'I'm still tackling!' – USMNT star Adams dismisses yellow card concerns
U.S. men’s national team star Tyler Adams insists his style of play won’t change as he heads into this week’s clash with Mexico one yellow card away from suspension.
Adams, Zack Steffen, Tim Weah and DeAndre Yedlin all enter camp one booking from a ban as the U.S. gears up to face Mexico on Thursday before hosting Panama and visiting Costa Rica.
Rather than being concerned about the prospect of suspension, Adams says he’s taking things one game at a time and won’t avoid any tackles despite his yellow card sitution.
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“For me, it’s the same mentality as always,” he said. “I’m not thinking about the next game. I’m not thinking about if I get a yellow card, and I haven’t played like that since I’ve had the yellow card and I’ve had it for quite some time now. I’m still tackling.”
‘That’s football, right?’
Adams has seen his role reduced at RB Leipzig in recent weeks, having not played a full match since the last round of qualifiers.
The midfielder has played just 127 minutes since the last international break, having fallen down the pecking order in Leipzig.
He has also been dealing with a back injury in recent weeks, but Adams says he isn’t deterred by alterations in his playing time.
“That’s football, right? You go through those types of moments,” he said.
“You have coaches that are going to play you every single game, every single minute, and you have other coaches that may not, but mentally at the end of the day, you have to stay strong.
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“I think physically, I actually feel really really good. Coming in now and hoping to play regularly will be nice and going to the Aztec is never an easy first game after you obviously haven’t been playing recently, but I’m excited about it.
“We have a good group, a lot of confident guys, a lot of in-form guys coming into this camp as well so it’s business as normal.”