ATLANTA — With the World Cup looming in June and the United States facing the pressure of playing on home soil, Team USA is paper-thin at center back.
Enter Tim Ream. He’s manager Mauricio Pochettino’s captain — but at 38, he’s also one of Team USA’s biggest question marks.
When the U.S. hosts Belgium (Saturday, 3:30 p.m., TNT) and Portugal (March 31, 7 p.m., TNT) in tuneup games, eyes will be on how the center backs hold up. And as this Atlanta-based camp progresses, the pressure will be on Ream to prove he still has enough left to excel at this level.
“It’s important to stay focused on the here and now,” Ream said. “Not tightening up is probably the best way to describe it. You don’t want to play tight. You want to have a focus, you want to have an intensity, but you don’t want to feel like you’re gripping the steering wheel with white knuckles.
“You have to play loose. You have to play with confidence and be comfortable. But right now, it’s the most important camp, and it’s an opportunity for everybody to show what they can do and hopefully be a part of the World Cup in June.”
With Pochettino playing three at the back — a 3-4-3 or 3-4-2-1 — Chris Richards’ name is written in indelible ink. Ream, captain in the Nations League Finals and Gold Cup, is likely penciled in as well.
But he’ll have to help steady the back, with the third spot up for grabs among Mark McKenzie, Miles Robinson and Auston Trusty.
The wild card is Noahkai Banks, 19, who pulled out of this camp as he picks between representing the U.S. (for whom he’s played at the youth level) and Germany (where he starts for Augsburg in the Bundesliga).
While McKenzie, Robinson and Trusty have to show they can start in a World Cup, Ream has already done so. Now he has to prove he can still do it.
“You focus on what you can control. I’ve always been somebody who just puts their head down and works hard and tries to help the guys around … within the team in any way I can. I’m relaxed,” Ream said. “You do what you can. And every camp is important, every training session is important, every touch is important. And you treat everything as if it’s the most important.
“Things fluctuate; things change constantly. One week someone’s doing something great and there’s battles all over the field. At the same time, we’re all pushing each other. We all want everybody to be performing at their very best. When guys are doing that, it creates more competition; it drives you on further. That’s the way I see it. Whether Noahkai changes or decides, it’s not something I can control. So we work with the group that’s in right now, and you see what happens in the future.”
Ream was a second-round draft pick by the Red Bulls in 2010.
Calm in possession and capable of playing out of the back, Ream became one of the best defenders in MLS and made the jump to Bolton, then Fulham.
Ream said playing in England made him “grow up,” and he even captained Fulham in the Premier League in 2024 before returning stateside to Charlotte FC.
Never fleet of foot, Ream still reads the game well — better than he ever has, actually, which is the secret to his longevity. But after starting every game in the U.S. run to the Round of 16 in the 2022 World Cup, the team’s Grand Old Man has to prove he’s still more grand than old.
“You pick up so many different things along the journey and along the path,” Ream said. “It’s just being adaptable, understanding that different coaches do and want different things, that there’s so many different ways of doing things. But also not ever feeling like you’re stuck, and that you’re a finished product.
“Knowing that there’s always something you can learn and do better, you can do more of, it’s always driven me to continue on, to keep going. The more information — the more things you can take on board and use to your advantage — the longer you can sustain being able to play.”
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: nypost.com
