JUANA SUMMERS, HOST:
Tomorrow, U.S. Soccer will announce the 26 men who will represent the United States at the World Cup, which begins in under three weeks throughout the U.S., Canada and Mexico. While we don't know exactly which individuals will be named to the national team, we do have a sense of their collective identity.
TIM REAM: We're a country full of immigrants. That's what the country was built on. And so, you know, the identity is grit. It's determination. It's hard work. It is all these things wrapped into one.
SUMMERS: Defender Tim Ream is one probable pick for the final roster. He's previously served as team captain and started all four games at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. Ream is also the only player in the current talent pool who remembers the last time this tournament was held in the States in 1994, though he was only 6 years old. When we spoke last week, he brought up how much American soccer has changed since then.
REAM: There was no professional league in the U.S. the last time we hosted a World Cup, and now there's 30 teams in said professional league that we have. And the question always comes up, what will change? What will be different? What will the landscape look like? And none of us can predict, but I do try to, you know, let the guys know, like, this is what came out of the last World Cup, a professional league. And now there's multiple professional leagues at multiple levels in the U.S. So imagine, you know, what could potentially, you know, be on the horizon and the growth of the game even more so, you know, than after 1994.
SUMMERS: Yeah. We're living in an age where top players are recruited for professional clubs before they turn 18, and that makes you a little bit of a late bloomer. I know that you went to college. You spent some time...
REAM: Yup.
SUMMERS: ...At MLS before playing in Europe. You were named to your first World Cup four years ago. You're already in your 30s. Do you think that gives you any sort of perspective that maybe some of your younger teammates don't have quite yet?
REAM: Yeah. I mean, I guess it could give a little bit of perspective. I also think it might give even others hope, really, you know, in terms of, OK, there was somebody who didn't start or didn't become a professional until after college. And for me, that path and that journey was fully necessary in order to reach where I wanted to reach - right? - and to get to the goals that I wanted to get to. But I think what makes, you know, the team so unique is that we all have done it in different ways. As you said, some guys are recruited now before they even turn 18. I didn't start professionally until I was 22. There's everything in between, you know, those ages and some guys who didn't even start playing, you know, full time until they were 16...
SUMMERS: Yeah.
REAM: ...Which is crazy in and of itself. So it does - you know, it gives me an appreciation for how many different ways there are to make it in sports.
SUMMERS: So, Tim, if you're selected for that national team roster, what are you prepared to do?
REAM: Wow. I love how you put the if because that is the way I've been approaching it.
SUMMERS: Yeah.
REAM: If - like, nothing is guaranteed, right? Nothing is set in stone. You know, decisions are still being made, and nobody is safe. And, you know, for me, it's - what am I prepared to do? I'm prepared to do anything I possibly can to help the team win. If that's starting every game and playing every minute, as I did in 2022; if it's, you know, being the person who comes on and helps see out the games; is it, you know, being the leader behind the scenes and the voice behind the scenes to help guys navigate, you know, the whole World Cup Tournament? I'm willing and able to do anything that's asked of me. This thing, this team, the game is so much bigger than just one individual.
SUMMERS: And in your mind, what would be a success for this team in 2026? What would that look like?
REAM: I hate to put, like, a cap on it or a hard place on it. I think that would be doing a disservice to the group. So everybody's going to have a spot where they say, oh, well, it's only going to be a success if they get to this point or if they get this far, if they only make it to a quarter final or they have to make it to a semifinal. I don't need to say because I think that adds more pressure than is necessary. You know, we already have that pressure on us to perform, and we put it on ourselves. So let's see where we are at the end of the tournament, and then I think will all be able to say whether it was successful or not.
SUMMERS: Yeah. I mean, I think since 1994, there has been this huge expectation of growth in U.S. men's soccer, this idea that one day the sport would really break through here in the States. And the reality, though, is that the men's team has one win in the knockout stages of the World Cup since the 1930s. Do you think this team has the potential to at least match that?
REAM: Yeah, I do. I definitely do. I think, you know, piggybacking on, you know, about how far do we think we can go, I have no doubt in my mind that we can win in a knockout stage. I have no doubt that we can win, you know, multiple games in the knockout stages. So it's just a matter of making sure that, you know, we're prepared, we're focused. We know what to expect.
You know, the last World Cup, none of us had played. We had one guy who had played in a World Cup previously. So it was all new to us. And now I think guys have a much better understanding of what it takes and, you know, how to perform on, you know, the biggest stage in the world. So I have no doubt that we can win the knockout stage, and I have no doubt that we can win more than one knockout stage games, you know, coming up in, you know, this World Cup.
SUMMERS: Just thinking big picture here, we are seeing a World Cup that's going to have so many matches here in the United States. Where do you hope that leads American soccer in general? What impact do you think that'll have?
REAM: We've been using the line of it's going to be 104 games, right? And it's going to be 104 - imagine 104 Super Bowls basically back to back to back for a month. And that is - I mean, it's just incredible. Over 5 billion people will be watching and paying attention to the games. I think the biggest hope and, you know, a dream would be to say we've inspired our own country - right? - of 330 plus million people. We've inspired different generations, from adults who have, you know, been passionate about the game for a long time. We're inspiring the next generation of players who are already fully focused and ingrained in the game and want to become the next iteration of the U.S. National Team. I hope we are able to inspire the group of kids underneath them who are, you know, maybe thinking about continuing on or maybe looking at, you know, specializing in a sport and they're debating whether soccer is going to be that one or not. I hope we can persuade them with our performances, with our guys, with our attitudes that soccer is the sport for them.
(SOUNDBITE OF VISIONEERS' "IKE'S MOOD I")
SUMMERS: That was Tim Ream. He's a defender for Charlotte FC of Major League Soccer, and he's also hoping to be part of the U.S. team at the World Cup.
(SOUNDBITE OF VISIONEERS' "IKE'S MOOD I") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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