Tyler Adams has been one of the revelations of this World Cup, both for his contributions on the pitch and his leadership off it. Juan Luis Diaz/Quality Sport Images/Getty Images
DOHA, Qatar — Jesse Marsch knew Tyler Adams had it at age 15. Dave Sarachan and Alejandro Bedoya saw it during Adams’ first national team camp in Portugal in 2017. And Adams’ United States teammates have seen it here in Qatar during this World Cup.
What is “it,” you may ask? Well, it’s hard to quantify. Some might call it charisma, others would term it leadership or emotional intelligence, but the sense is that “it” goes deeper than any of that. There is an aura about Adams that conveys he’ll not only do his job, but relieve you of some of the pressure to do yours. These days, that can mean covering for a teammate on the field or deftly handling some spicy news conference questions off it.
All of those attributes were on display during a 30-hour period earlier this week. It started during Monday’s news conference in which an Iranian reporter chided Adams for mispronouncing the country’s name and then asked how he felt representing the US given the country has a long history of racism against Black people. Adams took the sting out of the question by apologizing for the mispronunciation and then stressing that he felt progress was being made in the US “every day.”
Temperature lowered.
It was a moment that left his teammates impressed, and validated the decision of manager Gregg Berhalter to name the Leeds United midfielder captain before the tournament. Other players in this squad have served as captain, but the role is a perfect fit for Adams.
“I thought it was brilliant,” said center-back Tim Ream about Adams’ astute handling of Monday’s news conference. “It’s what it is. That’s the world we’re living in right now, and for him to handle it with the poise that he did and the sincerity that he did, I think was fantastic for a 23-year-old.”
Adams followed that up with the kind of impressive performance for the US that has become the norm, putting in his usual robust shift in the center of midfield, and leading the Americans to a 1-0 victory over Iran that clinched passage to the knockout stage. Now a round-of-16 matchup against the Netherlands awaits.
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“Tyler’s a beast, man,” US right-back Shaq Moore said. “He sets the tone for us with the ball, without the ball, getting stuck in, intensity. He’s a big part of our team. I’m happy to have him.”
Leaders are made, not born, or so the saying goes. Certainly Adams’ parents, Melissa Russo and Daryl Sullivan, played a huge role in molding him into the person he is, but he also played against older players throughout his youth career, and when he got to the New York Red Bulls, drew inspiration from the captains he had there.
“I think just going back to when I was young, I was just very competitive,” said Adams on Friday. “I didn’t really care who I was playing against. I think the older guys probably hated playing against me, and to a certain extent, I ended up on their teams a lot of the time, so they didn’t have to play against me. So we created good relationships.
In my early professional career at the Red Bulls, I was very fortunate to have a lot of good captains to learn from: Dax McCarty, Sacha Kljestan, Luis Robles — all guys that you can take different qualities from. And I just always thought to myself how I can relate to different people. So when I’m having a conversation with Tim Ream, it’s probably going to be very different than a conversation with Brendan Aaronson, who I spend a lot of time with.
“So yeah, it’s definitely evolved in a lot of different ways, but when I’m on the field, I’ll do anything to win. So, I just figure out how I can get the best out of all my players and just relate to them in different ways.”
Leeds boss Marsch noticed Adams’ aptitude for the game — and for life — from the moment he met him as a teenager. At that time, Marsch was the manager of the New York Red Bulls while Adams, of Wappingers Falls, New York, was navigating his way through the team’s academy.
“He was built with so many leadership qualities when I first met him at 15 years old,” Marsch said of Adams. “He had a baby face, but looked you directly in the eye, said what he thought, laughed when the conversation was light and showed intensity when the conversation was about important football topics.”
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