The U.S. men’s national team’s January camps haven’t ultimately meant much in terms of results and records, but veteran defender Tim Ream praised the importance of it for the program.
Ream heads into January USMNT duty as the oldest member of Mauricio Pochettino’s 24-player roster. The USMNT will face Venezuela and Costa Rica on January 18 and 23 respectively, beginning the start of another year of 2026 World Cup preparation.
With no grueling qualifying schedule on the horizon, the USMNT will have many opportunities to groom their squad before the World Cup comes to U.S. soil in 2026.
Ream, who took part in his first January camp 14 years ago, reflected on the importance of this first camp of 2025.
“There’s still value in a January camp,” Ream said Friday to reporters. “We talk about my first one and it felt like an opportunity to get in front of the national team coach to put on the crest, to put on the training gear and kind of gel with guys that you’re going to potentially be coming through and potentially being involved in more national team camps going forward.
“So there’s definitely value.” he added. “I mean for me, I think it’s important for these guys to understand what the staff wants from them, not just here, but when they go back to their clubs. And I think this is a perfect opportunity to do that in a little bit of a different setting where there’s not the super intense pressure of the first five days to get all the tactics down and be preparing for a game.”
Pochettino won’t have the services of his European stars due to this camp falling outside of a FIFA international window, but will get a look at a lot of players. Majority of Pochettino’s roster play their club soccer in MLS, which will get its 2025 regular season underway in roughly six weeks.
For many of the players called in, this will be their first opportunity to impress the Argentine head coach ahead of competitive tournaments later this year. For others like Ream, this will be a new chance to show their leadership skills and provide valuable experience to many eager young players who want to make a positive impression.
The USMNT know that bigger challenges will come this spring and summer, but want to keep their consistency going, regardless of the opponent.
“Even if you’re on a team that is always winning, you still have to have that kind of bite, that mentality because as soon as you start to feel like you’re at a point where you’re doing well, then the rug gets pulled out from underneath you,” Ream said.
“I think it’s more of a winning mentality every single day, every single training session, every single pass,” he added. “Everything matters, right? And I think that’s more what [Pochettino’s] desire and his meaning is, is that everything counts. Everything matters every single day from the minute you wake up until you go to sleep. And it’s important to understand that and understand what he wants and that shines and shows through in training sessions…They’re intense.”
Berhalter bringing in Balogun didn’t, and hasn’t, legitimized the #9 position.
Oh, and what does “legitmizing the #9 position even mean???
Some might say that Berhalter got it right and “legitimized the #9 position” when he brought Pepi into the USMNT and he scored the game winning goal on the road in Honduras for WCQ, then scored twice vs Jamaica in the next WCQ game at home in Austin, which saved Berhalter’s job.
Maybe it was Berhalter that got it wrong by automatically handing Balogun a starting spot with the USMNT.
As a result, some might say that it was Berhalter, “who was excited by Balogun being shiny and new,” when he had already “legitimized the #9 position” with Pepi.
For a guy who says that “B’erhalter is a dead horse and beating him is getting boring,” you sure wrote a lot to defend Berhalter. So if beating him is getting boring, isn’t defending him getting boring, as well?
Oh, and the word, “windmilling” is a great word…for those of you that don’t know what it means, look it up.
PG,
If you call what I just did “defending Berhalter” God help the man. With defenders like me he does not needs anyone to prosecute him.
I wrote: “Gregg recruited Flo to “legitimize” the #9 position for the USMNT, for the Copa America and the 2026 WC.”
The tournament was a disaster but Flo played all three games and was our leading scorer with 2 goals.
It turns out the 2026 World Cup has not been played yet so the jury is out on that part of the recruitment and on Flo in general.
Once the tournament is done then everyone can decide whether the Flo recruitment was a success or a failure. Or not.
V,
My choice of words, “Defending Berhslter,” may have been off. But the fact of the matter, you were heckling someone because they were spending more time talking about Berhalter, and then ironically enough, you spend even more time responding about the same topic…Berhalter! I find that funny, and my choice to use the word, “funny,” is putting it very nicely…it deserves a more provocative word to properly encapsulate what you were doing.
I will reiterate, what does “legitimizing the #9 position even mean?” Who’s to say it needed legitimizing? Who says it wasn’t already legitimized going back to McBride? Maybe the reality of the situation is the #9 position had already been relegitimized recently by Pepi. Oh, and who’s definition of legitimize are we using?…yours?…Berhalter?
Copa was a disaster, and that is and was on Berhalter. Additionally, if 2 goals is what distinguishes Balogun from the rest of the #9 options, I’m confident, as are most other knowledgeable soccer oberservers, that Pepi could have done the same…shit, some might even say Sargent, in his less than 100% condition could have done the same. More succinctly, Balogun has done nothing to distinguish himself with the USMNT so as to justify Berhalter waltzing him right into a starting spot over others.
It is true, the 2026 WC has not been played, but the 2022 WC has been completed. The USMNT was a shit show in Quatar, including lacking a true #9 and a creative midfielder. That is because the guy “who always thinks he’s the smartest guy in the room,” aka Berhalter, decided to not take Pepi and he decided to piss off Gio through his shitty mismanagement style.
