Leaving a hot and humid American training camp for cool temperatures and high altitudes, the United States team departed on Sunday for South Africa and a much-anticipated World Cup opener with England.

A day after defeating Turkey 2-1 in their send-off match, the youngest American World Cup squad since 1994, with an average age just under 27 flew out of the US capital, 15 players bound for their inaugural World Cup.

"We're young, we're energetic, we're excited and we're going to surprise people at the World Cup," veteran US midfielder DaMarcus Beasley said.