ESPN is not doing its reputation any favors as the 2026 World Cup gets underway.
On Friday, the United States kicked off its World Cup run with a match against Paraguay in Group D play. Before the contest at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, Calif., ESPN’s “SportsCenter” ran a segment previewing the matchup.
Unfortunately though, ESPN made an embarrassing mistake with their graphic during their segment. They accidentally stated that the United States was facing Panama instead.
Check out the video of the screw-up (with the erroneous graphic making two separate appearances in the segment).
Good luck to the USMNT tonight against Paraguay, or maybe it's Panama? Who can say? pic.twitter.com/o1fwiDJgn3
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) June 12, 2026
Panama is in a completely different continent and is located nearly 3,000 miles north of Paraguay. While Panama is also competing in the 2026 World Cup, they are playing in Group L and will not have their first group-stage match until next Wednesday against Ghana.
Plenty will likely point to the fact that ESPN does not quite specialize in soccer coverage. But even when it comes to the four major sports in the United States, ESPN has been known to make some humiliating mistakes with their graphics as well.
