I’m a DC fan. One of 3 things is true. 1. He has improved very dramatically. Like, worldwide soccer journos should note the improvement. 2. He’s not very close. 3. The safest bet in the world would be on Bournemouth getting relegated. Gotta be one of those three. Gotta be.
4. Bournemouth takes all of this cash their raking in from the sale of Zabarnyi to PSG, Huijsen to Real Madrid, and Kerkez to Liverpool.......................and reinvests wisely. By the way, they paid 62 million Euros for those guys. Will sell them for a total of 200 million. Great business. When you're a club like Bournemouth (or Brighton or Brentford or any club starting with B.), you gotta keep the ball rolling. They signed a couple of defenders from the French league. They have a whole bunch of guys listed on their roster as CBs. Only one is Akinmboni. We'll see. Young guys. [I think Brentford may be in bigger trouble. Losing Frank is a big deal for them. At least Bournemouth keeps rolling with Iraola.]
My Game in My Words https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6561606/2025/08/21/tim-ream-usmnt-mygame-mls-fulham/
Tim Ream has now been captain in 14 of Poch's 18 games at the helm of the USMNT. He's not just making the World Cup squad; It's looking increasingly likely that he'll be captain.
Update: Transfermarkt seems to have revised their list after I posted this in March. They now identify Ed Murphy as the oldest USMNT field player to start a competitive game. He was 38 when he started his last competitive game -- a World Cup qualifier against Haiti in 1969. However, since this is looking more and more likely, I will add that if Tim Ream plays any minutes in the next World Cup, he will become the oldest player ever -- counting both field players and goalkeepers -- to appear in a competitive game for the US, let alone start. Assuming that TM link is now correct, the current record holder is Tim Howard, who was also 38 when he earned his last USMNT cap in a game I assume he'd rather forget (the away qualifier against Trinidad & Tobago in 2017).
everyone wants to blame morris for the ecuador goal (stupidly, imo) or maybe mckennie for turning it over (also stupidly) or richards (yeah, he got burned) and freese.....(has to do better) but what about ream? go back and watch the goal....what is he even doing out there??? seriously an orange cone would have about the same odds at stopping that goal as ream did IF the usmnt is going to high press and play one touch fast offense (which I think they definitely 100% SHOULD).... we need FAST ATHLETIC CBs ...and WE DO HAVE THEM when ecuador was pressing ....for the first minutes of the game ream and the backline were shaky as hell IF ream has time and space he picks out good passes.....but I dohbt any good team will give him that. in fact, I know for sure they WILL NOT as long as ream is out there, usmnt will keep giving up these kinds of "unlucky" goals....its been happening since poch took over (and made ream his captain) I wanna see banks, trusty, campbell, epb etc etc okoh IS USMNT ELIGIBLE and a good passer and athlete i realize mckenzie didnt exactly play well but still.....im not talking about getting out of the group....ream can manage that. im talking abut when we play brazil or france etc...and their press obliterates him
TIm Ream is our captain and has started the last 9 games straight. He is a lock for the World Cup team. I don't think the issue is Ream alone. The issue is that other than Chris Richards, none of the CBs has won a spot. Trusty has barely played this year for Celtic for whatever reason. Hasn't started in the SPL or Champions League (at which Celtic was embarrassed yet again.) COuld Noahkai Banks get a look? Sure. But he's an uncapped 18 year old. I personally think that if Poch was planning on Banks, he'd be at this camp. You'd want to give that young player a run in the team. He was at the last camp, but went unused. The signs AREN'T looking like Banks is going to be Poch's answer for the starting XI. I personally don't think Palmer-Brown and Okoh are better than the options that we're bringing in. Yes, they're breathing human beings in Europe. Okoh hasn't been the same since his injury problems. There's a reason Switzerland has never called him up. Just like Anrie Chase hasn't been the same since his injury problems. Talk about a player that fell off the map. I'm not sure he's actually played a game in Austria this season. Hopefully he can get it back as he's only 21 years old. While this board was talking about how Anrie Chase was the answer to our CB problems at WC26, Stuttgart sold him for only 2 million to an Austrian team.
