay lesson into World Cup opener

IRVINE, Calif.— Broadly speaking, there is not much to take from the U.S.

men’s national team’s 2-1 win over Paraguay last November, even with the two sides set to meet again Friday in the opening match of the World Cup.That was a friendly in Chester, Pennsylvania.This is a World Cup opener with global attention.

Ten USMNT starters from that night are on this World Cup squad, but a good chunk of them will likely be on the bench, and players like Christian Pulisic, Tyler Adams and Weston McKennie weren’t in November camp at all.On a tactical level, and as a matter of intensity, it’s not worth the effort of comparing them.The two most important developments of that night for the USMNT, though, were neither.For the uninitiated, those were Gio Reyna scoring four minutes into his first national team cap since March to reestablish himself in the World Cup roster mix, and a brawl that broke out toward the end of stoppage time when Alex Freeman and Gustavo Gómez started wrestling over the ball, leading to Paraguay’s bench emptying.

Omar Alderete, a Paraguay defender likely to start Friday, earned a red card during that fracas despite not playing a minute of the actual game.That fight, in the more literal sense, sparked up again from the USMNT on Saturday when Tim Weah went in hard on a tackle late in a 2-1 loss to Germany.Given Paraguay’s intensely physical style — as well as the very recent history at play — it looks relevant again for Friday’s game.“I think our biggest strength of this team is that we really enjoy spending time with each other and we really enjoy each other as human beings,” Reyna said Tuesday when the topic was brought up.

“I think that shows in how we play.Whether it’s running for each other or in moments, chippy moments, that’s our biggest strength, is how much we love each other.”During the Atlanta portion of USMNT camp, Weah said that coach Mauricio Pochettino has brought some of “that South American grit” to...