Tyler Adams may have only played a couple times over the past year, but he’s not at U.S. men’s national team camp just to provide a locker room presence.
After two hamstring surgeries knocked him out for nearly a full year, Adams has been named to a USMNT roster for the first time since the 2022 World Cup.
The midfielder has joined up with the USMNT ahead of Thursday’s Concacaf Nations League semifinal against Jamaica. The winner of that match will face the winner of Mexico’s semifinal against Panama in Sunday’s final, while the two losers will meet Sunday in the third-place game.
Adams made his first Bournemouth appearance since September last week, coming on in the 71st minute of a 4-3 comeback win over Luton Town.
Some have questioned the wisdom of bringing Adams into USMNT camp with such limited recent game action, but in a call with the media on Monday, the 25-year-old insisted he’s ready to play some significant minutes.
“I played a bit in a [Bournemouth] reserve game, so I got a few minutes there. I had been training for a good amount of time, doing a lot of fitness,” Adams said. “But I felt really good in the [Luton] game. I think I ended up playing — with like 12 minutes of extra time or something — close to 30 minutes and came out of that in a good position.
“I was talking to Gregg [Berhalter, USMNT coach] all along and we were deciding whether I would just come into camp and be around the guys and continue my fitness and training, or if I felt I could play a role in an active roster.
“If anybody asked me, of course I want to play a role and be on the active roster. So I think for these games, I’m still probably minute-capped maybe a little bit. It’s not you know, come flying out of the gates, but I know I can contribute 45 to 60 minutes.”
Adams said that despite a lengthy period of rehab that had to start all over again after his second surgery in October, he always believed he would be back with the USMNT.
“There was never a doubt in my mind that the moment would come,” he said. “Anyone that knows me knows that I do a lot of my work behind the scenes. I go about my business in the right way. I’ve been continuously working nonstop in the past months to make sure that this time would come.
“I’m not sure if anyone thought it would come this soon, but I was continuously just pushing myself and making sure that I was hitting objectives in a smart way. Not rushing the process, making sure I was hitting all my benchmarks, and now here I am.”
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