Ream Calls USMNT 'True Representation of America'
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- Tim Ream said the USMNT's diverse roster — including Weston McKennie and Sergiño Dest, children of U.S. service members born abroad — is 'a true representation of what America is,' calling the squad 'a melting pot of people, of personalities, of characters.'
- Ream described July Fourth as 'triple special' because the holiday falls during the World Cup and while the team is on U.S. soil, with the squad set to watch fireworks from a rooftop bar after training at the University of Washington in Seattle.
- Mauricio Pochettino threw out the first pitch at a Seattle Mariners game on Friday night, with Ream saying the Argentine manager has 'taken to the culture' after feeling something when 'Country Roads' was blasted through the stadium on his first Seattle visit.
- Ream spent most of his professional career in England with Bolton Wanderers and Fulham FC before returning to MLS with Charlotte FC, and said Americans in the U.K. 'don't actually know why we celebrate the Fourth' — which he called 'crazy' given Britain's role in American independence.
Why it matters: Ream's comments frame the USMNT's World Cup identity around multiculturalism rather than competitive narrative, while Pochettino — an Argentine — publicly immersing himself in American culture (Mariners first pitch, 'Country Roads' moment) signals the manager is buying into the same symbolic pitch ahead of a home-soil tournament.
