GOAL spent the day with midfield stars Tyler Adams and Weston McKennie, revealing the chemistry that fuels USMNT
"I'm sorry, guys, I'm sorry. Let me just get my laughs out."
Weston McKennie is struggling to keep it together. He's on set shooting a pre-Copa America commercial for Truly and, while no one is panicking just yet, McKennie's giggles are delaying the production. This particular shot requires a shirtless McKennie to open a can and stare down the camera with a straight face. Because of those laughs, McKennie is now more than 25 cans in, and he's starting to feel it.
"My fingers are starting to hurt!"
The production team is watching on, largely laughing along, but they aren't alone. Seated in the back of the gym-turned-studio is McKennie's U.S. men's national team teammate Tyler Adams, who has already nailed his scene. His spot was short and sweet; McKennie's, though, was taking a lot longer.
"Weston's the better actor," Adams admitted to GOAL, despite what everyone else on set has seen so far. "Weston loves this. He lives for this. He's gonna need his own channel someday. He's gonna have, like, a Pat McAfee Show."
For this shoot, Adams has been cast by Truly as the straight man to McKennie's comedian. He's comfortable in the role, largely because he's been living in it for more than a decade. The two met as teenagers and McKennie was always … well, himself. McKennie has been getting his laughs out since the beginning, and Adams has always been along for the ride.
Almost always, anyway. Their relationship wasn't always like it is today. At one point, they were competitors at the youth national team level. There was never jealousy or animosity, but there was some bitterness, at least initially.
Now, all these years later, there are mostly just laughs. Many laughs. As the two gear up for another huge moment in their careers, they're doing so together, looking to add this summer's Copa America to the long list of accomplishments they've achieved side-by-side.
"We have so many moments and stories together," Adams says, "and we laugh every time we see each other. Sometimes, we won't talk for months, for one reason or another, but it's always like we never left. It's just cool to have a friend like that, someone you can rely on."
There are few people on the planet who know McKennie better than Adams and vice-versa. It's a relationship that has been and remains massive for the USMNT, and it's one that began long before McKennie and Adams found themselves in World Cups or on commercial sets.
Ahead of the Copa America, GOAL spent the day with McKennie and Adams to learn about their friendship, the moments that made them who they are, and how these two longtime friends became the heart and soul of the USMNT.
The first days in residency
It's been more than a decade since his time in Residency, but McKennie still remembers it well. It was at that time he was first introduced to many of the teammates who would accompany him on this wild journey from Little Elm, Texas to the highest levels of soccer.
For those unaware, the Residency Program was operated by U.S. Soccer for nearly two decades before closing in 2017. The program was designed to bring in the very best young players in American soccer and expose them to high-level training, development that was previously unavailable in the U.S.
Landon Donovan, DaMarcus Beasley and Jozy Altidore were among the famous graduates. By the time the likes of McKennie and Adams were involved, the names of past stars had been carved into some of the beds. American soccer royalty had passed through those dorms in Bradenton, Fla.
McKennie's story didn't begin with that U-17 program but, in many ways, this version of the USMNT's did. It was during that time in 2013 that this "golden generation" took shape.
"Christian [Pulisic] was my first friend, I guess you can say, on the national team," McKennie recalls. "The first camp, there were like 80 of us on four busses and, coincidentally, him and I were sat right behind each other. After that, we became friends every time that we came in. We'd be together at the Holiday Inn eating cookies in the lobby with all the coffees we all used to make."
Pulisic was one of the shining lights of the program back then, the player destined for superstardom. Borussia Dortmund would eventually come calling. From the start, most knew Pulisic was bound for the highest levels for both club and country.
"I played against Christian a lot with PA Classics when I was with New York Red Bull," Adams says. "That was my first introduction to him and, obviously, at that time, he was like the golden boy already."
There were other prospects earmarked for the top. McKennie remembers Josh Perez getting hype ahead of a move to Fiorentina. Haji Wright, a future World Cup teammate, was seen as a future star as well. McKennie, though? Not so much.
