The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
U.S. wins 3rd straight CONCACAF Nations League
ARLINGTON, Texas — Tyler Adams stood on the field cradling 2-month-old son Jax, a wide smile on his face. The 25-year-old midfielder had just scored the goal of his life, propelling the United States to a 2-0 win over Mexico on Sunday night and the Americans’ third straight CONCACAF Nations League title.
“People have a lot of question marks about this, about that,” Adams said. “But to see what we do week in, week out when we have the opportunity to work together, we continue to grow.”
Adams scored from about 35 yards in his first start in more than a year for club or country, putting the U.S. ahead in the 45th minute when he received a pass from Weston McKennie, took a touch and curled a shot that just eluded the right hand of diving goalkeeper Guillermo Ochoa.
Limited to one league start this season for Borussia Dortmund and Nottingham Forest, Reyna scored his eighth international goal in the 63rd minute. Christian Pulisic’s cross was blocked by defender Johan Vásquez. The ball deflected off American forward Haji Wright back to Vásquez, who headed a clearance attempt. Reyna let the ball bounce and beat Ochoa to the near post from 16 yards.
U.S. coach Gregg Berhalter motivated his players earlier in the week to win their third straight title with the example of Michael Jordan and the 199193 Chicago Bulls.
“The Jordan slide, when he’s holding up the three fingers with the trophy,” Berhalter said, “we Photoshopped the Nations League trophy into the same picture with Michael
Jordan.”
After June exhibitions against Colombia and Brazil, the U.S. faces Bolivia, Panama and Uruguay in the group stage of the Copa América, where six teams from North and
Central America and the Caribbean are invited guests.
“It’s good for momentum,” Reyna said. “We’ve been together with our core group for a while now and I think we know what it takes to win big games and tournaments and hopefully we can carry that in Copa America and have a great run there.”
Reyna was picked as top player and Matt Turner as best goalkeeper.
Berhalter nearly sent Reyna home from the 2022 World Cup for lack of hustle in training, sparking a Reyna-Berhalter family feud that led the U.S. Soccer Federation to appoint interim coaches for much of last year. Berhalter returned in September and Reyna a month later after recovering from an injury.
“When I took over the team again, I talked about it needing time,” Berhalter said. “And that was something that we both acknowledged. And the more you work together and the more that he believed that intentions were true and that the whole staff has his best interests in mind, I think we started to gain trust.”
The U.S. stretched its unbeaten streak against Mexico to seven games since a September 2019 defeat, including five wins.
“They were a lot more focused than we were. They pressured us,” Mexico coach Jaime Lozano said.
The match was suspended twice by Canadian referee Drew Fischer because of homophobic chants among the mostly pro-Mexican crowd of 59,471 at AT&T Stadium.