Tim Ream’s ‘Sense of Calm’ Valuable for USMNT Heading Into Knockouts | OneFootball

IRVINE, Calif. – With the added stakes of the knockout rounds fully in place, center back Tim Ream is offering the U.S. Men’s National Team, just a couple days out from its Round of 32 clash with Bosnia and Herzegovina, a sense of calm.

Teammates have compared the St. Louis native to a father figure or an extension of the coaching staff throughout USMNT camp at Orange County Great Park. The 38-year-old is the oldest player on the roster, and in the team’s opening match against Paraguay, became the oldest player to appear for the Stars and Stripes in the FIFA World Cup.

Beyond his age, Ream provides a wealth of experience to a team that features youngsters such as Alex Freeman and Chris Brady, who are 21 and 22 years old, respectively. Ream has been playing professional soccer for more than 15 years. Since being drafted by New York Red Bulls in the 2010 MLS SuperDraft, he’s built a remarkably enduring career that included nine seasons with Fulham in both the English Premier League and English Championship.

A steady figure for the U.S. Men’s National Team with 84 caps to his name, Ream’s presence and leadership steered head coach Mauricio Pochettino to name the veteran as the U.S. captain heading into FIFA World Cup 2026.

“He gives us a sense of calmness,” USMNT teammate Gio Reyna said. “His experience is the main factor that he holds that can really help this team. He means everything. He’s been around for the last 15 years… he’s definitely someone you can lean on.”

“My personal relationship with Tim is great,” striker Folarin Balogun added. “He gives me lots of advice. He's somebody who has tons of experience. I'm a younger player, so I look to learn from him. That’s the reason why he's so valuable for us.”

Ream’s positivity and composure are strong assets as the team embarks on the knockout rounds of the competition. The pressure of a single-elimination match on the sport’s biggest stage might cause some players to buckle, but when it comes to Ream, the Charlotte FC defender has ice in his veins.

“Would it be weird if I told you I don't really feel too much pressure at this minute?” Ream asked reporters on Monday.

The center back explained this stage feels different than it did four years ago when the team competed in the FIFA World Cup in Qatar with the second-youngest roster in the tournament. Ream played all four matches at the 2022 FIFA World Cup, one of eight players on the current U.S. roster to do so. The core group from 2022 has given the U.S. this time around a mature identity, “we’re four years older,” Reyna explained.

Of course, one major difference between that edition and this year is the expanded field. Forty-eight teams qualified for FIFA World Cup 2026 for the first time in the tournament’s 96-year history, and 32 advanced out of the group stage to make up the first-ever Round of 32.

In 2022, the U.S. finished second in Group B and advanced to take on the Netherlands in the Round of 16. For the 13 rostered players who were part of that 2022 squad, that experience has helped them prepare for what’s to come and given them perspective based on four more years of life experience.

“When you mature in life, it's just a feeling,” Reyna said. “It’s an understanding of maturity, of decision making, of being more calm and understanding situations. Overall, it gives a sense of balance and confidence to the team when you've been there and done it before.”

Balogun, a World Cup debutant, and wingback Sergiño Dest, a 2022 returnee, spoke on Sunday about the increased seriousness as the tournament moves into its next phase. The U.S. will get its first single-elimination test on Wednesday, July 1 at San Francisco Bay Area Stadium against Bosnia and Herzegovina, the third-place team out of Group B, after the U.S. wrapped up group play with a program-best six points.

“It's a game we want to win,” Ream said. “It's a game that we have to put everything into and put in a performance the way we have in the group stage. Then, we see where that takes us. But in terms of pressure, there's nothing added, nothing extra, and that's the way we've approached every single game.”

This Round of 32 match will introduce for the first time in the tournament extra time and penalty kicks. There are no draws from here on out, so a winner will be determined to trigger advancement. If a match is tied after 90 minutes of regulation, then 30 minutes of extra time is added. Were a match to remain tied after the 120 minutes of regulation plus extra time, the winner will come from a penalty kick shootout, which we’ve seen play out already on Day 2 of the knockout rounds with Paraguay’s stunning victory in penalties over four-time World Cup champion Germany.

For the U.S., the team has learned to “expect the unexpected” when it comes to World Cup play. Ream said the group has been working on and practicing penalty kicks since before the tournament began. The Round of 32 and beyond will come down to preparation and knowing that anything can happen.

“We have to expect the unexpected, as we proved against Australia,” Ream said. “You see similarities [with Bosnia and Herzegovina] but then there are also things that we're going to have to solve that they throw at us in situations in game. That’s down to us as players to figure those puzzles out.”