Tyler Adams was a centerpiece of the U.S. men’s national soccer team, starting in midfield in the long buildup to the 2022 World Cup and serving as the young captain of a young squad in Qatar. He was not just the on-field leader but the eloquent spokesman for a program in the bright lights after eight years in the shadows.
But then his name went missing from the roster in one camp after another, absent from friendlies and official competitions for more than a year.
It was as if “all of a sudden you fall off a cliff and you’re kind of irrelevant in that moment,” Adams said.