FAYETTEVILLE, Ga. — Four years ago, Tyler Adams was the youngest USMNT captain at the World Cup since 1950.
This time around, it’s not yet clear who will wear the armband when the U.S. takes the field in two weeks for its World Cup opener against Paraguay, but Adams does not sound at all rooted to sticking in the role.
“I [couldn’t] care less,” Adams said Thursday. “It’s a privilege and an honor, anybody that gets to wear the armband. But what I represent, how I lead, I think anybody that plays with me knows that I’m a leader. That’s just how I’ve been my entire career. Whether I’m wearing the armband or not, that’s how it is.”
Adams hasn’t played for the USMNT since September, mainly because of injuries that kept him out for chunks of the last season. (Having gone the full 90 minutes in both of the season’s last two games for his club, AFC Bournemouth, Adams said he feels good).
Under manager Mauricio Pochettino, Tim Ream has usually captained the side, including at last summer’s Gold Cup, though Chris Richards, Christian Pulisic, Matt Turner, Miles Robinson and Mark McKenzie have all had turns doing so.
The 38-year-old center back seems to be the likely choice to do so again at the World Cup, though it’s not clear when or how that decision will be made.
“Honestly, in this team, I think with the chemistry that we have throughout the group, I think the captaincy thing is, honestly, anybody could wear it,” Weston McKennie said. “I think a lot of guys here, as long as you guys have the common goal and common vision of what you guys want to do, I think the captaincy band is honestly just a symbol of who the referee talks to.
“Obviously it would be an honor for anyone to wear it. Especially in a World Cup on home soil. But at the end of the day for me, at least, I think the captaincy band is something to symbolize who the referee talks to and who walks out in the front of the line and who does the coin flip. ’Cause everyone wants to win here, everyone has the common goal and everyone believes in everyone.”
Pochettino offered an interesting clue when asked during a roundtable about his team’s midfield options. “If we play with one holding midfielder, it’s enough,” Pochettino said. “We need to be in possession, to have more possession than the opponent. That’s the idea.”
Asked about the process for replacing Matt Crocker, who left as sporting director in April to take a similar job with Saudi Arabia’s federation, U.S. Soccer CEO JT Batson said he doesn’t anticipate “a like-for-like sporting director going forward.”
