Tyler Adams addresses worrying USMNT statistic as FIFA World Cup nears

The last time the USMNT faced Türkiye was last June, with goals from Kerem Aktürkoğlu and Arda Güler securing the win for the visitors in what was head coach Mauricio Pochettino’s first of four losses to a European team, during which time they have been outscored 13-3.

Addressing this worrying streak on the ‘Men In Blazers’ podcast, Adams admitted he didn’t understand the trend. “You look at the level of players we have and the clubs that we're playing at, and we're all playing in Europe at a high level, a lot of us, and it feels like that should be almost our comfort zone if anything,” he said.

“Playing against European opposition is more what we're used to than playing against CONCACAF opposition. And I feel like a lot of those CONCACAF opposition ask you to require a completely different skill set in order to navigate the game.

“So it's a strange one for me. I don't know if it's like the exposure and experience that we get from playing them is not frequent enough. So, you don't understand what it requires, I don't know. Sometimes football's strange.”

Pressed on what needs to be done to address this issue when it comes time to face tough European opposition, Adams suggested it may simply come down to a matter of better game management.

“I just feel that sometimes the game gets to a point where we don't need to do certain things or manage it in a certain way,” he said. “I feel like it's almost more game management than it is not being able to compete at that level.

“So, competing is the bare minimum that you need to do against these teams. But managing the games in certain moments, you know what I mean? Not giving up set pieces in certain moments of the game and not fouling in certain parts of the field. Do you know what I mean?

“It's these opportunities that you only know from experience, and I feel like sometimes we play and it comes off that we're a little bit inexperienced when I don't think we should be.”

The USMNT’s World Cup campaign will kick off on June 12 when they host Paraguay, before taking on Australia a week later, and later concluding the group stage against Türkiye on the 25th.