It’s been close to five months since Tim Weah represented the U.S. men’s national team and with the winger riding one of his best individual runs of form, his teammates are excited to have him back.
Weah missed the USMNT’s 1-0 CONCACAF Nations League quarterfinal first leg on Thursday due to suspension. The Juventus winger was forced to miss the match after receiving a red card in the USMNT’s 2-1 Copa America group stage loss to Panama last June.
CONCACAF handed down a two-match suspension for Weah, who also missed the Americans’ 1-0 defeat to Uruguay in their group stage finale last summer, a result that eliminated the USMNT from the competition and ultimately ended Gregg Berhalter’s second spell as head coach.
Hamstring and ankle injuries forced Weah to miss the September and October international windows, but the 24-year-old has recovered nicely by scoring three goals in his last five club appearances for the Bianconeri.
With Weah set for his first involvement under Mauricio Pochettino in Monday’s second leg in St. Louis, veteran defender Tim Ream admitted not much has been said about Weah’s disappointing exit from the Copa America.
“I don’t think there’s been too much discussion in this camp at all regarding that situation,” Ream told media when asked about Weah’s red card vs. Panama. “And obviously, emotions run high and situations happen in games. But I think everything that needed to be said was said straight after that Panama game.
“That’s not even dressing him down and yelling at him or telling him that he’s messed up,” he added. “He knew that himself, and that’s the sign of somebody who understands their role. It’s the sign of a good group of a good team that we didn’t have to.”
Weah’s return is a welcomed boost for the USMNT, who rode an early Ricardo Pepi goal in Thursday’s 1-0 victory. Injuries to Folarin Balogun, Haji Wright, Josh Sargent, and Gio Reyna have limited the amount of attacking options for Pochettino to call on for the two-legged series.
Whether Weah jumps back into the starting lineup or comes off the bench remains to be seen, but the USMNT is happy to have the 24-year-old back regardless.
“You could see it on his face from the minute we walked in inside from that game.” Ream said. “So I mean, easy for us to have him back, easy for him to just jump back in and be with the group and be with the guys. It’s probably been harder for him being away from the last two camps than anything.”
hi there folks,
one big difference is the freedom for Jedi, my opinion; not just pushed high, but freedom to roam, and then the lungs and heart to bust back, along with some help from his friends, like Tess, and the wingers, etc
very fun
he’s sending Jedi inside like Klopp with TAA
beachbum,
I guess we have a 4 man back line only part of the time now.
At one point Jedi was on the right wing in Jamaica’s final third.
I want to see how they use Dest when he comes back.
If Musah would be more decisive on his final ball he would be a handful.
JR, dude, watching this, are you and the pessimists gonna take back the rubbish where this team has no talent.
this should be making it abundantly clear how bad this was held back by poor coaching.
IV: what about the part where you wanted to kick all these guys to the curb? Just enjoy my friend. This is what I’ve been telling you for six months this squad and style could look like if they were more decisive and had better movement off the ball. Did you see Cole scored for the U20s today against France?
do you see busio, morris, and sargent out there?
IV: Sargent and Morris are hurt. You also have advocated kicking out Weston, Musah, and Jedi so …
this is fun to watch. i know you have to grind the away game but it’s been 3 games of derivative rubbish. tempo was improving but this is the first time i am seeing creative player usage, positioning, and runs in maybe a decade.
Pitch was so bad in Kingston, you couldn’t play this way on that pasture.
bull, they were playing more conventionally, and were a turnover machine once the mids turned upfield
IV: the pitch was terrible the grass was long, coming up in chunks, and the ball was playing slow. It was completely at fault I’m sure but you couldn’t play the way they were in the first half before the rain came.
so he’s figured out my idea of puli and/or reyna central. get one or both of those 2 running face front at people making passes. instead of depending on mckennie and musah to work through tight spaces and set the table, which was dumb.
IV,
“so he’s figured out my idea of puli and/or reyna central. get one or both of those 2 running face front at people making passes.”
So that was your idea?
What would Pochettino have done w/o you?
I guess you’ll take credit for every decent thing the USMNT does going forward.
U20s defeat France 2-1, goals from Cole Campbell and Taha Habroune.
you wanna explain to me why we have a dortmund sub who has 3 goals in 4 high age group YNT caps (against teams like england U19 or france U20) sitting behind B teamer bench attackers?
Because they want him to play. They know Pulisic and Weah are going to take most of the minutes. Is he going to beat out Musah and Wes for minutes probably not. I’m not sure why goes with the U20s though Dortmund isn’t going to release him when the U20 WC is in the fall. If you recall I said I’d call him but I was pretty confident Poch wouldn’t this time.
Ream please stop acting like a dom colonizer. Really off putting that’s how you and Tyler Adams get down, getting in peoples faces. That’s borderline assault! Stop getting in teammates faces, let the coach do that. Nobody is scared of you all. All the bonehead blunder moves who have done your whole USMNT career. Only reason Ream is called up, cause he is a former overrated EPL player and has the complexion for the protection.
Good ol’ Mauricio Pochettino…… I love his mentality!!!!!
On today’s press conference, the USMNT head coach Mauricio Pochettino had this to say regarding dual-national players.
“I don’t want to give names, but we are working on other players to try to see if they want to be committed with us,” he said.
“We don’t need to convince. A player needs to want to play for the for the national team. I am Argentinian. I wanted to play for Argentina, it’s not because of a contract. It’s not because the possibility to play in Europe.”
“No, I was desperate to defend my badge, my flag. We need to be careful. No need to convince a player. One player cannot be more important than the team or 300 million people.”
“The player, if he’s an American player, needs to be desperate, needs to show that we need him. Because, if not, we are a weak Federation.”
“We want, maybe less talent, but people who will come in and be desperate to defend that shirt and fight for the country.”
“If they show this type of attitude and behavior, of course, for sure they’re going to have the opportunity to show their quality.”
Recently, there are USMNT-eligible players like Luca Koleosho, Anrie Chase, and Nathaniel Brown who have been playing well in Europe. Let’s see if they will be committed to the U.S. or choose other national teams.
“That’s not even dressing him down and yelling at him or telling him that he’s messed up,” he added. “He knew that himself, and that’s the sign of somebody who understands their role. It’s the sign of a good group of a good team that we didn’t have to.” He literally said no one had to get in his face and yell at him.
JR you are a Ream apologist, he did like he did Dest. Please sop windmilling, 2011 GC against Jamaica since goofy OK2 think\
bigs you up, but yet do no research on what I say. Even Tele, called you out on how we never thread behind Jamaica.
I have no idea what you are talking about I went back and watch the footage. Tim never goes near Tim. Do you have a link to what you’re talking about? Also a poor play 13 yrs ago is your evidence he shouldn’t play today?
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“Even Tele, called you out on how we never thread behind Jamaica.” What? I assume autocorrect is stepping in here?
That’s a really odd response to the article. Seems as if Ream was very supportive.
RNG,
I’m sure the players let both Dest and Weah know that they let how stupid they were and how they let down the team. And they should have.
But after that, it sounds like the players, even Ream, rallied around Weah and Dest.
After all, they all know that they could be the next one to concede a penalty or get a red card.
Reading is fundamental. The article says the opposite of what you implying.
Bruce S.
“Reading is fundamental.”
Reading something accurately is one thing. Understanding what you are reading is another thing.