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Editor's note: Throughout the 2022 FIFA World Cup, CBS Sports will highlight some of the talent on camera and behind the scenes as they share what makes the World Cup so special to them. Jelani Rooks is a three-time Emmy award winning Associate Director/Associate Producer for CBS Sports and Paramount+ who played collegiate soccer at Amherst College.

My clear-cut connection with this United States team is the diversity. I like how it reflects the nation in a way that I can relate to, especially growing up playing soccer at the youth and collegiate level. During my younger days, I was one of the only token Black kids on my team. Kansas City is my pride and joy, but I grew up in the "burbs" of Princeton, New Jersey, so that was to be expected to a degree. But seeing DaMarcus Beasley, who was one of my idols growing up, made me come to the realization that I could make it at that level potentially or just the simple fact that someone that looks like me is enjoying the game that I love. 

I knew at the youth level, as I got older, there were Black and brown and Asian kids playing that were really, really good as well, but you didn't always see it reflected in the team. For me, I'm proud that this current iteration of the U.S. national team reflects my experience growing up and at the youth level. 

There are so many good Black and brown kids that just never made it for a variety of reasons -- obviously, it's an expensive sport to continue with as you get older -- but it seems like the federation has corrected that in a way to make it more accessible at all levels. You're starting to see that with this team.

My mother remembers me being enamored with the 1994 World Cup team, but but I don't really remember watching it too much. My earliest, distinct memory of the World Cup actually came in 1998 when I was seven years old. I just started playing the sport, only because my mom didn't want me to play American football and get hurt. So I used to go down to the local park and play soccer and I was that kid that played on both teams. I would score three goals for my team, then the parents would complain and then I would end up on the opposing team. 

I never really fell in love with the sport at the time, I was just playing to stay active. My friends were there and I just had a bunch of energy to burn. It was fun running up and down the field, but I never saw myself playing beyond the middle school level, let alone reaching the collegiate level at Amherst. For me, I was just playing a game.

Some of the issues that we have at the youth level made an impact. I had parents from other players coaching me. It's not like I was getting taught at the highest level and being told what was possible for me. I just happened to be fast and score goals, so they rolled the ball out and told me to go.

And it wasn't until I got to watch Ronaldo, "O Fenômeno," that I realized that there's a whole different class to the game. I was seeing two different types of players when you had Ronaldo out of Brazil and Zinedine Zidane for France. I remember reading about Zidane and learning how influential he was, but my understanding of the game at that level wasn't up to speed. 

As a midfielder, someone like him, you could see the touches and movement, but for me I only really noticed the goals. It wasn't until watching France and waking up early and seeing that team and seeing him, specifically, that I really saw the hype. You had an incredible final in '98 between Brazil and France. I don't think we realized the magnitude of what we just saw in terms of legacies at stake. A Brazil-France final ... are you kidding me? That's the matchup everyone wants to see and we'd be lucky to get it again this time around. The legends that were there at the time lit a fuse for me and gave me an appreciation for the beautiful game. That was the first time I felt that way. 

I actually got in trouble for sneaking out of my house to watch the games with my friends and playing video games for the rest of the day. Just doing what kids would do at that age. The games were early and my friend's parents lived next door and they would sleep in late. So my friend would just open the back door for me to sneak in and catch the games in '98. 

That final left an indelible impression of the world's game. And then after the 2002 World Cup, I felt like I wanted to dedicate my life to the entire sport because I had a couple of years of play under my belt where I understood the tactics at a higher level even though I was held back to a certain degree. 

Seeing these young breakout players, Landon Donovan and Beasley most notably, made me fall in love with that U.S. team. At halftime of every match, my mom would always point out how they dribbled, how closely they touched the ball. I would wait for every replay to see how they were doing it and then go out to my backyard or the park to practice my speed dribbles. I would go up and down the park during halftime and after the game. 

By then, I realized how big of a deal the World Cup was and the sense of camaraderie kicked in. At that time, a lot of my friends took notice because most of them played American football or basketball and they knew I was so big into the sport. When they watched the World Cup with me, they truly discovered how much I loved it because I had to explain to them what was happening on the field in terms of strategies or defend any notion of this game being boring. 

There's so much more that goes into the game. Let's say you only get five chances per game. It's less about those chances and more about how players opened up for a shot or why a player used quick touches or body faints to create space. It all plays such a big factor into those opportunities. 

As far as this tournament goes, I'm not overly excited as I should be given everything that's going on with Qatar. It's been different in a way that I never thought I would have expected with the World Cup.

The only thing that gets me excited about this U.S. team is the energy. The fact that they're all friends from such an early age -- from Christian Pulisic to Haji Wright to Weston McKennie and to Tyler Adams -- is special and that's what makes me feel good about the collective group because they grew up around each other. I like that it's reflecting not just what's happening at the youth level, but the country as a whole.

They should be good enough to get out of the group, even though there are some reasons to be worried. It's easy to be hypercritical given how they played during qualifiers, but there's always hope that this talented golden generation starts to settle and find moments of brilliance during this run. We're hypercritical because we care so much about this group.

They see this outside noise, the doubt that things might not work, the fans asking "who's the keeper or who's the number nine." They're hearing that and there are some guys there in that locker room that are dogs. Medford Messi (Brenden Aaronson) is going to show out. I'm not worried about him, I'm not worried about Tyler Adams or Jedi Robinson's effort. Pulisic, I know his form is in question, but he plays big in a U.S. shirt. Don't sleep on Gio Reyna or McKennie. You need someone to step up in those moments and they have the pieces.