Who scored Paraguay's own goal? Meet Damian Bobadilla, who handed the USMNT a 1-0 lead in World Cup opener
Article excerpt
Damian Bobadilla's own goal gave the USMNT a 1-0 lead over Paraguay in a World Cup opener. The defensive mistake handed the U.S. team an early advantage through an unintended contribution from the opposing side. Bobadilla, the Paraguayan player responsible for the unfortunate miscue, became an unwilling protagonist in the match's pivotal moment. Own goals remain among soccer's cruelest turns of fortune, transforming a defender's error into the opposition's fortune. The incident underscored how quickly momentum can swing in World Cup play, where a single lapse can determine early tournament positioning.
Who scored Paraguay's own goal? Meet Damian Bobadilla, who handed the USMNT a 1-0 lead in World Cup opener originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
While Paraguay headed into their opening match against the United States with an underdog mentality and hopeful in pulling off an upset, they were almost instantly tasked with playing from behind.
To boot, the goal for Team USA came from a Paraguay player. Every soccer player's worst nightmare is scoring an own-goal, and a midfielder was victim to just that tonight.
Here's who had the misfortune of gifting the U.S. with a goal via a Paraguayan boot.
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Who is Damian Bobadilla?
In just the seventh minute of Friday's game against Team USA, Damian Bobadilla was the Paraguayan player who put the Americans on the board with an own-goal. Here is the unfortunate kick that put the South Americans behind inside 10 minutes in front of a rowdy crowd in favor of the USMNT.
OWN GOAL. 1-0 USA! 🇺🇸
THE @USMNT SCORES FIRST AND LOS ANGELES IS ABSOLUTELY ELECTRIC! pic.twitter.com/tEbJU8E9PX
, FOX Sports (@FOXSports) June 13, 2026
Bobadilla is just 24 years old and has 19 total caps with one goal for Paraguay, according to Transfermarkt. He plays club soccer for Sao Paolo FC in Brazil's Serie A league.
MORE: How good is Paraguay at soccer?
How many own goals have there been in World Cup history
Bobadilla's unfortunate kick into his own net has been tallied as the 55th own goal at the World Cup, according to Wikipedia.
During the previosu 2022 World Cup in Qatar, there were only two own goals through the tournament's entirety (Nayef Aguerd for Morocco and Enzo Fernandez for Argentina). Four years prior at the World Cup in Russia, there were a whopping 12 that set the record for most own-goals at a World Cup tournament.
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What is an own goal?
In soccer, an own goal is when a player kicks, heads, or deflects the ball into their own net. They are a rather unfortunate feat to have on one's soccer resume. Sometimes, however, they can't be avoided with an unlucky deflection.
In Bobadilla's case, he kicked the ball into his own net.
In 1994, Andres Escobar was assassinated in Colombia due to scoring an own goal for the United States in the 1994 World Cup. An ESPN documentary named The Two Escobars was created in 2010 to recount the events that led up to and followed the tragedy.