USMNT provide added motivation in Ream renaissance

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Between New Year’s Day 2021 and the end of that domestic season in England, Tim Ream took in more appearances for the United States than he did for Fulham in the Premier League. He turned out for the USMNT on three occasions but appeared in the English top flight just twice.

Even those outings came at the very end of the campaign as a team heading towards relegation opted to indulge in a spot of late pack-shuffling. The following season, Ream featured in all 46 of the Cottagers’ games as they surged to the Championship title.

Fortune

Favour was very much his again, with only the odd injury preventing him from being a mainstay in 2022-23. Ream has now enjoyed impressive reversals in fortune on both personal and collective fronts.

Fulham are back in the big time and while they may not sit among the favourites in Premier League winner odds – with 4/9 shots Manchester City topping that pile – ambition is burning bright.

Plenty of football tips are now siding with the West London outfit when it comes to bids for top-half finishes, challenges for Europe and efforts to secure major silverware in domestic cup competitions. Ream has also helped to make the United States an emerging force on the global international scene.

His vast experience continues to be put to good use, with an individual renaissance continuing as much with the U.S. national team as the club side that pays his wages.

Ream has become a key part of Marco Silva’s plans at Craven Cottage, with Premier League minutes aplenty being taken in when it appeared at one stage – just a couple of years ago – that his days at said level may be numbered.

Life in the shadows would have made it difficult for a place in the American national team to be nailed down, but the commanding centre-half now has over 50 caps to his name and represented his country at the 2022 World Cup finals in Qatar.

He does not appear to be in need of added motivation at present, but some is being found regardless.

Long-term goals are being put in place, with Ream setting his sights on a home World Cup in 2026 that will be co-hosted by the United States, Canada and Mexico.

He has said: “I thought ‘OK, this is it, I’ve made 50 or so appearances for the U.S. team, I’ve made it to a World Cup and I’ve achieved my dream.’ But the more I thought about it, I thought, ‘Why can’t I get to another one?’ I had that taste and I’m like, ‘I want another one’.”

Force

You would not put in past Ream prolonging his playing days at the very highest level for the best part of three more years. As long as he can steer clear of the treatment table, then a game built around speed of thought and sheer brute force should stand up just fine.

Every challenge that Ream has faced in his career to this point has been tackled in the same manner as he deals with a long ball over the top – head on – and that should help to bring another outing at FIFA’s flagship event well within reach.