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As if the week leading up to Thanksgiving wasn’t already stressful enough, American soccer fans will struggle to incorporate the country’s biggest soccer game in nearly a decade into their Mondays.
With Team USA‘s World Cup opener against Wales scheduled for 2pm EST, bars across the US will be packed at off-peak hours by those lucky enough to get out of work. Others who aren’t as fortunate will be searching for ways to watch Fox Sports and Telemundo’s coverage from Qatar on their phones and computers.
For many, it will mark a new experience for the growing number of soccer fans in the US. The team didn’t qualify for the 2018 World Cup in Russia – considered one of the greatest disappointments in USMNT history – and the 2014 World Cup in Brazil was played at convenient times for American audiences, given the shared time zones.
Since then, soccer has moved ahead of hockey to become the fourth most-watched sport among Americans, who have grown accustomed to watching European matches on weekend mornings.
And increasingly, those matches are played by Americans: Juventus’ Weston McKennie, Chelsea’s Christian Pulisic, or Leeds United’s Tyler Adams and Brenden Aaronson, not to mention Arsenal keeper Matt Turner and Borussia Dortmund’s Giovanni Reyna.
The sudden glut of American soccer talent has yet to translate to World Cup success, but it has given to some murmurings that the country finally has its ‘Golden Generation’ in the world’s most popular sport.
‘I think it can be, and I say that because – I’m sure other people will say this as well – but because of the talent and the youthfulness of the National Team,’ former USMNT star DaMarcus Beasley told The Athletic. ‘And then obviously, leading up to 2026, (the World Cup) is in America, everything is just in line to be that Golden Generation.’
Forward Christian Pulisic of the United States, left, participates in an official training on the eve of the group B World Cup soccer match between United States and Wales
Weston McKennie of United States reacts during the United States Training and Press Conference at Al Gharafa SC Stadium
USA’s goalkeeper Matt Turner takes part in a training session at Al Gharafa SC Stadium in Doha on November on Sunday
US coach Gregg Berhalter and 23-year-old Tyler Adams, the youngest American World Cup captain since 1950
At the center of American’s youth movement is Adams, who was appointed captain at the unusual age of 23 to become the youngest at this year’s tournament and the youngest for the Americans at the soccer showcase since Walter Bahr in 1950.
‘I want to be a winner. So first off, I’m very competitive,’ Adams said after US coach Gregg Berhalter’s announcement Sunday. ‘I want to hold the guys around me to the same standard. I don’t want to lose and then have to point the finger and say, `You let me down today.′ I just want to make sure that everyone’s on the same page intensity-wise, mentality-wise, no frustration — we all buy into the same thing. And, yeah, I think I’ve been doing that since a young age.’
Adams was elected captain in a vote by about 35 players held in September and announced on the eve of the national team’s tournament opener against Wales.
He will become the first African-American to wear the armband for the United States throughout 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 because of Claudio Reyna’s strained right quadriceps.
‘For the last three-and-a-half years, we’ve been working with the leadership council,’ Berhalter said of a group that included Adams, Pulisic, McKennie and Walker Zimmerman. ‘We asked them, well, what do you guys want to do for the World Cup? And they thought it’d be better to have a captain named for the World Cup.’
The last of the 32 captains announced for this year’s tournament, Adams is only the second under 30 years old. England forward Harry Kane is 29 and has captained the Three Lions since the 2018 World Cup, when he was 24.
Adams, from Wappinger, New York, captained the national team nine times previously, including seven wins, one loss and one draw.
Sergino Dest (L) and Weston McKennie share a laugh during Saturday’s US men’s national team press conference in Doha
Berhalter had rotated the armband since he was hired in December 2018. Pulisic captained the Americans 11 times and Zimmerman six times. Adams was captain in seven of 14 World Cup qualifiers, Pulisic four and Zimmerman three.
‘Coming 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 although that hasn’t changed now compared to when I first came into the national team, now I’m the guy that people rely on when they need to communicate with Greg and something needs to be said.’
Different players captained the United States national team for each game in 1950. Bahr was 23 years, 3 months, 2 days for the 5-2 loss to Chile on July 2, 1950. Adams will be 23 years, 9 months, 8 days on Monday.
Ed McIlvenny (25) wore the armband for the famous 1-0 upset of England in Belo Horizonte and Harry Keough (22) for the opening loss to Spain.
Midfielder Weston McKennie participates in an official training on the eve of the group B World Cup soccer match
Adams made his national team debut in November 2017 and has made 32 international appearances. He debuted with Major League Soccer’s New York Red Bulls in 2015, moved to RB Leipzig in 2019 and to Leeds in the offseason.
‘Tyler’s a guy that’s just mature beyond his years, and you notice it from the minute you start talking to him,’ Berhalter said. ‘He’s a guy that teammates know exactly what they’re going to get from him. They know that he’s going to go out on the field and compete. They know that he’s going to be thinking about the game. They know that he’s going to be 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 guy that people get behind.’
Previous World Cup captains 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 Reyna again in 2006, 31-year-old Carlos Bocanegra in 2010 and 31-year-old Clint Dempsey in 2014.
‘We’re not a group of guys that it’s like, 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 no matter their role to be on the same page and have the same role at the end of the day, which is to compete and win games.’
USA’s defender Walker Zimmerman takes part in a training session at Al Gharafa SC Stadium in Doha on Sunday
The US players got a vote of confidence from President Joe Biden on Friday.
‘It says POTUS. That’s where it’s coming from,’ Berhalter said, reading the phone’s caller ID, according to excerpts of a video of players listening to the call.
‘Coach, put me in. I’m ready to play,’ Biden began, echoing John Fogerty’s 1985 song ‘Centerfield.’
‘You guys, I know you’re the underdog, but I’ll tell you what, man, you got some of the best players in the world on your team, and you’re representing this country, and I know you’re going to play your hearts out, so let’s go shock ’em all,’ Biden said.
‘You keep trusting in one another, play as hard as you can, and for you and your families, your teammates — and the whole country’s rooting for you,’ Biden went on.
Berhalter and the players thanked Biden for his call, made two days before Biden’s 80th birthday.
‘I wish I was there to see you, I really do,’ Biden said. ‘Go, get ’em, guys. Just play your hearts out. I know you will. I know you will.’
Back in the World Cup after missing the 2018 tournament, the United States opens against Wales on Monday, meets England on Friday and closes group play against Iran on November 29.
USA’s defender Joe Scally takes part in a training session at Al Gharafa SC Stadium in Doha on Sunday
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