Tim Ream Recalls 'Shock' Following USMNT's World Cup Exit

Tim Ream, captain of the U.S. men's national team, described the squad's immediate reaction to their World Cup elimination by Belgium on July 6 as "shock" and "disbelief." He stated that the team struggled to comprehend what had occurred, as the performance was a stark contrast to their play leading up to that match.

"It’s trying to put together and understand what had just gone on because it was polar opposite of the way we had played up to that point," Ream told ESPN’s “The Pat McAfee Show.” Despite entering the Round of 16 match with optimism after a 2-1 victory over Bosnia and Herzegovina, the U.S. team made several errors in their eventual 4-1 defeat to Belgium.

Ream emphasized that the entire squad faced scrutiny for their performance, with Christian Pulisic drawing particular criticism. Pulisic, an attacker for AC Milan, did not score in the tournament and left the Belgium match early due to a right ankle injury. However, Ream asserted that the poor performance was not isolated to Pulisic.

"I don’t think anybody had their best game by any stretch," Ream said. "It just seemed like everything that could go wrong was going to go wrong that night, which is a shame because we put so much work in to get to that point."

Despite the disappointing end to their World Cup run, Ream believes the team's journey positively impacted the growth of soccer in the United States. He noted that the team discussed how to inspire more people to embrace the sport.

"One of the secondary conversations that we were having as a group was how can we inspire and get more people to love this game?" Ream recalled. "How can we get them to fall in love with the game, be passionate about the game, get behind the team, get behind the sport even more? And what is it going to take from us as players to do that?"

He added, "And that was right. We need to put on performances and win games. And throughout the tournament we felt it grow and grow and grow and grow. And from that standpoint, I think we’re proud of the performances and of the games that we did win."