how many of those games have been wins? you acknowledge that ream is not good enough? but also refuse to consider not incuding him? its gonna be so unsatisfying when he craters in an important moment in the WC
If the entire World Cup depends on whether one of the central defenders is beaten once for a goal, then the team is in trouble anyway.
knockout matches turn on single plays....so yeah the entire world cup will likely depend on getting beat once for a goal its the same for all teams in the WC cant understand why you dismiss that as unimportant when it is extremely important besides, like I posted earlier, its not only about one defender getting beaten once for a goal...its about having defenders in there that can cover for mistakes and have the makeup speed and athleticism that ream so clearly lacks i think ream is a boss vs any non-top25 team but put him against colombia or brazil or spain etc and watch wht happens....any team that can really press and make life difficult and has speedy fast forwards will eat him for lunch and, personally, i dont care about what happens vs non top 25 teams bc the usa has a plethora of players that can thrive at that level of competition....its nothing special in our player pool but i guess we just have to live with that bc "hes the best"
What I saw was all 4 players involved in that goal did 1 thing wrong. And that was enough to concede.
Ecuador is a Top 25 team and Ream performed very well there. You keep saying things like he can't compete with WC competition, but he's doing it right now. Yes, Tim Ream does not have great footspeed. Yes, that's a weakness. Of course, the issue is that other players may or may not have that weakness, but they brings others. McKenzie and Miles, for example, make significantly more mental mistakes. CCV is also slow and he's just as bad in the air. Plenty of guys have weaknesses. Sometimes those do come back to bite you. It's doesn't mean they aren't the best option. Many times the alternatives also have significant issues.
Again, thank you, because it doesn't get any more simple than this. This is easy math -- Ream is not playing like some disaster begging for replacing. Is he a great CB? No. He's not. But the reality, however unfortunate or wrongheaded someone may believe it to be, is that experience matters. Leadership, having been there, matters.
This thread has the potential to be one of the all-time classic US Soccer threads given that Ream is firmly on track to not only participate in the 2026 World Cup, but to captain the US for it.
Indeed. Ream has actually solidified his position under Pochettino more now than when this thread was started a year and a half ago. He's the freaking captain and starts virtually every game under Poch. I don't want to go thru the exercise of figuring it out, but Ream is probably our most capped player under Poch. [played in 13 of 16 matches.] Will Ream get to 100 caps? Probably not. He's at 78 right now, and the most he's ever had in a year is 14.. So he's have to play well beyond WC26. Two more years or so. Probably have to play past the age of 40. Do guys do that? Yes. Pepe, Thiago Silva, and company. They're the exceptions, though. Once you get to 80 caps, you start passing legends of the USMNT. Eddie Pope and Brad Friedel at 82, for instance. We're not talking about a fringe USMNTer here. He's been a really important contributor for a while now. You don't get to 80 caps by accident.
theres no convincing you guys you just love ream, i dont. 1- when ecuador was pressing, ream did not play well. 2 - ecuador has good defense but poor forwards....of course that is the type of team ream will play better against - even then, he didnt play well....he played ok...some very nice passing but some shaky defense. 3- i agree guys like mckenzie and ccv do show their flaws as well....but under poch we have basically ONLY seen ream.....so how fair of a competition have we really had? i admit that mckenzies habitual giveaways with the ball are alarming and I am not a fan of how he has preformed for the usmnt. i really dont understand how he commits poor gveaways every single time he plays for usmnt....but at least he has speed and heading ability etc. he has good passing capability.....doesnt always show it. 4 - overall, i agree....it is about picking and choosing which flaws and strengths you want....i value footspeed and cover defense more than poch does....and i think vs good teams (the ones I care about) will negate reams passing (which will make playing him less than beneficial)....unfortunately we dont really have any "total packages".....all of our cbs are either missing experience, speed, passing ability, ball security or some other aspect..... the centerback position is the one that scares me most - in terms of the world cup.....i think first and foremost the defenders must acutally be able to defend and block opponents....if they can do that, the usmnt can stay in the game.....a guy like scally was great against brazil bc he shut down vini jr. we need those kinds of defenders imo....of course I alos value passing....tis very important to prevent teams from pinning their ears back and pressing all game as well as passes from the backline often start many dangerous goal scoring opportunities. imo we can get the passing of ream from other players who are better defenders - thats my preference. i hope it works though.....bc it seems nothing can stop poch's love for ream.
