World Cup 2026 USA opening ceremony LIVE: Thousands of empty seats as Katy Perry and Future perform and Donald Trump snubs first game

USA XI: Brady, Dest, Richards, Ream, Robinson, Adams, McKennie, Reyna, Pulisic, Balogun, Pepi.

Paraguay XI: Gill; Cáceres, Gómez, Alderete, Júnior Alonso; Cubas, Bobadilla, Diego Gómez; Enciso, Almirón; Sanabria.

Should note that the stadium is still only half-full for the opening ceremony, which was penned in to begin about half an hour ago.

Katy Perry won’t be happy performing to thousands of empty seats. Let’s hope it fills up for the actual game…

Here’s Lawrence Ostlere at SoFi Stadium:

“Good afternoon from SoFi Stadium, known today as the Los Angeles Stadium for Fifa reasons. It’s a beautiful day here, 20+C with a breeze flowing off the Pacific Ocean. There is no need for water breaks but as you know by now, we’re getting them anyway. Fans are streaming in, there’s a nice buzz, and soon it will be over to the US team to deliver amid plenty of expectation here.”

Some questionable lip-syncing there, but not the artists’ fault that they’re not allowed to sing. That’s it for act one of this opening ceremony – I assume we’re getting a quick change of stage before ramping things up…

Ah, so that’s what this mysterious dribbler is here for! He’s dropping the shoulder and weaving his way past cardboard signs to lead us into different musical acts. That’s one way to do a transition, I guess.

Now it’s Lisa, Rema and Anitta’s turn to take the spotlight.

Future and Tyla are performing their World Cup 2026 anthem, Game Time.

Fair play to Tyla, this is her second opening ceremony having also performed at Mexico’s last night.

Some serious drumming is accompanied by a man decked in a gold outfit akin to that of one George Washington.

Then someone with a funky haircut clumsily dribbles through the middle of the drummers. Are we going to get some freestyling?

No. Onto the first musical act: Future.

The opening ceremony is getting underway!

A very ominous, deep American voiceover is setting the tone: “We are soccer, football and futbol.”

All eyes are on Los Angeles’ SoFi Stadium, the newest stadium at this World Cup, for tonight’s American extravaganza.

But let’s cross over to the east coast, where in New York, a typically wild, sudden storm has hit the city.

That highlights one of the big concerns with the city’s venue for this tournament, MetLife Stadium, which has been chosen to host the World Cup final. The issue? It doesn’t have a roof.

That means if lightning strikes within a eight-mile radius of the ground, players and fans will be forced inside with the game at risk of a lengthy delay, akin to that seen during Chelsea vs Benfica at the Club World Cup last year.

This happening in the biggest game of football’s four-year calendar will be disastrous, and it’s anything but out of the question given New York’s susceptibility to these type of weather events.

With its glass roof, maybe SoFi would’ve been the better pick for the final…

“It was a magical moment to be honest, it was crazy, we were already winning 3-2, I didn’t need to do it,” Zlatan Ibrahimovic recalls when discussing his iconic scissor kick against England while playing for Sweden.

“If you don’t try it, you never know? Even if you fail, you still try, I did something crazy. If you don’t succeed, you might look back, think about the team, but you have to try and if you fail, it doesn’t matter.”