Breaking down USMNT midfielder Tyler Adams’ 47.4-yard wondergoal for Bournemouth – The Athletic
There was a point here when it even rained footballs. As the heavens dispensed and Sunderland’s Stadium of Light turf soaked up the torrents, Tyler Adams lurched forward, looked up and let fly.
Adams, of Bournemouth and the United States Men’s National Team, does not score many goals. Before today, across over 338 games for club and country, he had managed just eight, with his first for Bournemouth only coming earlier this month. He might never score another like the ninth.
It came midway through a frantic first half-hour in this tussle between the Premier League’s seventh- and eighth-placed clubs. Bournemouth and Adams had already plundered an early away goal in weather which, on another day, would have been cause enough to draw the curtains, extinguish the lights and come back tomorrow.
As it were, the rains played their part in the game’s opener, with Sunderland’s Nordi Mukiele taking a tumble in a move which ultimately ended with Amine Adli notching his first Bournemouth goal.
That came on seven minutes, and a little over seven minutes later, Adams’ master work arrived. It can be largely forgotten that defensive midfielders like him — deployed to stop goals rather than score them, and called upon to hinder rather than hurt — remain of supreme technical ability. Especially at this level. Lumping and harrumphing through a game won’t cut it here.
Adams doesn’t do that. Nor does he usually do this. Pouncing on a loose ball from the hosts’ Chemsdine Talbi, he advanced on the counter with haste. Between him and the South Stand goal were just two back-pedalling opponents and around 45 yards of open air.
Adams lines up his strike…
With a clip rather than a heave from the edge of the centre circle, he sent the ball arcing into a dismal sky.
It came down in a perfect parabola, nudged off its line only slightly by the fruitless fingertips of goalkeeper Robin Roefs, before returning to earth and sending both visiting team and fans into giddy disbelief.
Sunderland goalkeeper Roefs tries (and fails) to keep the shot out
For good measure, it landed perfectly on the rail at the bottom of the goal net; the aesthete’s choice.
What an unreal goal this was by Tyler Adams for Bournemouth against Sunderland 🤯⚽️ pic.twitter.com/nYP3alBuIa
— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) November 29, 2025
For our U.S. readers
THE USA’S OWN TYLER ADAMS SCORES AN ABSOLUTE WORLDIE! 🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/QKWs9F5XH8
— NBC Sports Soccer (@NBCSportsSoccer) November 29, 2025
The strike was eventually measured as 47.4 yards out by Opta.
That South Stand behind the goal is reserved for Sunderland’s loudest fans, a ‘singing end’ where most choose to remain on their feet rather than sit. Yet the combination of Adams’ shot and Adli’s earlier finish rendered them silent. Wearside has been an infertile territory for away sides this season, yet here, just 15 minutes in, Bournemouth were two in front.
Goalkeepers who are beaten from almost their opponent’s half of the field suffer a strange injustice: it is both mortifying and, often, not their fault. Roefs’ flailing hands made a better attempt here than most would have, and there really was little else the Dutchman could have done. His starting position was apt to the situation; there are times when it is enough to acknowledge brilliance in opposition.
Goalkeepers tend to form a union, but there was no lie told when former England No 1 Joe Hart, summarising for the BBC, put no blame at Roefs’ door. “If people can execute (a shot) like that,” said Hart, “there is nothing (a goalkeeper) can do. It was opportunistic brilliance from Tyler Adams.”
Hart’s was a sentiment echoed post-match. By that point, though, Bournemouth head coach Andoni Iraola was unsurprisingly more concerned by the fact Adams’ goal had been relegated to a notable subplot on a day where Sunderland roared back from two down to claim victory — and in doing so meted out a third consecutive away defeat to Iraola’s side.
“It was a very good decision, very good execution,” Iraola said afterwards. “We know that if you defend properly, you have a chance on the break. There is a chance that comes there, but you have to finish it.”
And finish it Adams did. If his manager’s comments seem understated, then they rather reflect the important wider context. As good as Adams’ goal was, as many times as it will doubtless be replayed in the coming days and even years, it was not the final story here.
That honour, once again, went to the hosts. Three and a half months into their Premier League return, Sunderland remain unbeaten on home turf. Even wondergoals aren’t stopping them.
