Tyler Adams felt like life had ‘fallen off a cliff’ after a year out of soccer due to hamstring surgery – and reveals he sustained one injury backheeling a ball – as the USA captain gets set to return for his country tonight vs Jamaica

US men’s national team captain Tyler Adams has revealed life had ‘fall[en] off a cliff’ amid his injury-plagued year that saw him sidelined with hamstring issues.

Adams underwent hamstring surgery last March while on Leeds, causing him to miss the team’s last 14 games, and then underwent another operation in October after making his Bournemouth debut. He had gone over a year without a Premier League appearance before his substitute appearance vs. Luton Town last week.

And Adams, now back with the USA squad for the first time since the 2022 World Cup, has spoken about his trying year – saying his time off actually gave him a chance to ‘regroup.’

‘You learn a lot about yourself in those tough moments because in those moments there´s no headlines about you. There´s no people talking about you anymore,’ he told reporters ahead of the USA’s Nations League clash with Jamaica.

‘All of a sudden you like fall off a cliff and you´re kind of irrelevant in that moment. But for me I kind of enjoyed that, if I´m being completely honest with you, after such a whirlwind of a season, after the World Cup, after everything, my world kind of flipped upside down for a brief moment. And being injured I just had a moment to regroup.’

Adams had gone over a year without a Premier League appearance before last week

Adams had been a mainstay in the Leeds team before he hurt himself ahead of a March 18 match vs. Wolves – and revealed he suffered the injury while making a backheel pass in training. 

‘Doesn´t really happen that you end up rupturing your hamstring in that way,’ Adams said. ‘Then I had surgery maybe a week later. Injured it eight weeks in, again passing the ball, which doesn’t happen frequently. Waited 12 weeks again. Did it again passing the ball, then had another operation and then now here we are.’

While Adams doesn’t expect to get too many minutes during this international break, he said he could give coach Gregg Berhalter up to an hour vs. Jamaica.

However, his former manager Jesse Marsch was skeptical that Adams should’ve been called into camp.

Adams told reporters he could play 45-60 minutes against Jamaica on Thursday night

‘I don’t know if there’s a person on the earth that believes in Tyler Adams more than I do,’ Marsch said on the ‘Call it What You Want’ podcast.

‘But I don’t know that there’s a lot to gain. Obviously I know he’s an important figure in the national team. He’s been out of competitive matches for I think almost a full year.

‘I just think there’s a lot more to lose in this situation than there is to gain.

The USA would face Mexico or Panama in the Nations League finals on March 24 if they can get past Jamaica.