After six months on the sidelines, Tyler Adams is back.
The midfielder came on for Bournemouth in the 71st minute against Luton Town on Wednesday, marking his first appearance since September.
Bournemouth would go on to cap a miraculous comeback, as Antoine Semenyo claimed a brace to give the hosts — who trailed 3-0 at halftime — a stunning 4-3 win.
Barely two hours after Adams was named to a USMNT roster for the first time since the 2022 World Cup, the New York native returned from a hamstring injury that has required two surgeries.
The first came in March 2023, ending his season and playing a major factor in Leeds’ eventual relegation. The second came seven months later, shortly after Adams made a 20-minute Cherries debut that essentially set him right back to square one.
Bournemouth and the USMNT both had to be pleased to see him come on when he replaced Adam Smith in what was a wild match. Adams unsurprisingly stepped into a central midfield role for Andoni Iraola, who had his team see the game out in a 5-2-3 formation.
TYLER ADAMS MAKES BOURNEMOUTH LEAGUE DEBUT. USMNT midfielder returns to pitch for Cherries after having surgery in October, his 2nd in last year. Amazing moment for a player who has worked so hard to achieve all that he has in his career. 🇺🇸💪 pic.twitter.com/sVQZCDTwSh
— Men in Blazers (@MenInBlazers) March 13, 2024
Shortly before that match kicked off, USMNT head coach Gregg Berhalter addressed reporters, discussing what had to happen for Adams to be in the 23-player Nations League squad.
“This decision was basically the output of months of communication with his club to track where he’s at, to see the levels that he’s performing at in training, the loads that he’s doing in training,” explained Berhalter. “Finally, a conversation with [Iraola] two days ago, and really hearing from the coach where he thinks Tyler’s at.”
Per Berhalter, Iraola gave a glowing review of Adams’ progress, which in turn sealed the deal from the USMNT’s perspective.
“He couldn’t say enough good things about [Adams],” said Berhalter. “He’s actually ready to play minutes [Wednesday] in the Premier League. So, we’ll see how that ends up, potentially 30 minutes, 15 minutes, who knows?
“But certainly, they think at the club that he has enough to play up to 45 minutes for us. So once we heard that, we jumped at that idea, because he means so much to the team, both on and off the field. It’d be nice to get him back. His last time with the national team was at the World Cup, so he’s been missed for a while. It’ll be nice to get him back into this group.”
Berhalter made sure to keep the door open for Adams as long as he could, naming him to the team’s 60-player preliminary roster for the upcoming Nations League semifinal against Jamaica (March 21), which will be followed by a contest — either a final or a third-place game —against Mexico or Panama on March 24.
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