The United States men's national team will play a World Cup match on home soil for the first time in 32 years when they take the field against Paraguay at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California, on Friday night.

So, that context bakes intensity into the match before it even kicks off, but the USMNT's opening 2026 FIFA World Cup opponent is uniquely qualified to deliver fireworks.

The USMNT and Paraguay played an international friendly last November. It was tightly contested, which the U.S. won 2-1, but before it ended, it boiled over into full-on brawl in the second half's stoppage time.

The boll rolled out in the 91st minute, prompting a U.S. throw in. USMNT defender Alex Freeman and Paraguay captain Diego Gomez each went to pick up the ball. Neither would let it go, and next thing anyone knew it, punches were thrown in a sea of fuming footballers.

Video of the brawl started recirculating ahead of the USMNT meeting Paraguay again in mere hours, as seen below:

Former American soccer star Dax McCarty appeared on Friday's "First Things First" on FS1 and cited the above brawl as bulletin board material for USMNT manager Mauricio Pochettino.

"You know the only thing you have to do, coach? Just show highlights of your last friendly against Paraguay," McCarty said. "Please. Because this is all the motivation I would need if I was a player on that team."

The United States, Paraguay, Australia, and Turkiye make up Group D. After Paraguay, the USMNT will face Australia at Lumen Field in Seattle on June 19, followed by a matchup with Turkiye at SoFi Stadium on June 25.

Now that the men's World Cup is comprised of 48 nations, 32 teams will advance through to the knockout stage, which makes group play less daunting. All 12 winners and runners-up in each group will advance, plus the eight best third-place finishers overall.

The USMNT has not advanced beyond the Round of 16 since losing to Germany in the quarterfinals at the 2002 World Cup (via ESPN). They most recently lost to the Netherlands in the Round of 16 at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.