00:08Presented by Nikolak paving stones. Only Nikolak offers 28 vibrant color blends made exclusively
00:15with paver shield that will last for generations. It's here ladies and gentlemen we had to wait
00:22four years but the world cup 2026 is kicking off and the U.S. men's national team is out
00:28for global respect on their home turf and it starts with a group stage match against Paraguay.
00:34He's the Fox Sports FIFA World Cup play-by-play announcer and you guys know him as the godfather
00:41of America soccer broadcasting. J.P. De La Camara is on to talk all things U.S.A. How you
00:49feeling
00:49today sir? You feeling the excitement? You feeling the hype? I'm feeling it just watching it. I was
00:55watching a little bit of Mexico South Africa you know before we started this. My first game is
01:00Sunday in Philadelphia Ivory Coast and Ecuador. Looking forward to that but really looking forward
01:05to tomorrow watching Canada play first and then the U.S.A. later. Yep we got to stay up past
01:10my bedtime
01:10at 9 p.m. to watch that that late start when it comes to our boys and everyone talks about
01:16the
01:17pressure or how much pressure it is for this team to need to get some sort of points in this
01:23opening
01:23match against Paraguay. So what will this opening match tell you or us about the U.S. Men's National
01:31Team and would you call this a must win for our boys? It's not really must win it's hard to
01:39if you
01:40play one game and you have two left and you call this must win and you lose it's a tough
01:44sell I guess
01:45after that but history shows your percentage of advancing is much higher when you win when you
01:52draw it's lower when you lose it's lower so first game is important to get points I think it's it's
01:59a
02:00failure if the U.S. comes up with no points in game one that puts more pressure on them for
02:05games two and
02:06three their their favorites over Paraguay they've beaten them before but that was in a friendly this is a
02:12world cup this is going to be a different game it's going to be a physical game that's what we
02:16expect
02:16tomorrow against Paraguay. Yeah and that towards the end of that friendly back in 2025 things got
02:23so non-friendly with the you know how chippy it got towards the end so I'm expecting a physical match
02:29between those two guys these two countries and I'm glad you say that and when we talk about this
02:34year's golden generation or this this world cup team we hear a lot of fans players and media saying
02:41that the U.S. needs a strong showing in this world cup to gain some sort of respect on the
02:47pitch on a
02:48global level Maurizio Pochettino pretty much said it's semi-finals or bust for this team
02:54what result or outcome would be enough to you for this team to gain some sort of respect around the
03:02world? I've been listening to a lot of people give their opinions on this and it seems like the
03:08consensus that I agree with is round of 16 that would be they ended in the round of 16 in
03:14previous
03:15world cups but that was before they had a round of 32 so this would be an extra step for
03:20them if they
03:20get through the group win in the round of 32 and then get to the round of 16 I think
03:26that that's a
03:26success if they go beyond that if they could get to a quarterfinal that's huge semi-final is a big
03:33reach
03:33but you never know I see the commercials with Michael Ruzzioni and 1980 Olympic gold and it's it's nice to
03:40dream big and and hopefully we can get there but I think if we can get to the round of
03:4416 a lot of people
03:46will be satisfied with that I think if you don't get out of the group stage that would be a
03:51disaster that
03:52would be the worst possible result in this world cup for the U.S. if they did not but there's
03:57three teams that could
03:58advance from this group you'd like their chances better if they finish first in the group if you
04:04finish second in the group or if you finish third and get into the playoff situation you're going to
04:09be playing against a more difficult opponent and that's an added pressure to these guys and I feel
04:15like you're talking about dreaming big we can all dream big when it comes to what we hope or what
04:21we we
04:21hope this team can accomplish in this world cup but to dream you got to go out and do and
04:27again
04:27pressure has been the word I've heard most pressure and respect so would you say the politics and
04:33some of the noise that we've heard off the pitch surrounding this world cup has added pressure on
04:40their final result I think if you're a player or a coach at a world cup level you're focused you
04:47tune
04:48all of that stuff out so all of the criticisms that we've heard whether it's high ticket prices you
04:54know transportation getting there security whatever it is visas whatever the situation is you're pretty
05:02much in lockdown mode before this gets started you take all of the distractions away the one thing
05:09though there is you mentioned the pressure there's more pressure as a host nation same with Canada same
05:15with Mexico right because you're playing for your country friends and family are there I mean if this
05:20world cup was in China or in India or someplace far away your family might not even be there to
05:26to watch you so it's performing in front of family and friends and a nation that is rooting for your
05:32success in in your time zone or time zones we don't have to worry about you know crazy early morning
05:40kickoffs because the games are being played in other countries but here in the U.S. eastern time zone
05:46central or western time you're able to watch these games I want to talk about Christian Pulisic here
05:51because when we talk about American soccer people say oh it's our third best sports NFL the NBA and
05:58then you know MLS is is getting better by by the year Christian Pulisic is well known by a lot
06:06of
06:06people if you follow U.S. men's national team but not by a lot of casuals so what do you
06:11feel like
06:11Pulisic's place in American sports celebrity where could that how high could that go with an
06:18impressive world cup for him well the player that I always think about is Landon Donovan that was
06:25really the name that probably most people would say for a field player for the U.S. other than
06:31a goalkeeper so he could reach Landon status if he has a good world cup I would say but Landon
