Americans kick off the World Cup: US fans pack into bars for Monday’s Group B opener against Wales

As if the week leading up to Thanksgiving wasn’t already packed, American football fans have been hammering Monday’s World Cup opener into their busy schedules.

With Team USA’s World Cup opener against Wales scheduled for 2pm EST, bars across the US were packed during off peak hours with those lucky enough to find themselves out of work. Others less fortunate watched Fox Sports and Telemundo’s coverage from Qatar on their phones and computers.

For many, it represents a new experience for the growing number of football fans in the US. The team failed to qualify for the 2018 World Cup in Russia – considered one of the biggest disappointments in USMNT history – and the 2014 World Cup in Brazil was played at convenient times for the American audience, given the shared time zones.

Since then, football has surpassed hockey to become the fourth most watched sport among Americans, who have become accustomed to watching European games on weekend mornings.

And increasingly, those games are played by Americans: Juventus’ Weston McKennie, Chelsea’s Christian Pulisic, or Leeds United’s Tyler Adams and Brenden Aaronson, not to mention Arsenal goalkeeper Matt Turner and Borussia Dortmund’s Giovanni Reyna.

The sudden glut of American football talent has yet to translate into World Cup success, but it has murmured to some that the country finally has its ‘Golden Generation’ in the world’s most popular sport.

“I think it can, and I say that because – I’m sure other people will also say this – but because of the talent and youthfulness of the national team,” said former USMNT star DaMarcus Beasley. The athletic. “And then it’s clear that in the run-up to 2026 (the World Cup) in America, everything is fine to be that Golden Generation.”

At the center of the American youth movement is Adams, who was named captain at the unusual age of 23 to become the youngest at this year’s tournament and the youngest for Americans on the football showcase since Walter Bahr in 1950.

‘I want to be a winner. So first of all, I’m very competitive,” Adams said after US coach Gregg Berhalter’s announcement on Sunday. “I want to keep the guys around me on the same level. I don’t want to lose and then point the finger and say, “You let me down today.” I just want to make sure everyone is on the same wavelength, mindset-wise, no frustration – we’re all buying the same thing. And yes, I think I’ve been doing that from an early age.’

Adams was voted captain by around 35 players in September and was announced on the eve of the national team’s tournament opener against Wales.

He becomes the first African American to wear the armband for the United States during a World Cup. Earnie Stewart, then 33 and the son of an African American serviceman, captained the United States in the 2002 opener against Portugal due to Claudio Reyna’s strained right quadriceps.

“For the past three and a half years, we’ve worked with the leadership council,” Berhalter said of a group that included Adams, Pulisic, McKennie and Walker Zimmerman. “We asked them, well, what do you want to do for the World Cup? And they thought it would be better to have a captain named for the World Cup.’

Adams, the last of the 32 announced captains for this year’s tournament, is only the second under 30. England striker Harry Kane is 29 and has captained the Three Lions since the 2018 World Cup when he was 24.

Adams, of Wappinger, New York, has captained the national team nine times before, including seven wins, one loss and one tie.

Berhalter had rotated the bracelet since he was hired in December 2018. Pulisic captained the Americans eleven times and Zimmerman six times. Adams captained seven of the 14 World Cup qualifiers, Pulisic four and Zimmerman three.

“When you get into the national team, you’re a newbie, right? You don’t want to step on anyone’s toes,” Adams said. “You want to come in, you want to do your job, and while that hasn’t changed now compared to when I first joined the national team, I’m now the guy people rely on when they need to communicate with Greg. and something must be said.’

Several players captained the U.S. national team for every game in 1950. Bahr was 23 years, 3 months, 2 days before the 5-2 loss to Chile on July 2, 1950. Adams will be 23 years, 9 months, 8 days later its Monday.

Ed McIlvenny (25) wore the armband for England’s famous 1-0 defeat at Belo Horizonte and Harry Keough (22) for the opening defeat to Spain.

Adams made his national team debut in November 2017 and has played 32 caps. He made his debut with Major League Soccer’s New York Red Bulls in 2015, moved to RB Leipzig in 2019 and Leeds in the off-season.

“Tyler is a man who is simply older than his years, and you can tell from the moment you start talking to him,” Berhalter said. “He’s a guy whose teammates know exactly what they’re going to get from him. They know he goes out on the field to compete. They know he’s going to think about the match. They know he’s going to dig into the details of the game – not just a competitor, he’s also a strategist. And I think that helps the group because he calms people down and he’s a man that people get behind.”

Previous World Cup captains have included 24-year-old Mike Windischmann in 1990, 25-year-old Tony Meola in 1994, 37-year-old Thomas Dooley in 1998, 28-year-old Reyna in 2002 and again Reyna in 2006, 31-year-old Carlos Bocanegra in 2010 and 31-year-old Clint Dempsey in 2014.

“We’re not a group of guys who say, oh, I want to be captain,” McKennie said Saturday. ‘Whoever has it, has it. The mission is still the same. The goal is still the same, and we just need all 26 players, regardless of their role, to be on the same wavelength and have the same role at the end of the day, which is to compete and win games.”

The American players received a vote of confidence from President Joe Biden on Friday.

“It says POTUS. That’s where it comes from,” Berhalter said, reading the phone’s caller ID, according to clips of a video of players listening in on the conversation.

“Coach, put me in. I’m ready to play,” Biden began, echoing John Fogerty’s 1985 song “Centerfield.”

“Guys, I know you guys are the underdog, but I’ll tell you what, man, you’ve got some of the best players in the world on your team, and you represent this country, and I know you I’m going to get your heart out, so let’s shock them all,” Biden said.

“You continue to rely on each other, play as hard as you can, and for you and your families, your teammates — and the whole country has your back,” Biden continued.

Berhalter and the players thanked Biden for his call, two days before Biden’s 80th birthday.

“I wish I was there to see you, I really do,” Biden said. ‘Go get them, boys. Just play your heart out. I know you will do it. I know you will do it.’

Back in the World Cup after missing out on the 2018 tournament, the United States will open against Wales on Monday, meet England on Friday and close out the group stage match against Iran on November 29.