USMNT stars Tyler Adams and Josh Sargent’s fitness levels part of ‘balancing act’ for Gregg Berhalter in buildup to Copa America

The USMNT’s preliminary Copa America June camp roster was released Monday morning, and Gregg Berhalter spoke at length about the expectations for his squad ahead of this summer’s tournament.

Notably, though, he touched on how important both Josh Sargent and Tyler Adams will be to the U.S. – despite their current injuries.

Both Sargent and Adams missed large chunks of their respective seasons, with the latter only featuring in three Premier League and two international matches across 2023/24. Sargent, meanwhile, missed the first five months of the season due to injury but stormed back with a sensational stretch to end 2024 with 16 Championship goals.

Again, though, both have been hit with minor injuries to end their season. Sargent, dealing with an ankle knock and Adams – just returning from a bout of back spasms – are both not 100% fit heading into camp.

For Berhalter, though, the goal is that they will be ready come the June friendlies.

“We’re trying to get get Tyler and Josh in a place where they’re healthy and they feel great going into Copa America. You saw the Nations League and seeing how we’re very cautious with Tyler, ramping up his minutes in a way that protected him and it will be no different now,” he said.

“Josh has a little bit of foot swelling going on that we want to get control of, you know, Tyler has been training and is back so we want to build him up again in the right way to get them ready. It’s going to be a balancing act in this training camp. We’re looking forward to getting the guys together, really trying to build towards 2026 so that’s the main objective here.

“Just keep stacking these experiences on top of each other, really pushing the players and challenging the players with top-level teams and hope that we continue to build towards our goal of having a strong team in 2026.”

The U.S. take on both Colombia and Brazil this June in a pair of pre-Copa America friendlies. The USMNT will look to prove themselves against tournament opposition as they prepare for the marquee summer event.