FAYETTEVILLE, Ga. — Mauricio Pochettino has his captain for the World Cup.
The USMNT named center back Tim Ream to the position on Saturday before traveling to Charlotte to play the first of two send-off friendlies against Senegal on Sunday. Ream, who captained the side in 16 of 23 matches under Pochettino, was very much the favorite to be named captain, despite Tyler Adams having worn the armband at the 2022 World Cup.
“This is more than a dream come true,” Ream said. “I’ve done everything possible to be a part of this group, to help this group along. I’m just really, really grateful to be sitting here. To have this honor and at the same time, it’s not going to change what I do or who I am, how I help the group. So thank you. It’s the highest honor for me [to be] in this group, with this group, for the World Cup. I’m not going to take that for granted.”
The 38-year-old Ream thought his international career was over after the 2022 World Cup, but re-emerged as a key piece of the side under Pochettino.
Though the manager went out of his way to make clear that being captain does not guarantee Ream a spot in the starting 11, it would count as surprising if he wasn’t on the field when the USMNT opens the World Cup on June 12 against Paraguay.
“I am so grateful that he’s with us, because he was a great captain not only on the field, if not maybe more important, off the field,” Pochettino said. “And I think he has the experience, he has the capacity, to be the leader that we want. The positive leader. Acting and reflecting on the field and off the field.
“As you know, for me, it’s one of the most important things is to connect with the player and connect through the players that have experience. And I think he’s amazing. It’s so lucky to have a player like him with his personality and his character involved and helping the young players that have less experience.”
Pochettino said the captaincy choice was his to make, though he polled a number of trusted figures within the team.
“The group of people that I really trust, that always I listen [to], I think we decide that Tim is the captain,” he said. “He was the captain for the first time [Pochettino’s first game coaching the USMNT] and then, I think, in the way that he behaves, acts, thinking always first of the federation, US Soccer, of the team, of the players, of the teammates.”
