The Return of Tyler Adams 🇺🇸🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

“Weston was in a situation where he went back to Juventus after the summer and he didn't have a locker, and he didn't have a parking spot.”

—USMNT coach Gregg Berhalter on the challenges faced by Weston McKennie when he returned to Juventus this season after going out on loan to Leeds. Amazing strength and tenacity on the part of the U.S. midfielder to overcome these obstacles and have such a wildly successful ‘23-24 season for the Serie A giants.

USMNT Roster Drop:

Gregg Berhalter has announced his 23-player roster for the CONCACAF Nations League semi final in Arlington, Texas. The squad that will face Jamaica next Thursday, and then either Panama or Mexico the following Sunday is as follows:

Goalkeepers: Drake Callender, Ethan Horvath, Matt Turner

Defenders: Sergiño Dest, Kristoffer Lund, Mark McKenzie, Tim Ream, Chris Richards, Antonee Robinson, Miles Robinson, Joe Scally

Midfielders: Tyler Adams, Johnny Cardoso, Luca de la Torre, Weston McKennie, Yunus Musah, Gio Reyna

Forwards: Folarin Balogun, Malik Tillman, Ricardo Pepi, Christian Pulisic, Josh Sargent, Tim Weah

"This was probably the hardest roster we've ever had to pick, based on the players who are in form, doing well with their clubs and performing at a high level,” said Berhalter, after his selections were announced.

Of the 23 players on the team, 21 play abroad, while only two (Callender and Miles Robinson) play in MLS, underscoring the crucial role that overseas development is playing with the development of our men’s national team.

The Return of the Lovely Lad:

It was quite the Wednesday for Tyler Adams 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿. In the afternoon (or evening on the South Coast of England), the 25-year-old from Wappingers Falls, N.Y. officially found out that he would be linking up with his mates on the USMNT for next week’s Nations League matches. Then later that night, he subbed on in the 71st minute of Bournemouth’s wild 4-3 comeback win over Luton Town, to make his first-ever Premier League appearance for the Cherries (Watch).

It’s been a very long road back to the pitch for Adams, who has played just one match in the last year — a September substitute appearance for Bournemouth in the League Cup — while enduring two surgeries over that time period. Though while away, life changed for the better for the USMNT midfielder, as he and his partner Sarah became parents in January.

Having captained the U.S. at the 2022 World Cup, it is not much of a surprise to hear that Adams dealt with these setbacks and challenges with grace and composure. But his positivity and perseverance during dark times are impressive, nonetheless. These quotes from Bournemouth youth team coach Alan Connell are quite telling; Connell was asked about Adams after he played with the Cherries’ development team in working his way back to first-team fitness.

🗣 “Tyler is a lovely lad. Just from seeing him around the building every day, he’s very humble and very hard-working. Obviously he was probably our marquee signing last summer, so it was great to have him train with us and you could just tell straightaway he wanted to train well, get back and play some competitive football. It was great for our players to play with such a talent and such a big player, captain of the US national team as well.”

Welcome back, Tyler. 🙌

ASU XI of the Week:

This past weekend felt like two weeks ago all over again. As seen during the bountiful weekend of Feb. 24-25, Americans Abroad were swimming in goal contributions once more on Saturday and Sunday. Here’s our ASU XI for the weekend of March 8-10.

GK: Ethan Horvath 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 (28; Highlands Ranch, CO) … Made three saves in Cardiff’s 2-1 win over Ipswich Town. In Rocky Mountain Neuer’s last five starts, the Bluebirds have won four and drawn one, while allowing just two goals.

DEF: John Brooks 🇩🇪 (31; Berlin, GER) … Ja! 👍 Scored a goal in Hoffenheim’s 3-1 loss at Eintracht Frankfurt. (Watch) … Nein! 👎 Also got a red card in the 22nd minute.

