Tyler Adams has made the target clear: winning matters. After the United States men\u2019s national team came up short of a World Cup breakthrough this summer, he believes the next stage of progress has to be measured in silverware.<\/p>\n
The argument is not simply about lifting trophies for their own sake. In Adams\u2019s view, success in regional competitions can shape the mentality of a group and prepare players for the highest-pressure matches later on.<\/p>\n
\u201cWinning trophies is super important. That feeling is contagious. I think you saw it when we were under Gregg Berhalter winning the three Nations Leagues; it\u2019s just that feeling of knowing that in any competition, you\u2019ve been at those stakes before and you understand what it takes,\u201d Adams tells Sports Illustrated. \u201cGetting that feeling at a younger age, so that you\u2019re hungry to chase it again and you want it again, is super important… I think it will be super important throughout the next cycle.\u201d<\/p>\n
The USMNT\u2019s next opportunities arrive on a familiar regional path. If it progresses past the Nations League quarterfinals in November, a first trophy chance comes in March. The 2027 Gold Cup follows, with a likely invitation to the 2028 Copa Am\u00e9rica still to be confirmed.<\/p>\n
Adams also drew a sharp distinction between preparing a national team and training a club side. \u201cTactically, you\u2019re never going to have the ability to be as sound with a national team as you are with a club because you just can\u2019t train it every single day,\u201d Adams adds. \u201cIt\u2019s not always easy to find chemistry with your best players… There are a lot of different things that you can say, but the Nations League, Gold Cup, Copa Am\u00e9rica, and those things are just crucial in feeling what it\u2019s like to play in knockout games, games under a little bit more pressure, and to prepare you for the biggest moments.\u201d<\/p>\n
The wider picture includes both youth and experience, with 16-year-old Cavan Sullivan mentioned as one possible depth option. Adams also believes the summer has changed how U.S. soccer is seen, and how home support may develop.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think that the win against Australia was huge, and after just walking around as a team, celebrating those goals, singing \u2018Country Roads,\u2019 like that was a moment for me that young players and fans will look at and say they want to be a part of,\u201d Adams says. \u201cYou sort of expect [that energy] moving forward in terms of support from fans.\u201d<\/p>\n
That growth extends beyond the national team, into MLS and the youth level, where Adams has helped launch a mini-pitch campaign to widen access and create safe spaces for children.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Tyler Adams says trophies matter, with the USMNT eyeing Nations League, Gold Cup and Copa Am\u00e9rica.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":17990,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[961],"tags":[1841,1842],"class_list":["post-17991","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-international","tag-cavan-sullivan","tag-gregg-berhalter"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17991","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17991"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17991\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17990"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17991"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17991"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17991"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}