Austin da Luz talks World Cup, since it officially started yesterday!

My man, Austin Deleuze, former captain of NCFC senior team, also the founder of Playing for Pride. That's going to come up in conversation. The United States will be on the field against Wales at two o'clock today. We are going to talk about that. But before we get to that, two things. First about, we'll address the Playing for Pride thing. They made Harry Kane take off the armband. I guess there was a threat of a yellow card. England said that they were going to just take the yellow card.

So what gives with removing the armband? Yeah, I don't know. I think ultimately they probably just wanted to avoid the conversation altogether, which is disappointing. I think it's just another item on a long list of disappointing things that have arisen around this World Cup over the last couple of weeks. And frankly, since they announced that it would be in Qatar. Yeah, it's just a shame. I would have loved to see them take even a minimal amount of a stand by wearing it anyway, but it wasn't to be. And I hope that players continue to try to speak up about these types of things while they're there.

But I wouldn't say I'm optimistic about that. Yeah, they got the go-ahead from UEFA. There were about nine countries that were going to do the same thing.

And my guess is that it was worth, the threat was worse than just a yellow card, I guess. And it is, for better or worse, and in this case worse, it's against the law in Qatar. So maybe that's where we should have started, where it's against the law. Maybe we shouldn't. Maybe having the World Cup there was against the law. But you won't have this conversation on Fox since all of their coverage is sponsored by Qatar. All right, Austin Deleuze, should we be scared? England 6, Iran 2.

Yeah, I think yes is my answer in short. I think I was very, very impressed with England. I think they exceeded my expectations. I expected them to win to the game. I did not expect them to win that comfortably. And they looked really, really impressive. I think they were full of confidence. No real jitters around the opening game of the World Cup for them. So to the extent that this afternoon's game is a must-win for the US, I think coming out of this England-Iran game, I would emphatically say that this is a must-win for the US because I don't think that we should go into the game against England expecting to get much, if anything, to be totally honest.

Here's the thing about England. Jude Bellingham, 19, first goal. He is an absolute star.

Bukayo Saka. I think he was. Is he 20, 21? He's 21. He scored twice. Raheem Sterling is the old guy. 27, he scored. Marcus Rashford, Jack Grealish all scored.

They brought Phil Foden off the bench. The one thing I do think though, I don't know that England is that good in the back. Remains to be seen whether Harry Maguire is going to be available for their next match. That will be against Wales because he left with a concussion.

But he was sort of culpable, I thought, on Iran's first goal. But I'm not entirely sold on them in the back end, although Trippier is tremendous. But man, they have so much firepower. They scored six goals and Harry Kane didn't have one.

Yeah, it's surprising. You know, if you see England score six goals, you assume that Harry Kane's going to have at least one of them. But they really showed their depth. I think that, you know, Saka, Sterling, Bellingham, Foden coming off the bench, like you said, just the amount of depth that they have, the amount of quality that they have. And like I said, the biggest thing I think is just the confidence.

Right. You know, we knew they had the quality on paper, but with England, it's always a question of how they're going to show up, how they're going to put it together. And man, did they put it together today. I think Iran, you know, didn't put up much of a fight.

So it's hard to know how much to take away from it. But like I said, they're going to be flying after this game. And I think, you know, I would expect them to advance after their second game. All right, let's talk about the United States who will play against Wales coming up at two o'clock today. Let's start with the captain, Tyler Adams. It used to be Christian Pulisic, although I guess it was sort of captain by committee, a leadership council, if you will, under Greg Berhalter. But it was always thought that it was going to be Pulisic. What is the benefit of Tyler Adams as the captain? I think it's a good I think it's a good thing. You know, I think from what I've read, it sounds like it was indeed sort of a committee like decision.

You know, Greg said that he's worked with his, quote unquote, leadership council throughout qualifying. And it sounded like everybody kind of pointed to Tyler Adams as the guy when it came time. And, you know, I think you want a guy that you know is going to be on the field. And for me, Tyler Adams is really as sure a thing as you can have in terms of being in the lineup. I think, you know, there are other guys that I think have to be on the field, but he's about as big of a lock as we have and his performances for Leeds throughout the season, I think, show his leadership character, the type of player that he is. He covers so much ground.

He does all the dirty work. You know, he's really that sort of quintessential captain like figure, even though he is so young, he's shown a ton of maturity and leadership. So I think it also hopefully takes a little bit of pressure off Christian Pulisic and allows him to play with a little bit more freedom and and be a little bit more carefree. And so, again, you know, hopefully that that helps the team as well.

Austin Deluz is joining us here at Austin Deluz on Twitter, former NCFC captain. Here's the I actually I agree with that because two things where I think it frees Pulisic up. One, he doesn't have to carry the burden of the captaincy of the armband around. He gets to play with some he gets to play with some more freedom.

And I think to a certain extent, it also frees up Greg Berhalter to not feel compelled to start the captain so he can bring Pulisic off the bench. And he's actually been effective in qualifying coming off the bench. He came off the bench and scored. He scored one. They gave him credit for two on TV. He goes, wait, did I score twice?

I didn't score twice. But so he has been effective as a like a super sub type of a role. So they don't feel compelled to start him.