06:38played in
06:39multiple world cups Christian missed out in 2018 when the U.S. didn't qualify and that was the year
06:44that he was starting to gain fame and notoriety his picture would have been on the cereal boxes his
06:50picture would have been the face of the nation but the U.S. didn't qualify in 18 so that took
06:55that out
06:56you know 2022 uh decent world cup for the U.S. they finished where I thought they would they lost
07:02to
07:02Netherlands uh in the knockout stage but I think for the U.S. to succeed in this world cup in
07:09in
07:09whatever manner you say is success Pulisic has to have a good world cup I think he can lift this
07:15team
07:16and he can lift this country if he has a good world cup it's hard for me to imagine the
07:21U.S. doing
07:21very well in this world cup if Pulisic is not an effective player I think your best players have to
07:27be
07:27your best players in any tournament whether it's the NBA finals like we've seen with the Knicks whether
07:33it's the Stanley Cup playoffs or whether it's the world cup your best have to be your best to be
07:39successful for the most part he is the face of this golden generation I just think about how if he
07:45has
07:45that successful world cup outing or showing where's that little kid that's watching for the first time
07:51that's like you know what I want to be the next Christian Pulisic I want to be that guy that
07:56gets
07:56American soccer over that hump and continues where he hopefully you know has left off with you know their
08:02outings and in his career what he's able to do on an international level because it's all about
08:07representation people want to see once they see soccer become cool and as popular as you know NFL with
08:14the Odell Beckham juniors and and the NBA with with the Ant Edwards and those guys then I feel like
08:20that's when
08:20it's going to catch on to that to that next generation uh let's talk about Group D now because
08:25obviously we talked about the opening match against Pedagui you have the Socceroos from Australia next
08:31after that and then you got the dangerous matcher of Turkey A who could be probably one of the best
08:38teams coming out of this group give us a wild thought about Group D that you're hoping does not happen
08:46at all um I'm hoping that they don't lose game one because if you lose game one like I said
08:55before the
08:55odds the odds are not in your favor to be successful in the World Cup even though Argentina disproved that
09:01in the last World Cup we're not obviously Argentina but uh I do think the U.S. will either win
09:09the group
09:09I think they'll win the group or finish second so I think anything beyond that would be the worst thing
09:16that could happen for the U.S. to not finish first or second because if you finish third then you've
09:22got to hope for a playoff um to get in there as one of the eight third place teams and
09:28then you might
09:29be playing against a very strong opponent and then you're out in the round of 32 so so for me
09:35I think
09:36four points will get you through but if you lose game one also it depends on on how do you
09:41lose it
09:41you know was it a great game and you played well and you take something out of that and then
09:45you win
09:46your next two or was it a game where wow that was a that was a bad one you know
09:51now we have to regroup
09:52and now we're looking at an Australia team that seems stronger than maybe some people were saying before
09:58and a turkey side that could be the best in the group and then that's really when you talk about
10:06pressure pressure is is tomorrow to get three points right if you don't get three points that
10:12pressure mounts if you do get the three points you've got a little a little room to play with a
10:18little wiggle room you still don't want to take your foot off the gas pedal but at least you've got
10:23the three points in there so that's that's the best thing that the U.S. can hope for tomorrow
10:28the worst thing that they could hope for would be a tough loss in game one as we get closer
10:35to the
10:36match that you're calling on Sunday I mean are you feeling the energy you feeling the excitement like
10:42has this pre-cup energy lived up to the hype so far for you personally yeah well when I get
10:50to
10:50Philadelphia I'll see it right because I'm nowhere near the city that I'll be calling my first game
10:56in Philadelphia fans are great they'll be loud they'll be noisy they'll be coming from all
11:01different parts of the country but a lot of them will be from Philly but I think the matchup is
11:05good
11:05Ivory Coast and Ecuador I think Ecuador will be one of the the stronger teams in in that particular group
11:12I think from what I've heard the heat and humidity is going to be
11:18make for a pretty tough atmosphere in Philadelphia on Sunday but you know as you get closer to the
11:23game you feel it I started to feel it when I watched a two-hour pre-game show for Fox
11:28today that was
11:30beyond excellent so much information great content everybody seemed to be on their a-game
11:35and then you hear the Mexican anthem and South Africa's anthem and then they start to play
11:40and then you start to feel it more lastly before I let you go this has been absolutely phenomenal
11:46I like to do these Nico Locke player spotlights who would be your Nico Locke player to watch for the
11:54U.S. throughout the course of this group stage outside of Christian Pulisic I'm going to say
12:01Tyler Adams Tyler Adams to me is the key to the U.S. midfield he's had a history of injury
12:08issues
12:08we can't afford for him to get hurt I don't think we have a like-for-like player
12:13where we can swap him out so Tyler would be the guy for me he's the leader on and off
12:18the field
12:19I think if he has a strong World Cup you know he makes an even bigger name for himself but
12:24he has
12:25to stay healthy and and be very disciplined on the field we don't want him suspended for games
12:30because without him in that lineup I think it's a different looking USA all right JP we thank you for
12:36your time good luck on Sunday when your first match of the World Cup and we you know thank you
12:43for
12:43what you've done for American soccer culture and advancing the game thank you Brandon my pleasure
12:49to be here looking forward to a great World Cup
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