"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.