Yeah, for sure. And like I said, Tyler Adams is that guy that is locked into the starting lineup, I think to a certain extent. And everybody else in that midfield, I think it's it's a little bit more up in the air. You know, to get all of our best players on the field, you're going to have a couple guys on the bench that probably shouldn't be there. You know, it's you got Aaronson, you got way you've got Raina, you got Pulisic, finding a way to get our best 11 on the field means that you're going to have to sit some some very, very talented players. And while I don't expect that to be Pulisic, you know, it's entirely possible. And like you said it, I think it takes a little bit of that pressure off of Berhalter to feel like you have to start them. Definitely.

So give me a player that you are looking forward to seeing break out at this World Cup. Wingstop's doing what they do best, taking flavor to the next level. So when chicken sandwiches only came in spicy and plain, Wingstop said, nah, make it 12 flavors. Lemon pepper chicken sandwich. OG hot mango habanero.

You get the picture. Every famous Wingstop flavor now on the new Wingstop chicken sandwich. Try all 12 and find your favorite at Wingstop where flavor gets its wings. Peloton's best offer of the season is here. Get up to $300 off accessories when you purchase a Peloton bike, bike plus or tread.

Choose from a variety of accessories like our cycling shoes, a heart rate monitor, non-slip grip dumbbells and more. If you've been looking for a sign to join Peloton, this offer gives you everything you need to get going. This limited time offer ends November 28th. Visit 1peloton.com to learn more. All access membership separate. Offer starts November 14th and ends November 28th. Cannot be combined with other offers.

See additional terms at 1peloton.com. Yeah. For me, it's Yunus Musa. No doubt. I think he's a guy that we've seen the talent that he has in qualifying and previous call-ups. And I'm really hoping that this World Cup is kind of his coming out moment.

He's just so, so talented. He's a guy that we're going to need him to do a lot of defensive work, but also to use his talent to break teams open. I think Wales today will most likely be pretty organized defensively and sit back a little bit. And so with Musa, McKinney and Adams, I think I'm assuming those are going to be our starting three in the middle of the field. We're going to need somebody to take chances and take risks and to open up the Welsh defense.

And so for me, he's a guy that I'm super, super high on and expect big things from in this World Cup. Austin Deluz is joining us here on the Adam Gold show. And a quick plug, tomorrow at 10 a.m., a YouTube Live three-headed monster talking about not only the United States result against Wales, but also a little bit about the Premier League as we, I guess we're paused for five and a half weeks until Boxing Day. I can't wait till Boxing Day now. I've become a Boxing Day aficionado. Absolutely can't wait.

But we'll do that tomorrow on the Adam Gold show's YouTube Live page. Let me just ask you about Gio Reyna, who we probably haven't seen a ton of lately because he's missed a bunch of the World Cup qualifiers and some friendlies by being injured. But he is in form. He is fit and he's had a good run up to this at Dortmund. Could he be an X factor in terms of putting the ball in the back of the net?

I hope so. You know, it's not clear who's going to score the goals for this team right now. And for me, Reyna is, you know, I talk a little bit about trying to find a way to get all your best players on the field means that a couple of them are going to be on the bench. You know, he's the guy for me that should come off the bench in the first couple of games.

He just has not shown an ability to stay healthy for long periods of time. And so I think bringing him on for the last 30 minutes of the game makes the most sense to me because he does have that sort of X factor like quality. He has a talent that I don't think anyone else on the team has. But I want to make sure that he makes it through the tournament.

Right. And so I think he can make the most difference coming on playing against a team with tired legs and and trying to change the game that way. A man is he fun to watch when he's like you said, in form and running at people. He really does have something that is just not not in the rest of the team.

I'm also absolutely enamored with watching Brandon Aronson play. He has done everything but score a bunch of goals for leads. But he is I mean, I hate to use the phrase the energizer bunny because it sounds condescending, but he is he just he is nonstop and he can go for 90 plus.

Yeah, absolutely. Is that that energy and his ability to press, you know, we saw it in the one goal that he scored in the Premier League this year presses Mandy and ultimately wins the ball and puts in the back of the net. But but that type of pressure is so valuable because teams just don't expect it. And like you said, he can do it for 90 minutes. He's a guy that for me, again, like just how do you find a way to get all these guys on the field together? I kind of expect him to be on the bench today. I hope not. I think he's a guy that we need on the field for as long as possible, but we'll see it. You know, Greg's got some really tough decisions to make and he's going to open himself up to a lot of criticism.

So hopefully the guy can perform and keep some of that heat off of them. Yeah, the way he has played for Leeds this year and I was watching that goal. I kind of think that goal was probably more on Mandy than Aaronson, but the pressure was obvious. The Aaronson is a guy who has been very visible in every single one of Leeds games. He has been one of their better players, one of their best players, really, every single game they've played. And they are a fun team to watch. I invite you to check out the United States of Leeds or Leeds United States of America, as I think they're calling it on Peacock. Austin to lose.

I'll talk to you tomorrow at 10 a.m. on YouTube Live. Can't wait. Hope we got three points in the pocket going to that one. Wingstop's doing what they do best, taking flavor to the next level. So when chicken sandwiches only came in spicy and plain, Wingstop said, nah, make it 12 flavors. Lemon pepper chicken sandwich. OG hot mango habanero. You get the picture? Every famous Wingstop flavor now on the new Wingstop chicken sandwich. Try all 12 and find your favorite at Wingstop where flavor gets its wings.