Tyler Adams said the United States cannot let its foot off the gas after a 4-1 World Cup win over Paraguay at Los Angeles Stadium. The result came in the United States Men’s National Team’s first World Cup match on American soil in more than three decades, and Adams said the setting still took time to sink in.
Los Angeles Stadium and Tyler Adams
The 27-year-old midfielder said the buildup had been heavy for weeks, with people talking about expectations as the team waited for its opening match. But the moment only became real when he walked out in the stadium for the first time.
“It doesn’t really feel like there’s a World Cup happening,” Adams said on Saturday. “It was an amazing moment.”
USMNT pressure in the stands
Adams said the match carried a different feel because it came on home soil, with friends and family in the stands. He also said he had his brothers around him during the process since the last World Cup, a detail that framed the night as more than just a result.
The U.S. did not ease into the moment. It beat Paraguay 4-1 and kept the pressure on after the early noise around the game, the kind of response Adams was describing when he said the team could not back off.
Game 4 and OG Anunoby
The trip into the match also came with a different kind of momentum. In the 48-hour blur before the opener, Adams and the USMNT celebrated the New York Knicks’ NBA Finals Game 4 win, and the celebration in the U.S. team hotel turned into a dogpile after OG Anunoby’s tip-in.
Adams said that play stuck with him. “That’s got to be one of the best plays in sports history — especially in New York,” he said, adding, “Listen, if there’s anything that inspired me to play well in that first game, it was OG Anunoby and Jalen Brunson.” He also said he turned off Game 4 after the first half because he was superstitious and told everyone, “If they come within 10 points, then we’re going to win this game.”
Born and raised in Dutchess County, about 50 miles north of New York City, Adams has been tied to the Knicks for a long time, and he said he grew up watching them. That made the timing of the hotel celebration and the World Cup opener feel linked for him, even if the two games belonged to different stages. On Saturday, the Knicks opened Game 5 with a chance to capture their first NBA title in 53 years.
