After USMNT Qualify For World Cup, Tyler Adams Is Ready To Lead

Tyler Adams’ clearest memory of the World Cup is of a moment he missed.

In 2014, in his mid-teens, he spent the summer watching the tournament with his family in their New York home. The USMNT played Ghana in its opening group match.

“Right before kick-off I had to go to the bathroom and by the time I came back we were already 1-0 up,” Adams tells me in an exclusive interview.

“My family started going crazy and I was like ‘nah, they’re just joking around’. I came back and we were winning 1-0.”

Clint Dempsey had scored after only 29 seconds to give the US a dream start.

“In 2014 I was nowhere near to becoming a professional player and watching the World Cup was super special,” Adams says.

“Those memories seem so far away now.”

I spoke with Adams before the USMNT had secured qualification for the finals in Qatar and asked what it would mean to represent his country on soccer’s biggest stage.

“It would mean everything. On a personal level one of the biggest goals in my career is to play in the World Cup,” he says.

“The biggest thing is for the US fans. They had to go through the heartbreak of not qualifying for the last World Cup.

“People think ‘does the US have enough quality?’ and there’s so much talk around it. You just want to set the narrative straight, that we have a good team. Although we’re young, we can compete with some of the best teams in the world and best players in the world. We want to be on that stage.”

The USMNT yesterday confirmed its place in the tournament, which starts in November, despite a 2-0 defeat to Costa Rica.

Adams, who turned 23 in February, will be expected to continue his role as one of the leaders in a youthful squad. He has previously captained the team and welcomes the added responsibility.

“I’ve always held myself to a high standard. And I always want to be the best version of myself, every time I go into training or a game,” says the versatile Adams, who plays for Bundesliga club RB Leipzig.

“When I came into the national team, I was obviously one of the younger guys. But I saw the direction the federation was trying to go in and I knew personally that I was going to be able to take a role in that sort of change after we didn’t qualify for the (2018) World Cup.

“I looked at it, of course, as an opportunity for myself to say in a young group, ‘I can be a leader among these young guys and be a role model and an example.’

“Obviously, there’s still a high expectation because of the talent that we have. And for me, we embrace that. But at the end of the day, there’s going to have to be somebody that people can rely on. I don’t want to hold myself to a high standard alone, we have to hold everybody to a high standard. So I take that responsibility.”

His upbringing, Adams believes, instilled the traits that have made him a leader. He grew up in Wappingers Falls, near Poughkeepsie in New York, originally in a single-parent household. His mother, Melissa Russo, worked as an accountant in a bank.

“Seeing how hard she worked to make ends meet, working early mornings, late nights, just to make sure that I was able to do things that I needed to,” Adams says.

“That work ethic and how she carried herself and never saying no, or never saying she can’t do something, that sort of mentality is the mentality that I have today.”

Russo met Darryl Sullivan, Adams’ stepfather, before Adams had entered his teens.

“When (my mom) met my stepfather, who I obviously call my dad, and my (three) brothers came into my life, I was very fortunate because I was able to see the qualities that they have and how they carry themselves,” Adams says.

“I had a natural role model my entire life with my mom. And when she met my dad, I was very fortunate because having that father figure in my life, he showed me what it was like to be a man.

“My dad helped me so much throughout my career. When I first met him, I was in my pre-teens when I was a little bit of a punk still, the only child syndrome. And then when I met him, I was able to see that there’s a lot more to life and you can share it with the people that you love.”

Aged 12, Adams joined the New York Red Bulls academy and would make the 150-mile round trip from home to training every day. At 16, he signed his first professional contract with New York Red Bulls II and talked of one day playing for “a top club in Europe”.

Then, as now, he seemed to have a wise head on young shoulders.

“The only reason I was able to sign my first professional contract in New York was because my mom said ‘if they pay for your college, you can sign’. So my college was paid for,” Adams says.

He continues his studies in between World Cup qualifiers and Leipzig’s push for a Champions League place. Adams is majoring in psychology and interested in how it applies to daily life and soccer. He speaks with the sports psychologists at Leipzig and is already thinking about what his post-playing career might look like: “being around the game for sure … definitely not a coach.”

Adams is also building a portfolio of investments. These include STATSports, the GPS data company that works with 500 sports teams across 60 countries and is planning an IPO. Other investors include fellow US players Megan Rapinoe, Alex Morgan, Timothy Weah and Caden Clark.

Adams says using the company’s data-tracking devices has helped him maintain fitness and reduce injuries.

“It’s really helped me limit my injuries because my body is at a high level throughout the offseason, I’m training the way I need to play and I’m coming into things more fit,” he says.

“When I’m going to invest in something I have to personally like it and feel like I know the information about it. With STATSports, given how much I’ve used it throughout my career, I see the benefit of it and know that for future generations to come the technology is going to stay around.”

Adams, who is also an investor in the Hyperice massage gun, is on the lookout for more investments.

“Safe ones for me are the most important – I don’t like losing money. I’m always interested in specific things around our sport and how they can benefit the athletes and how they can benefit people in the future,” he says.

In an increasingly diverse USMNT squad, Adams is also conscious of the opportunity to be a role model to the next generation of young black players.

In the 1990 and 1994 World Cups, the US men’s team had two black players in their 22-strong squad. During the qualifying campaign for the 2022 tournament, coach Gregg Berhalter has named squads where half or more of the players are black.

Adams says during Black History Month the squad spoke of recognizing past black players who had a “huge impact” on the development of US soccer.

“As we step into that role now as the newer generation, they’ve paved the way for us through their accomplishments, through their hard work, through setting the platform for themselves as African Americans,” he says.

“Now we’re in a position to do the same.”

Should he remain injury-free, Adams will be a key member of the World Cup squad this winter. His next World Cup memory won’t be of an opportunity missed.