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Tim Ream, the U.S. men’s national team captain, is thinking big for the World Cup, and doesn’t care who knows.
Ream, 38, said that there is no reason to shy away from embracing the team’s goals: winning it all.
“The mindset is let’s win the thing. Let’s win the World Cup,” Ream told Fox News Digital in a recent interview.
“I don’t think there’s any reason to shy away from saying it, and every team will want to win, right? And there’s no reason for us to shy away.”
The United States reached the Round of 16 in the 2022 World Cup despite being an inexperienced group, and Ream said the team wants to build on that experience. Ream said the team has taken on the mindset of trying to win it all from the first day of training.
For Ream, the process of being selected for the World Cup squad was different from 2022. In 2022, he said he had none of the buildup and made the team after a last-minute call, while this year it felt like time was crawling.
The St. Louis native called it a relief to make the team.
“I would say it was relief this time around. It was such a long drawn-out — I wouldn’t say process, but it just felt like the weeks were going by so slow until that announcement,” Ream said.
“I dropped everything and called my wife, and I choked up. I’m not going to lie. There was a little bit of relief and that pressure release and the thought of, okay, everything that you’ve done is worth it, right? Everything that you’ve gone through, all the decisions you’ve made between 2022 and now, have been worth it.”
Ream said that playing in the United States for the World Cup does add some additional meaning, but the expectations are the same regardless of where they play.
“I think it definitely does have a little bit different meaning. I don’t think that the pressure or the expectations change. I think some people get it a little bit wrong, which is that it’s a World Cup. It doesn’t matter where you’re playing it. It’s a World Cup. The expectations and the and the pressure are going to be there,” Ream said.
“The difference is that we’re gonna have hopefully — and we would love it — that we will have full stadiums of U.S. supporters and people all over the country supporting us. Feeling that energy and that that excitement in in each city that we’re that we’re in.”
Ream said he wants to make sure he enjoys the moment, takes in as much as he possibly can and sees how far the team can go.
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At 38 years old, Ream hasn’t thought about whether would this would be his last World Cup, but he recognizes his age and what lies ahead.
“I’m not really thinking about it yet. I said that after 2022 that, oh, that was probably it. And here I am sitting here again in 2026. So, I haven’t really thought about it. I’m no dummy, I know that at 38 I’m well past I think what most people would consider a big-time (player) or someone who can be here regularly after this,” Ream said.
“I’ve done so much to put myself in this position to be a part of this group, to be a part of a home World Cup, that I’m not even thinking about what happens next. I think once the World Cup finishes, then then I’ll think about where I go from there.”
Goodnites
Approximately one in six children experience bedwetting between the ages of 3 and 12, and Ream experienced bedwetting until age 11. He partnered with Goodnites, an underwear brand, to show kids who might feel isolated or ashamed by bedwetting that it is a common part of childhood, and it’s nothing to be ashamed of.
“(As) someone who’s been through this,” Ream said. “I don’t need to feel ashamed, it doesn’t define who I am. It doesn’t take away from what they’re dreaming of doing or their future.”
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“It’s about inspiring kids. It’s about helping the parents, as I said, and reminding families that bedwetting is a common part of childhood and it’s nothing that they should be ashamed of.”
Ream is a father of three and said that he and his children will wear Goodnites to bed to help protect their confidence and normalize the experience.
“It’s really as easy as saying, ‘Hey, listen, boys, we’re going to wear these tonight. It protects you. You’ll get a good night’s sleep. It’s nothing to like I said, it’s nothing to be ashamed of. And it was really the best thing. They would wake up feeling good. We would have no, nighttime wakeups where we were all scrambling to try to calm people down and calm kids down and get them back to sleep,” Ream said.
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