USMNT captain Tim Ream wants to keep the American public on board heading into the knockout rounds at the FIFA World Cup 2026.
It would be fair to say that not much was expected of the USMNT at this year’s World Cup but Mauricio Pochettino’s side have impressed thus far.
The US go through as group winners and are joined by Australia despite losing right at the end. How far is Mauricio Pochettino's side capable of going?
While they did lose to Turkey in their final group stage game, they emerged from Group D as winners following wins over Paraguay and Australia.
There is a palpable sense of excitement in America to see just how far the USMNT can go in the World Cup and Ream wants to keep that going.
Ream wants to make USMNT fans happy
Asked during an interview before the Turkey game with United States Soccer and La Colombe Coffee about what the mindset of the squad was, veteran defender Ream said: “Our mindset can’t change.
“We can’t afford to kind of ease off and lose that momentum. We feel that momentum, we feel like we’re riding that wave.
“We have the support. We’ve had two really, really incredible performances and the country has responded. We want to continue that on going into the third game against Turkey but then beyond that is where we need to continue.
“It’s so important. Once you get that, you don’t want to let it go. It’s like a snowball, right? You want it to keep getting bigger, bigger and bigger.”
Pochettino’s side will certainly be expected to reach the round of 16 at least. They will play Bosnia and Herzegovina in San Francisco on Thursday night and the momentum could well continue.
There is certainly hope that the USMNT can get into the latter stages of the competition for the first time in years. Not since the 2002 tournament in South Korea and Japan have they reached the quarter-finals, while their only appearance in the semi-finals came way back in 1930 at the inaugural edition of the World Cup.
Thursday’s opponents clearly have to be treated with respect but there’s a very strong chance the USMNT whip the excitement of the nation’s soccer fans with another big win, particularly now Christian Pulisic has recovered from injury.
Pulisic, undoubtedly his country’s best player, had been dealing with a calf injury and was unable to continue past the first half against Paraguay but came off the bench for the final half an hour against Turkey to round off the group stage.
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