Latest Team USA News and Notes - 06/06

We’re less than a week away from the start of the 2026 World Cup, which is taking place in North America for the first time since 1994. Among the 48 teams in the field is Team USA, as the men’s national team tries to make a sustained run in the tournament. The goal is to go deeper than any of the modern era iterations of the squad have in recent tournaments.

Team USA has reached the round of 16 in three of the last four World Cups, including in 2022. Their best run, other than their third-place finish in 1930, was a run to the quarterfinals in 2002. Let’s take a look at the latest news surrounding the USMNT ahead of their final tune-up match ahead of the group stage starting next week.

Ream Named Captain

Manager Mauricio Pochettino made the announcement that defender Tim Ream is captain of the squad. Ream, who is the oldest player on the squad as he turns 39 in October, is back for his second World Cup run. He was a member of the 2022 squad that reached the round of 16. Ream has been a part of the USMNT since 2014 and is a fitting captain for a squad that has 11 players that are 25 or younger entering the World Cup.

In his career, Ream has 62 international appearances, 52 of which have been starts. Being a defender, offensive production isn’t his game. Ream has just one goal and three assists to his credit in those outings. His lone goal in international play came in a friendly against Puerto Rico in a 3-1 victory on May 22, 2016. He’ll be the anchor in the defensive half of the field for Team USA.

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Injury Concerns

Center back Chris Richards was added to the team under the expectation that he would be good to go. He sustained an ankle injury, including some ligament damage, while playing for Crystal Palace of the Premier League May 17. At the time, the thought process was that he’d return to action last week for the Conference League final. Instead, Richards never saw action, sitting on the bench as an unused substitute the entire way.

He didn’t take the field in the USMNT’s international friendly Sunday against Senegal, which the Americans won 3-2. On Friday, Pochettino announced that Richards wouldn’t suit up for their final tune-up match against Germany Saturday. There is serious doubt as to whether Richards is going to be ready to go for the Americans. Pochettino had some choice words about the information they received from Crystal Palace about his injury. It’s the worst possible news for the USMNT given how thin they are at that particular position.

Reports are that he is improving but that doesn’t mean much in the grand scheme of things.

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Contingency Plans?

We talked above about the situation with Richards and his murky status at best when it comes to suiting up. The fact that Pochettino made the decision to go a bit thin at the position might force some unorthodox formation shifts for the Americans. As to what that might entail, well, suffice it to say that none of the ideas Pochettino threw out recently were ones that anyone had on their bingo card.

Pochettino ta\ked about players like Ty\er Adams, Cristian Roldan and Sebastian Berhalter, each of whom have at \east played in the defensive midfield at some point. After that, he seemed to venture off the reservation with his further comments. Pochettino went on to mention that Gio Reyna or Malik Tillman could potentially slot into that role if necessary. All good on paper but the problem is simple. Neither of those two has ever played in the defensive midfield in their careers. Reyna is a winger and Tillman is an attacking midfielder.

Crazy architect or a desperate gambler? Thatl’s the question that is being considered given the uncertainty of the roster construction. We’ll have a better idea when we see how the USMNT fares in their friend\y with Germany.

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