No one here "loves" Ream. You'd have a lot more productive conversations if you at least read the other point of view and acknowledged it, then argued against it. He did play well against Ecuador. I do not need to think a ton of his game to see that. Regardless of your opinion of their attack, they are both a Top 25 team and a World Cup team, which were the two criteria that you set. We all know his deficiencies. His potential replacements have them as well. Indeed. Fair enough. I don't think that will be the issue with Ream. I think in almost every case we are going to need his passing and in the rare match up situations we may actually see a change. But if someone makes Ream struggle with passing, I shudder to think of the rest of our CBs. So here's the thing ... We handled Brazil well in that game precisely because we didn't ask Scally to shut down Vini, Jr. He did a fine job, but we gave a lot of assistance from the CM roles and, IIRC, even from Weah. And that's how you will have to handle a devastatingly good RW in the World Cup no matter who you play at LCB. Mark McKenzie isn't stopping Mo Salah or something, either. You're keeping Jedi back or you're shading over MFs or you're doing both. McKenzie has started 5 matches under Pochettino and played a half in a 6th. He was there at the GC in training every day. I think Pochettino has seen a decent amount of him. I don't know if Poch's preference for Ream is driven by an appreciation for certain aspects of Ream's offensive game, his captaincy, etc., or for something that Ream does very specific ... like direct the defense (which may be necessary given a young keeper, etc.), or for a dislike for McKenzie's game. He's seen him a ton, though. Miles has gotten 4 starts and a half game. CCV has really been the odd man out -- he's only gotten 90 against Canada in Nation's League. Zimmerman as well as been a man out.
ecuadors last matches 1-0 over arg (only goal on a PK), iraq 0-0, paraguay 0-0, peru 0-0, chile 0-0, brazil 0-0, THEIR OFFENSE SUCKS...but they scored against the usa....ream is part of that even if he is not directly cuplable for the goal...the usmnt defense under poch has been bad. we've seen under poch that opponents seem to consistenly score against the run of play on "fluky" goals again and again.....its paritally bc ream has no recoervy ability when he scrambles. I HATE the way he defends on counters and fast breaks.....look at how he just ran to the middle of the box on valencias goal.....so USELESS out there.....and thats what he always does...he always just blenidng in those situations. poch loves his leadership and attitude in general.....but thats not going to stop anyone frok scoring i alos hated how ream played vs netherlands in the world cup....thse goals the usmnt gave up due to poor defense by ream jedi and the backline were atrocious. after that match...somehow ream and jedi are still LOCK starteres for this team...but they were really bad in that game. the whole defense was. meanhwile dutch dared usmnt to pass out of the back and zimmerman and ream couldnt......counteless bad passses in that match. i really thought that was it for ream....he isnt going to somehow play better than that now.....THAT was the test and he failed. his experience and passing ability was useless in that match....just as it will be next time usa plays a team as good or better than the netherlands in a world cup. which is why we need to move on now...even if he is the best option vs teams that give him time and space.
Ream totally inept/at fault on the game losing goal in charlottes playoff loss to NYCFC I cant believe any genuine USMNT fan watches this guy and thinks yes THATS the centerback I want starting in the wold cup! MLS fans? sure...they probably want ream but USMNT fans? cant see it 100% he will have at least 1 howler in the WC if not more.....if hes playing for the usa