‘AMAZING CHANCE FOR US’

England and the United States. We share the common language, although we speak it with a nicer accent!

“But it will be a great event

– it will be a pivotal game again and it’s at a World Cup, so we are looking forward to it.” The Group B clash with England on November 25 could be the most-watched match in US history, beating the record of 26.7million for the 2015 Women’s World Cup final, which the US won. Berhalter said: “We have a responsibility to captivate the nation. That’s why we see this as an opportunity, the reason we want to do well is to use this as a springboard for 2026. We don’t want to just fall into 2026.

“Can you imagine over the holiday period, we’ll have this level of football? It’s going to be amazing.

“That’s the beauty of it. During this time, for the world to take a breath and just watch what’s happening.

“It will be special but the danger for us is that we get ahead of ourselves. We have Wales in the first game. “They will be a tough – another team with international experience.”

❑ ECUADOR’S place at the World Cup has been confirmed after the Court of Arbitration for Sport delivered their verdict on claims made by Chile and Peru that Byron Castillo had been ineligible to play in the qualifying rounds. They had argued Ecuador should forfeit the games in which Castillo played on the grounds he had not been born in Ecuador and relied on false documents to gain his passport.

But CAS agreed with the verdict handed down in September by FIFA, which had given Castillo the green light to play.