The United States Men’s National Team are in final preparations for Copa América, and a lot of their hopes are linked to the play of midfielders Tyler Adams and Weston McKennie. As they enter their first Copa América tournament with this young core, the USMNT are hoping to silence some doubters by advancing to the knockout stage with the belief that they can get to the final and win it all.
On Episode 135 of the USA Soccercast, Adams and McKennie took some time during their promotional tour for the release of a new Truly Hard Seltzer ad that features them to speak on preparations for Copa América, what they need to do to be successful, and how the young players have gained experience both together and with the coaching staff, led by Gregg Berhalter.
What’s clear about this group is that they have grown together, and Adams and McKennie share a close bond. Having been on the national team together since 2018 and having the chance to play at Leeds United together, their friendship helps keep things fun.
“I’m gonna be honest…it’s not always my favorite thing to do commercials, and, and media. But when you have someone like Weston to kind of keep you energetic, and keep you up to par. It’s exciting,” Adams said during the interview. “[We’ve] obviously been friends for a really, really long time. And creating that relationship is important, not only on the field, but also off the field…I’d rather do something with him than do something by myself.”
The discussion shifted to the USMNT camp as they prepared for Copa América (Editor’s note: the interview was recorded before the USMNT played friendlies against Colombia and Brazil). McKennie said that with the longer camp, something they don’t always get as a national team, it was a chance to figure out what they want to do and build confidence as they discuss the details. “[We’ve] all known each other for so long, and I think the chemistry is not in the question. I think it’s just more understanding and fine tuning the little things about each other on the field,” McKennie replied. “And I think this camp is a perfect time to do it. Because…we’ve never been in camp this long together. And it’s also nice to catch up with some of the guys and spend some quality time with them as well.”
McKennie also answered questions about the right back position, which has some options with Sergiño Dest out for the rest of 2024 with a torn ACL. Both McKennie and Adams are among the players who have seen some time at right back on the club level, but while they both love the versatility they possess and are willing to use it if needed, McKennie said his preference is to remain at the 8.
“Obviously, during Copa America, of course I would love to find myself playing only the eighth position. But, I think I’m just a person that’s very selfless and [will do] whatever the team needs to get results. I think that’s the most important thing is is sacrificing everything you can to get a result,” McKennie replied when asked about where he would prefer lining up on the field.
Tyler Adams is building himself back to full match fitness after a season, his first for AFC Bournemouth, that saw him sidelined for much of the season due to injury. The recent birth of his son was what kept him motivated to get back on the field but also a silver lining in his recovery. “You know, no footballer I think ever has got to spend the first four months of their kids’ lives with them…I spent so much time on the sideline and every single day I was waking up on obviously a little bit different schedule than the team. And that allowed me to just spend a lot of quality time with [his son] and watch him grow and develop and get older. And that’s been really, really special. For me, that’s also kept me motivated to just keep going in the field as well.”
Both Tyler and Wes talked about the continuity of having so many players on the USMNT also playing together on the club level. That continuity helps, even though there are different roles and responsibilities from the club level to the international level. Part of that continuity that few national teams have had is seeing the young core of the team grow up together with essentially same coaching staff. Tyler Adams recalls the early days where it was a bit difficult to get acclimated to head coach Gregg Berhalter’s system, but now the understanding is there between coach and players.
“[In] the beginning, it wasn’t amazing. And I say that only because when we were introduced to the national team, having Dave Sarachan as the coach, there was a lot of freedom…no structure really to how we play. And when Gregg [Berhalter] came in, it was a lot of structure thrown at us at once. And we have to understand that, you know, if we want to be successful, we’re going to need this type of structure,” Adams recalled.
“So we had to develop with him as he developed into a team coach, and we developed into more mature players. If we wanted to be at the core of [the USMNT], we had to understand what we needed as a team. I think you see today a lot more structure, a lot more understanding of what you want to do, and where you want to go as a program.”
There’s a lot of things the USMNT will need to do right to be successful at Copa América, but both Tyler and Wes looked inward when asked about what needs to happen for the team to win during the tournament. “[If] I was at Bournemouth, I would say I want to add a little bit more attacking quality to my game,” Tyler Adams remarked. “But when I’m here with the national team, I would say I’m complimented well by you know, Weston and Yunus [Musah] or Weston and Gio [Reyna] or whoever’s in front of me, so it really depends on the role and who you play with. So yeah, I mean, I think you can continue to evolve into into a more complete player. I can nitpick a lot of things that I want to continue to improve on, you know. One would just be [to play] freaking consistently, that’d be great. But for me, I think it’s just really depends on the complement of players.”
McKennie focused on something else that will be necessary: scoring goals. “I think one thing I definitely want to improve on…is scoring goals…being involved in plays are important. And I think that’s one thing that I had to show because I think, for me, I feel like everyone else already kind of sees me as a guy that fights and tackles everything. But I still like to build up and I put that upon myself to try. Hopefully it works out.”
The continuity the team shares is also present in the advanced communication. They have it set up where they can understand each other and, no matter where they play, they can feed off “body language” should it get to hard to hear in the NFL stadiums. “Sometimes other teams that we play against are gonna have bigger, bigger fan bases supporting them. And that’s just the reality of what we’re trying to grow. And as we try to push the game where we want to be. But that’s where we’ve really come to learn that, you know, sometimes the home game can feel like an away game. But it hasn’t really fazed us,” Adams replied.
Ultimately, the focus is on being successful at Copa América, and while both say that getting out of the group stage is something they need to navigate, the key word for being successful is composure. Tyler Adams thinks back to the 2022 World Cup and what they didn’t do well and how they want to learn from that so they’re not in a similar position again:
“How do you handle knockout scenarios where there’s obviously heightened pressure, heightened stress, every play matters just a little bit more? And really, when it comes down to it, how do you execute the details of those games? Because…the game against Holland haunts me a little bit for for a couple of reasons, I think in that game, we had chances early on that that obviously could have changed the weight of the game and we didn’t take those and it always felt like Holland was comfortable in that game. And when I look at our growth and development as a team, how in those scenarios where it seems like nothing fazes us like a team. There’s early chances against us, we weathered the storm and we find a way to score goals at the end of games…like it’s not always just going to be, dominating through possession or dominating through duels or it’s not going to be this perfect scenario of the game. But how are we just like composed that whatever scenario is thrown at us and whatever game where we’re comfortable enough to handle it. I think that’s always the most important thing.”
The United States Men’s National Team begins the group stage of Copa América on Sunday when they take on Bolivia at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. Listen to the full interview with Tyler Adams and Weston McKennie on the USA Soccercast!
Source link : https://www.starsandstripesfc.com/2024/6/17/24180180/usa-usmnt-tyler-adams-wes-mckennie-interview-copa-america-usa-soccercast-episode-135
Author :
Publish date : 2024-06-17 12:57:08
Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source.