Tim Ream admitted that the USMNT still had a critical lesson to learn before it can truly compete on the global stage.
The USA’s World Cup came to a heartbreaking end in the last 16 when Mauricio Pochettino’s side crashed out in a 4-1 defeat to Belgium on home soil in Los Angeles.
Almost two weeks later, while the rest of the world is gearing up for the greatest sporting event on earth – the World Cup final between Spain and Argentina – US captain Ream delivered a sobering post-mortem of the host nation’s tournament and its bitter end.
‘The main lesson is how hard it is to maintain your performance,’ he said during an event to celebrate the return of the MLS season following its World Cup break on Thursday.
‘The best teams in the world can do that over and over again. That’s a lesson that we have gotten significantly better at but still need to improve.’
The USA’s final game had been overshadowed by controversy after FIFA decided to suspend Folarin Balogun’s one-game ban following an intervention from Donald Trump – something which the star forward claimed affected the entire USMNT.
Tim Ream admitted that the USMNT still had a critical lesson to learn after the World Cup
The USA’s World Cup came to a heartbreaking end in a defeat to Belgium in the last 16
The 25-year-old was thrust into the center of a global storm after it emerged that the President had lobbied FIFA boss Gianni Infantino to review his red card. Balogun was sent off during the USA’s win over Bosnia and Herzegovina, with an automatic suspension initially ruling him out of the last-16 game against Belgium.
However, even with Balogun on the pitch, the USA suffered humiliation at the hands of Belgium – Ream included.
Just 12 minutes after the start of the second half, goalkeeper Matt Freese committed a horrific blunder by coming far off his line and then catching his foot in the turf as he tried to clear the ball.
He was dispossessed by Hans Vanaken, who then shot the ball past Ream – who moved his foot out of the way of a potential deflection – and into the American net.
But Ream insisted that the eliminating loss wasn’t a just reflection of the entire tournament for the USA, who had won two of their group-stage games before beating Bosnia and Herzegovina en route to the last 16.
‘You have to objectively analyse both sides,’ he insisted, speaking at the MLS Next Chapter event in New York. ‘You can have great performances and win. You can have great games, and lose. You have bad performances and still win games. It’s the beauty of the sport.
‘But when you look at the overall way that we played, other than the last game, I think it was, not overly positive, but we felt good about it until that last game.’
With the World Cup having not yet reached its end – with the finale taking place between Spain and Argentina in New York this weekend – Ream admitted it’s still tough to process the USA’s loss.
Ream claimed that the USMNT needed to be more consistent throughout its performances
Folarin Balogun was controversially sent off by referee Raphael Claus in the Round of 32
Donald Trump called FIFA chief Gianni Infantino to ask him to review the sending off
‘It’s interesting because you’re there for weeks on end and then all of a sudden it’s just done,’ he said. ‘It just stops and it just cuts off.
‘It’s tough to process that and look where things could have gone better, where things went wrong. But at the end of the day, we all got to play at the World Cup.
The defender was handed the armband by Pochettino as the veteran leader of the US side. However, whether he will still be leading the USMNT in four years’ time when the World Cup arrives in Saudi Arabia remains to be seen.
The Charlotte FC star, who turns 39 in October, admitted that another World Cup – what would be his third for the Stars and Stripes – may be out of reach.
‘I’m going to be 39, so I can’t see that there’s too much left,’ he said. ‘I’m still going to keep playing, but again it’s not up to me.
‘I’ve maintained for a long time that I won’t retire from the national team until I retire [from football] and that’s just not because I think I should still be there or other people do. It’s just one of those things where you don’t want to throw in the hat until you throw in the whole hat.’
