For USMNT World Cup captain Tyler Adams, Qatar seems like forever ago

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.

He had hamstring surgery last spring and a second procedure in the fall. Now, for the first time since the World Cup, Adams is back with the national team.

He was among 23 players named last week to a squad seeking to win a third consecutive Concacaf Nations League title. The Americans will face Jamaica in a semifinal Thursday in Arlington, Tex. Mexico will play Panama in the other match. The third-place and championship games are Sunday.

As Adams continues to rebuild his career, his Premier League club, Bournemouth, and the U.S. team have put a cap on the amount of playing time this week.

“It’s not flying out the gates, but I know I can contribute 45 to 60 minutes,” Adams said Monday during a video call with reporters.

“Tyler is obviously a huge part of this team, a huge part of our culture,” goalkeeper Matt Turner said. “He’s a true leader on the pitch and off the pitch, and it’s really great to have him back and get reintegrated with the group.”

Adams, 25, returned from his latest layoff this month, appearing in a Bournemouth reserve match before logging about 20 minutes in the first team’s 4-3 victory over Luton Town last week.

“I’ve been continuously working nonstop in the past months to make sure this time would come,” he said. “I’m not sure if anyone thought it would come this soon.”

U.S. Coach Gregg Berhalter was in regular contact with Adams and the Bournemouth staff throughout the player’s recovery. Berhalter weighed whether to call in Adams for the active roster or training purposes only; they agreed he was ready to contribute in a limited capacity.

“Everybody from top to bottom is excited to have him back in,” U.S. assistant B.J. Callaghan said. “He just gets to be able to rejoin a group and bring his style of leadership into a group that already has a really strong leadership core.”

Adams’s return to the U.S. lineup would reconstitute a midfield also featuring Weston McKennie and Yunus Musah that anchored the team in Qatar and is primed to lead the charge to the 2026 World Cup, which will take place in the United States, Mexico and Canada.

Watching the national team from afar the past year, “I was the biggest fan in those moments,” Adams said. “Missing games is always really difficult. I struggle with that. I know the influence I can have as a leader just through communicating with guys and being around the team. There were many difficult moments, a lot of ups and downs.”

The physical element also proved difficult.

“The rehab process was a long one and enduring one,” he added. “You learn a lot about yourself in those tough moments. … My world flipped upside down.”

Adams was with Leeds United in early 2023 when he ruptured his hamstring attempting a back-heel pass in training. He had surgery about a week later. The injury, though, did not prevent a $25 million transfer to Bournemouth, a move that allowed him to remain in the Premier League after Leeds’s relegation to the second-flight English Championship.

A setback delayed his first appearance for his new club until late September for a League Cup match. Adams played 20 minutes but reinjured the hamstring.

“Do I want to try to be conservative and test the waters and see if it will be okay?” he remembered asking himself. “Or do I just want to go through another surgery and make sure the problem is solved for the long term. I decided to take the longer term solution.”

The second surgery sidelined him through the winter. There was a silver lining, though. Time away from the game meant more quality time with his girlfriend, Sarah Schmidt, and their newborn son.

“There’s never a good time to be injured, but to be able to have this opportunity to become a dad and not have to think about the stresses of the game and going away and missing things … has been a huge blessing in disguise,” Adams said. “It’s really the best thing that has happened to me.”