‘Contagious’—Tyler Adams Outlines Key Targets for USMNT After World Cup Buzz

The Premier League midfielder spoke to Sports Illustrated about his hopes for the national team and soccer as a whole in the U.S.

Tyler Adams has high hopes for the future of the USMNT. | John Dorton/USSF/Getty Images

Tyler Adams wants to win trophies. While the dream of the U.S. men’s national team lifting an improbable World Cup fell short this summer, bringing the team to those silverware moments is a priority. 

Through the last two years, the USMNT’s priority was building under Mauricio Pochettino’s leadership and finding the best possible setup to thrive at the World Cup. It came at the cost a fourth-place finish in the 2025 Concacaf Nations League and a disheartening performance in the final of the Gold Cup against Mexico. 

Unlike in Europe, there is no mixed target with World Cups and Euros on near-level terms. Yet, that doesn’t mean that lifting a regional trophy is any less vital to the overall process. 

“Winning 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’s just that feeling of knowing that in any competition, you’ve been at those stakes before and you understand what it takes,” Adams tells Sports Illustrated. “Getting that feeling at a younger age, so that you’re hungry to chase it again and you want it again, is super important... I think it will be super important throughout the next cycle.”

With visions of 2030 in the long term, the USMNT will have its first chance to win a trophy in March, should it advance past the Nations League quarterfinals in November. After that, the 2027 Gold Cup comes ahead of a likely invite to the 2028 Copa América, which has yet to be confirmed. 

The process for regional prowess, versus that of developing a style of play for the level of the World Cup, is exceptionally different. While Pochettino could extend in his role, the focus will have to balance the generational shift toward 2030 with the importance of short-term results and what those moments can do for a team. 

“Tactically, you’re never going to have the ability to be as sound with a national team as you are with a club because you just can’t train it every single day,” Adams adds. “It’s 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 América, and those things are just crucial in feeling what it’s like to play in knockout games, games under a little bit more pressure, and to prepare you for the biggest moments.”

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World Cup Fan Boost Provides Hope for Better Crowds

Tyler Adams is hoping for increased fan support. | Eric Verhoeven/Soccrates/Getty Images

The mission to win trophies will see plenty of different players called up, with the likes of 16-year-old Cavan Sullivan potentially in the mix as youthful depth option, while veterans like Adams himself are set to remain key pieces. 

However, this summer changed how U.S. soccer is perceived by fans and could alter how home games feel, given that the U.S. rarely plays away from American soil. 

There’s hope that some of the crowds for home games could grow and be U.S.-leaning, compared to the often away-like atmospheres that are common at friendlies and other matches in the U.S., in particular against Latin American opposition. 

“I think that the win against Australia was huge, and after just walking around as a team, celebrating those goals, singing ‘Country Roads,’ like that was a moment for me that young players and fans will look at and say they want to be a part of,” Adams says. “You sort of expect [that energy] moving forward in terms of support from fans.”

His hopes come after Pochettino’s gripes with U.S. fans over two years, which included pleas to fans after a small crowd for a November friendly against Paraguay in Philadelphia. 

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MLS, Youth Soccer Takes Next Steps

Tyler Adams is helping to build mini pitches across the United States. | Michael Steele/Getty Images

For as much as the USMNT’s growth matters, so too does soccer as a whole. It’s led by MLS’s fanbases, which have grown steadily since Adams left the league for RB Leipzig in 2018, a move that eventually brought him to the Premier League. 

The level of MLS since his time has also risen, with the majority of the USMNT’s World Cup roster having experience in the domestic top flight and nine of the players coming from the league.

“In even just the growth of the fanbases, the facilities now, the stadiums, like all these soccer-specific things that are happening now in MLS is super important for the growth of the league,” Adams says. “Fans are just going to continue to grow, especially off the back end of that World Cup, because people now share a passion for wanting to support the game and grow the game.”

At the same time, that domestic growth comes down to the youth level, where Adams has helped launch a mini-pitch campaign across the country to expand access to youth soccer and provide safe spaces for kids.

And while it can all start at the bottom and move into MLS, the entire U.S. soccer project culminates with the national team. In time, the goal is to win a World Cup. For now, though, it’s taking the steps towards that, with the growth of the game, trophies and making the most of a burgeoning moment for the sport.  

“Not every kid can walk to a field, and not every kid has an opportunity to even drive to a field close to them, so to put these mini-pitches in places where kids can start walking to them, or parents can drop them off and not have to worry. This sort of exposure we need,” says Adams. “That’s how we’ll grow the game.”

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