When the USA hosts Canada at Kansas City’s Children’s Mercy Park on Saturday, it will have been 10 weeks since the USA’s dour day at Kansas City’s Arrowhead Stadium.
A 1-0 loss to Uruguay on July 1 eliminated the USA at the group stage from the Copa America it was hosting.
Coach Gregg Berhalter got the sack 10 days later.
During a U.S. Soccer press conference on Tuesday, U.S. defender Tim Ream was asked what U.S. Soccer has told the players about the hiring of Berhalter’s successor.
“We know as much as everybody else,” said Ream. “We were updated a few weeks ago that the search was moving in a positive direction and at this point that’s where everybody is at.
“We feel and have been told that when something happens, we will know. And everybody else will know pretty quickly after. So we are updated, but we have not been told anything is final up to this point.”
That answer came after Ream fielded questions about Argentine coach Mauricio Pochettino, whose reported agreement to take the U.S. head coaching job has not been finalized.
“Obviously, he’s a high-quality, high-level manager,” said Ream.
The 36-year-old defender, one of 18 players in the current squad who were part of the Copa America campaign, last month joined Charlotte FC from Fulham, which faced Pochettino-coached teams four times while Ream was with the Cottagers.
During the 2023-24 Premier League season, Ream captained Fulham in a 2-0 home loss to Pochettino-coached Chelsea last October and watched from the bench as Chelsea won, 1-0, on its turf last January.
During Pochettino’s 2014-2019 tenure at the helm of Tottenham Hotspur, Fulham fell 2-1 at home and 3-1 away to Spurs.
“His teams are always difficult to play against,” Ream said. “They were teams that were really well organized and really strong in the attacking sense.”
Mikey Varas, a Berhalter assistant and former U.S. U-20 coach, will serve as interim U.S. boss against Canada on Saturday and vs. New Zealand in Cincinnati on Tuesday.
USMNT Roster
Name (Club) caps/goals (age)
GOALKEEPERS (4)
Ethan Horvath (Cardiff City/WAL) 10/0 (29)*
Diego Kochen (FC Barcelona II/ESP) 0/0 (18)
Patrick Schulte (Columbus Crew) 1/0 (23)
Matt Turner (Crystal Palace/ENG) 44/0 (30)*
DEFENDERS (8):
Auston Trusty (Celtic/SCO) 2/0 (26)
Marlon Fossey (Standard Liege/BEL) 0/0 (25)
Kristoffer Lund (Palermo/ITA) 3/0 (22)*
Mark McKenzie (Toulouse/FRA) 13/0 (25)*
Tim Ream (Charlotte FC) 61/1 (36)*
Chris Richards (Crystal Palace/ENG) 21/1 (24) *
Joe Scally (Borussia Mönchengladbach/GER) 14/0 (21)*
Caleb Wiley (Strasbourg/FRA) 2/0 (19)
MIDFIELDERS (6):
Johnny Cardoso (Real Betis/ESP) 15/0 (22)*
Luca de la Torre (Celta Vigo/ESP) 22/0 (26)*
Aidan Morris (Middlesbrough/ENG) 5/0 (22)
Yunus Musah (AC Milan) ITA) 39/0 (21)*
Gio Reyna (Borussia Dortmund/GER) 31/8 (21)*
Malik Tillman (PSV Eindhoven/NED) 12/0 (22)*
FORWARDS (6):
Brenden Aaronson (Leeds United/ENG) 42/8 (23)*
Folarin Balogun (Monaco/FRA) 15/5 (23)*
Ricardo Pepi (PSV Eindhoven/NED) 28/10 (21)*
Christian Pulisic (AC Milan/ITA) 71/30 (25)*
Josh Sargent (Norwich City/ENG) 25/5 (24)*
Haji Wright (Coventry City/ENG) 11/4 (26)*
*Members of 2024 Copa America squad.
Note: Four Copa America starters missing are Tyler Adams and Tim Weah (both injured), Antonee Robinson (on a break after undergoing two offseason surgeries), and Weston McKennie (working on his fitness after missing almost all of preseason at Juventus).
The clash with Canada takes place at the home of Sporting Kansas City that lies 22 miles west, across the state line, of Arrowhead Stadium, where the USA’s Copa America ended prematurely.
“After the Copa America ended, there was a mutual feeling within the dressing room of disappointment,” said striker Folarin Balogun, who shared the podium with Ream on Tuesday. “But we knew that we had to put it to rest, we had to go away, reflect and come back for this camp.
“As always, when we have the opportunity to wear this jersey, it’s about putting on a show for our fans, giving it 100 percent.”
Canada, coached by American Jesse Marsch, managed a fourth-place finish at the Copa America.
“The conversation among all of us and with Mikey has been, let’s treat this camp as the most important at this time,” Ream said. “It’s important that we acknowledge what happened with Copa. It was a disappointment, but there’s the opportunity to regroup and move everything in a more positive direction than it was.”
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Publish date : 2024-09-02 13:00:00
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