"He's always found the way to get the best version of me." That's Tyler Adams on Mauricio Pochettino — and coming from a player who spent chunks of recent seasons fighting injury and inconsistency at club level, it's not a throwaway line.
Speaking ahead of Saturday's friendly against Mexico at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona (10:00 p.m. ET, Peacock/TNT/Telemundo), the Bournemouth midfielder opened up on what Pochettino's four-year contract extension means to him personally. "When I heard the news that he was going to stay, I was extremely grateful," Adams told journalist Andrés Cantor. "This is a manager that has helped me take another step and another level of my game."
Adams has 60 caps since his 2017 debut. He's one of the most experienced players on a roster that is rapidly getting younger. Pochettino has handed out 12 debuts in the September/October window alone — 11 against Peru on September 26 (a 4-1 win), one more when goalkeeper Brian Schwake came off the bench in a 4-2 victory over Chile on September 29. Adams sat out both games with fitness issues and is now expected to return to the starting XI against El Tri.
A squad in transition, a coach who connects
What Adams describes goes beyond tactics. "He's not only our coach, our manager — he's a father, he's a brother," the 27-year-old said. "The amount of time he invests in every single player on a personal level — that's meaningful."
That kind of buy-in matters when you're asking veterans to mentor a squad that included 17-year-old Philadelphia Union sensation Cavan Sullivan and 11 other newcomers in a single window. Adams started alongside three teenagers against Peru. The rebuild is happening fast, and Pochettino is betting on experience and youth coexisting — not competing.
Whether that blend holds against Mexico on Saturday is a real question. Pochettino is 0-2 against El Tri as USMNT head coach — a 2-0 friendly loss in October 2024 and a 2-0 defeat in the CONCACAF Gold Cup final in July 2025. Those two results are the blemish on what has otherwise been a promising tenure, capped by a round-of-16 appearance at this summer's World Cup.
Cole Campbell and the Mexico test
Forward Cole Campbell, 20, missed Peru and Chile through fitness issues but is in contention for his first cap against Mexico — which would make him debut number 13 of the window. That kind of squad turnover would unsettle most coaches. Pochettino seems to treat it as a feature, not a bug.
If Campbell features and the USMNT finally crack Mexico, the odds for the 2030 cycle look considerably rosier. If Pochettino's side falls to a third straight defeat against their CONCACAF rivals, questions about that particular matchup will linger into the Canada game on October 6 in St. Paul — and beyond.
"I think I have the ability to take another step now," Adams said. Saturday night is a decent place to start proving it.
