How USA World Cup captain Tyler Adams displays leadership

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.

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“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…