DEF: Joe Scally (21; Lake Grove, NY) … Had his second assist of the season — via a Marouane Fellaini-esque chest pass — in Borussia Mönchengladbach’s 3-3 draw with FC Köln. (Watch)

DEF: Sergiño Dest 🇳🇱 (23; Almere, NED) … Uncorked a Dutch Funnel Cake of a match-winner in PSV’s 1-0 win at Go Ahead Eagles (Watch). After the match, Dest shared a funny story about the importance of scoring goal number three this season. “I had a bet with [PSV assistant coach] Rob Maas. I have to score three goals before the end of the season. If not, I’ll have to wash his car by hand. And I’m not going to do that. If I score three times, he has to fill my car with gas. I have a big car.” 🚙⛽️

MID: Weston McKennie 🇮🇹 (25; Little Elm, TX) … Juventus’ Creator in Chief had two quite lovely assists in the Bianconeri’s 2-2 draw with Atalanta on Sunday (Watch: 1st | 2nd). Now the latest out of Italy, via Tutto Mercato (in Italian), is that Juve are interested in signing Wes to a contract extension through 2027 or 2028.

MID: Paxten Aaronson 🇳🇱 (20; Medford, NJ) … Eintracht Frankfurt loanee scored his second goal in five matches for Vitesse, in the Dutch side’s 3-1 loss at RKC Waalwijk on Saturday (Watch).

MID: Rokas Pukstas 🇭🇷 (19; Stillwater, OK) … Pukstas scored his fifth goal of the season in Hajduk Split’s 3-0 win over HNK Gorcia on Saturday (Watch).

FWD: Christian Pulisic 🇮🇹 (25; Hershey, PA) … Scored his 10th goal of the season in Milan’s 1-0 win over Empoli on Sunday (Watch). CP11 now has the second-most match-winners (five) in Serie A this season, and talked to DAZN about how much he’s enjoying life in Italy after the victory. “I’ve been given a lot of confidence and trust here from the staff, my teammates, the city and the fans, so I feel really, really good here.”

FWD: Haji Wright 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 (25; Los Angeles, CA) … Scored his 13th and 14th goals of the season (Watch: 1st | 2nd) in Coventry City’s 2-1 win at Watford on Saturday. The first goal was scored from the spot, and Wright talked about his confidence with pens after the match. “I feel confident taking penalties — I always have — and I believe in my ball striking abilities, so I know if I hit it correctly that no keeper’s going to save it.” 

FWD: Josh Sargent 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 (24; O’Fallon, MO) … With his breakaway left-footer against Rotherham in Norwich’s 5-0 win on Saturday, O’Fallon d’Or is now on 12 goals in 17 league matches (Watch). 🤯

FWD: Damion Downs 🇩🇪 (19; Werneck, GER) … The German-American teen scored his first-ever Bundesliga goal for FC Köln in the 79th minute of Saturday’s captivating 3-3 Rhine Derby draw at Borussia Mönchengladbach (Watch). Downs has yet to make a decision on his international future.

News and Notes:

• Sergiño Dest 🇳🇱 (23; Almere, NED) and Malik Tillman 🇳🇱 (21; Nürnberg, GER) started — and Ricardo Pepi 🇳🇱 (21; El Paso, TX) was an 82’ sub — in PSV’s tough 2-0 loss to Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League Round of 16 on Wednesday. The Dutch club fell 3-1 on aggregate, so can now focus on completing the season as the Eredivisie Invincibles, as they’re still undefeated in league play with just nine matches remaining.

• Gaga Slonina 🇧🇪 (19; Addison, IL) made four saves in Eupen’s 1-0 win over St. Truiden on Sunday. It was the Chelsea loanee’s third shutout of the season for the Belgian side.

Parting Shots:

A couple of Americans played key roles for two storied Mexican clubs in the CONCACAF Champions Cup on Wednesday, when Club America hosted Chivas Guadalajara in the CONCACAF Champions Cup Round of 16. Cade Cowell 🇲🇽 (20; Ceres, CA) opened the scoring for the guests with a powerful header in the 12th minute (Watch), only for Alex Zendejas 🇲🇽 (26; El Paso, TX) to score the equalizer in the 60th minute (Watch). Chivas won on the night, 3-2, but Club America advanced 5-3 on aggregate. The clubs will run it back again on Saturday in Liga MX play, when ninth-place Chivas host the second-place Mexico City side.