Advertisement'Wes, you're going home'
From the beginning, McKennie knew where he stood. He was not "golden." He was not expected to be a star. He was not among the favorites in the Residency Program. In fact, he felt lucky to even be there at all.
"I was B-team," he says. "I was even training by myself sometimes. Honestly, on the field, I was just happy any time I could get on it. Those were the best times for me.
"I was overlooked. I remember the coaches had me training off to the side and they just told me, 'Just pretend that you're on the field.' "
At the time, the teenage McKennie was starting to make waves with his hometown club, FC Dallas. However, that improvement did little to help his case with the national team program. Any time he was with U.S. Soccer, there was one player standing in his way. His name? Tyler Adams.
Adams wasn't with the Residency Program full-time. Instead, he was splitting time in Florida and back home, where he was looking to break through with the New York Red Bulls. But, when the U.S. needed a star for big games or an important tournament, the federation was quick to call Adams.
It was often at the expense of McKennie, who remembers what it was like to see his now-friend waltz in each time big matches were on the schedule.
"I just remember him getting called into Residency Camp to go on trips in my place," McKennie says. "I had to stay there and train the whole damn time and he'd just come in like a week before the big trips. I would then get cut and he'd be able to go.
"They'd basically call Tyler in to go in my place, so the first memories I ever had of him was that I'm living there, busting my balls every day, every week, and, come time for the roster, they're like 'Alright, we're going to call Tyler. Wes, you're going home.'
"It wasn't easy for sure, but maybe it's better that it played out that way because it instilled a different type of drive and want in me. It gave me a need to be successful."
'We were both outcasts'
For a time, Adams was seemingly the villain in McKennie's story. Adams, of course, doesn't necessarily see it that way.
"It's tough," he says. "Like, honestly, for me, we were both outcasts."
Adams, too, can look back at a time during his youth career when he felt unwanted. Throughout his early teens, Adams never got the impression that he was viewed the same way that, say, Pulisic was. While McKennie remembers his then-rival as one of the program favorites, Adams says he never really felt that love.
"Guys in the national team, like since the youth ages," he says, "unless I was playing with my own age group, I was never like 'that guy.' It's wild that, now, we're both looked at in this way."
In time, Adams, who was playing up a year at the time, formed a bond with the rest of those at Residency, including McKennie. On and off the field, the chemistry developed. In some ways, they were polar opposites and, in others, they were perfect fits.
"When I did come down to Residency, I knew Weston was a great player," Adams recalls. "Man, this guy could play forward, centerback, goalkeeper, whatever. He just had fun. He played everything with a smile on his face. Honestly, if players could play as relaxed as he did, there would be so many better players in the world, you know what I mean? Some people just can't handle it, but he was always very relaxed.
"I think at that time, we were both still developing. He was smaller, still growing, and same with myself. I played right-back or filled in at left-back, like I didn't even have a position at that time. They were playing Weston as a forward and, obviously, Weston is not a forward; he's a box-to-box midfielder.
"Even myself, I would always tell people 'I'm a center mid', but I'd play left back and right back'. It just is what it is. You just go wherever you can get a spot."
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GettyMaking the USMNT leap together
McKennie, ultimately, was cut from Residency and took his own path from Dallas to Schalke and, ultimately, to the USMNT, shortly after the side missed the 2018 World Cup. He was one of the call-ups for that initial squad to face Portugal in the program's first camp post-Trinidad & Tobago.
As fate would have it, Adams would be there, too. The midfielder had broken out himself with the Red Bulls. It all brought them full circle as they began their senior careers together. McKennie would score the opening goal that day, leading the U.S. to a 1-1 draw, setting the tone for the cycle to come.
"Getting called into that camp after we didn't qualify for the World Cup, I think it was a wake-up call for both of us," Adams recalled. "They relied on both of us to come in and try and change the narrative of what U.S. Soccer is. I think we both look at that as a big moment.
"We were roommates in that camp, and we just enjoyed that time so much because we both felt like 'Yeah, we deserve to be here', but we just kind of laughed at each other like, 'I can't believe they're leaning on us right now to change everything'.
"Now, we look back and we were those guys. It's changed a lot."