USMNT’s Tyler Adams says signature win needed at World Cup

Tyler Adams said the United States needs a signature win at this summer’s World Cup, adding that it had been a while since the Americans had “knocked off a big boy.”

The stark truth is the U.S. has lost eight-straight games against European opponents, including losses to Belgium and Portugal in March friendlies that Adams missed. In Group D this summer, Mauricio Pochettino’s side will face Paraguay, Australia and Türkiye.

“It’s just been a while, I feel like, since we’ve knocked off a big boy,” Adams said after Bournemouth’s 2-1 win over Newcastle on Saturday. “I think we need to try and find that in our character and I think that we will.”

Despite a deep player pool, questions about the tournament co-host’s readiness abound following a pair of March friendly losses to Belgium and Portugal.

“Maybe a little bit of a wake-up call, but we’ll get there in the end,” Adams added.

Adams was the U.S. captain at the 2022 World Cup and he is well aware of the underdog status. The U.S. is ranked 16th and is a 40-1 long shot to win the World Cup.

The 27-year-old said the goal this summer is to “go as far as any team has before.” The U.S. reached the semifinals of the initial World Cup in 1930 and the quarterfinals in 2002.

“That’s the one that obviously everyone remembers,” Adams said. “If we can match that and continue to improve — but for us, we need to obviously continue to try and find a way to navigate playing against big teams.”

Pochettino will announce his World Cup roster May 26, and the U.S. has pre-tournament friendlies against Senegal and Germany before starting the first round against Paraguay on June 12.

Adams has 52 international appearances and played every minute at the 2022 World Cup, but has struggled to maintain fitness since.

He tore his right hamstring in training with Leeds in March 2023 and reinjured the leg in his Bournemouth debut that September, requiring a second operation. He returned in March 2024, but was slowed by back spasms and played just three league matches in his first season with the Cherries.

Back surgery after the 2024 Copa América delayed his 2024-25 debut until late October. His current season was interrupted by layoffs after he collided heads with teammate Adam Smith in November and a tore his left MCL against Manchester United on Dec. 15.

He missed 12 of 15 league matches before entering in 70th minute of a stirring 2-1 win at Arsenal on April 11 and then came on in the 65th minute last weekend.

“I wouldn’t say anybody’s a sure lock for the World Cup,” Adams said when asked about which players would be included in the World Cup squad. “That’s one thing Mauricio’s harped on since the first day he’s come in, is that everyone needs to continue to play well with their clubs to have an opportunity to play with the national team.”

Preparing for 2022 was far different because the Americans had to navigate 14 grueling World Cup qualifiers.

“Anyone that knows what it was like to go through that qualifying process for ’22 knows how enduring it was and at the end, the reward was playing in the World Cup,” Adams said. “Whereas, I feel like we’ve known we were going to play in this World Cup now for years and it’s just — I don’t want to say it’s taken its toll, but playing friendly after friendly, it feels strange.”

A familiar group Adams, Christian Pulisic, Weston McKennie and Timothy Weah form an emotional center of a player pool that has been together for more than a decade, going back to youth national teams.

For Adams, performing as a group is key to a successful tournament.

“I think it’s that cohesiveness,” Adams said. “We can’t go away from the tactics and the structure and the way that we want to play and just think that, oh, I’m going to go out there and try and have an amazing World Cup individually because it doesn’t work like that. So I think it’s the collective structure at the day, but individual performances play a big part.”

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.