Leeds United midfielder Tyler Adams has played down the USA's chances of pulling off a shock victory over England on Friday evening, admitting his side are "underdogs."
Having drawn their opening fixture of the tournament against Wales after a Gareth Bale penalty cancelled out Tim Weah's effort, Adams and co can significantly boost their chances of progressing from Group B by beating the Three Lions.
However, such a task will be far from simple. Goals from Jude Bellingham, Bukayo Saka, Raheem Sterling, Marcus Rashford and Jack Grealish saw Gareth Southgate's team kick-off their campaign with a thumping 6-2 win over Iran and they can all but secure qualification for the knockout stages by beating the Stars and Stripes.
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And Adams, who became the youngest player to captain the USA in a World Cup match since 1950, conceded that expectation is against the USA but also highlighted a potential advantage. "England has an amazing squad," the 23-year-old told Fox Sports.
"They're probably one of the favourites to win the World Cup. So, we know what we're coming against and we know we're probably underdogs going into that game.
"But we've always had an edge on our shoulders, we've always had a chip on our shoulders and for us playing against a lot of those guys week in and week out gives you a little bit of familiarity going into the game.
"We're expecting the coaches to come up with a good game plan and now it's about us going out onto the pitch and executing it."
The encounter, coincidentally, falls just one day after Thanksgiving in the States and Adams emphasised his desire to reward those at home with a positive result.
He explained: "All eyes will be on this game for sure. A lot of my family members already said they'll be having their turkey out and watching the game and having some leftovers.
"For us, we just want to represent the 350 million people who could be tuning in to this game in the best way possible. It's going to be a really exciting one but we want to give them something to be thankful for."
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