Tyler Adams praised the `mentality` of the players called up for the USA squad during the Gold Cup. He noted that they exhibited a level of hunger and fight that the Bournemouth midfielder felt was sometimes lacking in previous national team camps.
Despite the absence of key players such as Christian Pulisic, Antonee Robinson, and Folarin Balogun, and following a disappointing performance in the CONCACAF Nations League, the USMNT showed impressive resilience in this summer`s Gold Cup. They reached the final against Mexico on Sunday but were ultimately defeated 2-1. Adams believed many people hadn`t anticipated such a strong showing from the squad, especially after friendly losses to Turkey and Switzerland just before the tournament.
The team had much to prove, particularly after Adams himself had commented that they looked like they `didn`t care` following losses to Panama and Canada in the Nations League. Three months later, the Bournemouth midfielder observed a clear shift in the team`s mindset.
“From the inside, I thought it was really good,” Adams stated on CBS Sports` Call It What You Want.
Reflecting on the earlier friendly defeats, he added, “I think it was important that the message was clear: we were trusting the process we were on. Not many guys wavered; every single person was focused on the task at hand. The bottom line is when you`re representing your country, you have to go out and battle, at the very least.”
“You know, the quality isn`t always going to be there,” he continued. “Will I play my best every single game? I`ll try, but it won`t necessarily always happen. At the bare minimum, I need to be running around, I need to be battling, I need to be kicking, fouling people, just whatever it takes to try and win games.”
“You could see that mentality,” Adams noted. “It was a new experience for a lot of guys, but they embraced it. You go to St. Louis to play Guatemala, you`re not expecting to see 25,000 Guatemalans in the stands. But that`s what it was; we embraced it, we fought, we competed, and we tried to make it to the next round. That`s what we did in a lot of those situations. I was very proud of the group on that front.”
While Adams may not have had the breakout individual performances seen from players like Malik Tillman or Matt Freese, the Gold Cup proved very successful for the 24-year-old in terms of playing time. After being rested for the opener and appearing as a substitute against Saudi Arabia, Adams started every subsequent game, though he didn`t complete the full match in any of them.
Adams came into the Gold Cup after completing his busiest league season since leaving MLS, playing 28 Premier League matches for Andoni Iraola`s high-intensity Bournemouth side. The defensive midfielder has struggled with injuries during his time in England and admitted he wasn`t at his peak form this summer. Adams is now on a three-week holiday before returning to Bournemouth.
“This was the first time I`ve played so many minutes in a season in a long, long time,” said Adams. “To be quite frank with you, I was happy that I was able to even make it through the tournament.”
“My body was, you know, prepared, but not necessarily prepared, if you know what I mean,” he explained. “From a mental perspective, getting through the entire Premier League campaign for the first time was something I was really, really proud of. Was my body in a position to play at the highest level come Gold Cup? No chance.”
“I know I have to be there and continue to try and support these boys and give myself an opportunity as well to try to cement myself in this national team and leave a legacy behind,” he added. “So, you know, it wasn`t perfect every game; I knew it wasn`t going to be perfect. It was more about being there competing at the highest level I knew I could be, and just supporting the group.”
The USMNT will reconvene in September, their last competitive matches before next summer`s World Cup now concluded. Friendlies against Japan and South Korea, Adams believes, will offer a significant test for the star players returning to the squad.
“Those are going to be some tough games,” he stated. “You know, we`ve had the opportunity to play Japan, obviously, before the last World Cup, and we got absolutely killed [losing 2-0 in Germany]. So I`m hoping that the next window is not that.”
“We go in with a little bit of a different mentality,” he said. “I think that this was a great opportunity to test the depth of the squad. A lot of guys getting opportunities that, who knows if they would have gotten opportunities yet or this quickly. They played their role.”
“There`s going to be some decisions to make in every single position,” Adams concluded. “You`re going to bring people back into the squad, of course, that weren`t in camp, that are important players and helped kind of lay the blueprint of the way that we want to play and how we`re going to play. It`s going to be interesting.”
