Tyler Adams has hailed the “mentality” of the players who stepped into the USA squad for the Gold Cup, noting that they showed a level of hunger and fight that the Bournemouth midfielder had found wanting in previous camps.
Without stars such as Christian Pulisic, Antonee Robinson and Folarin Balogun, and rocked by a disastrous display in CONCACAF Nations League, the USMNT rallied impressively in this summer’s Gold Cup, reaching the final against Mexico on Sunday only to fall to a 2-1 defeat. Adams believes that many did not even expect that from Mauricio Pochettino’s squad, one that was further rocked on the eve of the tournament by friendly defeats to Turkey and Switzerland.
The omens look inauspicious for the U.S., who had plenty to prove after Adams himself had acknowledged that “it looks like we don’t care” after losses to Panama and Canada at the Nations League. Three months later on, it is clear to the Bournemouth midfielder that the mindset has shifted.
“From the inside, I thought it was really good,” Adams said on CBS Sports’ Call It What You Want.
Reflecting on the pre-tournament friendly losses, he added, “I think it was important that the message stood clear that we were trusting the process that we were on. Not a lot of guys wavered, every single person was focused on the task at hand. The bottom line is you’re representing your country, you got to go out and battle at the bare minimum.
“You know, the quality is not always going to be there. Am I going to play my best every single game? I’m going to try to but it’s not necessarily always going to 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. 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. That’s what it was, we embrace it, we fight, we compete and we try 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.”
Though Adams may not have had the breakout run of performances of Malik Tillman or Matt Freese, the Gold Cup proved to be an extremely successful endeavor for the 26-year-old in terms of minutes. Having been rested for the opener and playing only as a substitute in the win over Saudi Arabia. From then on, however, Adams started every game, albeit not completing the full match in any of them.
Adams had come into the Gold Cup after making the most league appearances in his career since leaving MLS, playing 28 Premier League matches in Andoni Iraola’s all-action Bournemouth side. The holding midfielder has struggled with injuries during his time in England and admitted that he was struggling to play at his best this summer. Adams is now on holiday, due to return to Bournemouth after a three week break.
“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. 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. 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 final competitive matches before next summer’s World Cup now in the past. Friendlies against Japan and South Korea will, Adams believes, offer a significant test for the star players who are returning to Pochettino’s squad.
“Those are going to be some tough games,” he said. “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. 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. 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.”
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