True, nothing will be a final evaluation for this crop of the USMNT until after WC 2026, but up until Poch took over, shit was going backwards, including Balogun.
There is a reason Arsenal decided to sell Balogun, keep Nketiah, and start Jesus, even though neither could score a goal to save each of their respective lives, and that is because Balogun has not shown to be as good as people think he is, whether it be with Arsenal, Monaco, or the USMNT.
“More succinctly, Balogun has done nothing to distinguish himself with the USMNT so as to justify Berhalter waltzing him right into a starting spot over others.”
You’re judging a race in the middle of the race. I prefer to wait until it is over.
” will reiterate, what does “legitimizing the #9 position even mean?” Who’s to say it needed legitimizing? Who says it wasn’t already legitimized going back to McBride? Maybe the reality of the situation is the #9 position had already been relegitimized recently by Pepi. Oh, and who’s definition of legitimize are we using?…yours?…Berhalter?”
Right now the USMNT has two “legitimized” positions- and that is where ever CP and Jedi play.
“There is a reason Arsenal decided to sell Balogun, keep Nketiah, and start Jesus, even though neither could score a goal to save each of their respective lives, and that is because Balogun has not shown to be as good as people think he is, whether it be with Arsenal, Monaco, or the USMNT.”
What is your point? I don’t care where he came from, I care where he finishes. He’s either going to prove that the USMNT was right to recruit him or not. If in 2026 the USMNT #9 wins the Golden Boot and is a big success who’s to say that it did not happen because all the competition forced the guy who eventually won the job to play his best. What matters is what the position does , not the individuals . If the guys on the bench put pressure on him, I don’t care if Duncan McGuire winds up winning the Golden Boot as our #9.
“More succinctly, Balogun has done nothing to distinguish himself with the USMNT so as to justify Berhalter waltzing him right into a starting spot over others.”
Nothing? That’s pretty strong. Who is judging Flo? You?
You’re judging a car in the middle of the race. I prefer to wait until it is over.
I get it. You’re biased.
But it is quite a long while yet until the 2026 team is picked and a lot can happen between now and then.
Loss of form, injuries, I’ll give you a name. Charlie Davies. He was a certain lock starter for the 2010 World Cup team.
Until he wasn’t.
So until that opening game kicks off you’ll forgive those of us who want to let these potentially intense positional battles play out, if only for the sake of developing the depth.
Plenty of young talent coming and currently our team is still young. Not worried about losing Esmir to Bosnia. To be honest he has a clearer pathway with Bosnia. To say he will be better than Pulisic is stretching. Right now Esmir isn’t close to Weah, Reyna, Pulisics, Tillman, and yes even Brendos level. I would definitely put Paredes, Luna, and Cowell over Esmir. Not to mention Yow. Then you have young attackers in Cole Campbell, Julian Hall, Mathis Albert, Berchimas. While Esmir does have talent he chose right.
As more talent emerges this is going to be more of a thing.
Misconstrue me not, never said better, never said he is better or will be better than Pulisic in the future, your reaching. I said, WILL some day have the potential to be as good as Pulisic, Weah, and Pepi. Smh🤦♂️🤦
Usmnt keep playing around we lost Esmir and he has evolved like crazy. He is going to be as good as Pulisic, Weah, and Pepi. Also fast track the youth in the CB/LB/RB pool. Ream, Zimmerman, and Shaq Moore are a no call up. Poch is being slow, nonchalant, and dubious with recruiting like Beerholder 🍺🫲🧑🦲. Jalen Neal, Reed Baker-Whiting, Grayson Dettoni, Arnie Chase, Noah Allen, Matai Akinmboni, Noah Cobb, Nathan Harriel, Peyton Miller, and Noahkai Banks, Chris Mbai-Assem, and Tyler Meiser
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It’s not that easy though. To play Esmir are you going to sit Weah, Pulisic or Reyna? Sorry Mr. Weah we are going to take the chance of you playing in your one chance at Copa America because this kid that might someday be as good and is whiney that he’s not playing. Berhalter played him last January when he had 600 MLS minutes and 0g. Word was even 2 or 3 years ago the family really wanted Bosnia. I’m sure having a Serb cut him from the Olympics didn’t help. But he got cut for Aaronson, Paredes, Yow, and Booth. Can you say Esmir was better than any of those guys last July?
Yes he was Esmir and Pax are even. JR u might have missed it they been slow integrating Pax to SR USMNT I have been complaining about that on here too. Pax and Esmir Beerholder should have given Copa spots to.
So you want to sit Weah or Pulisic to play Esmir when he had 1 career MLS goal? One of the absolute quickest ways to lose a team. Play a poorer player because someday he might be good. Why should you play hard when coach is more concerned about 5 years from now. This is how it’s done you either prove yourself for your club or you prove yourself with YTs, Esmir had done neither. As US depth increases you are going to see this more often. There just are not enough minutes to cap everyone. Esmir just is not as good as people ahead of him right now.
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If you go back and look I was very critical that Esmir did not play in the open door friendly vs Japan in June. Immediately after that he announced his switch. I don’t know if he didn’t play because USSF knew he was in talks with Bosnia or if Mitrovic didn’t rate him. If he just straight didn’t rate him and we do need to wonder about it since he also didn’t rate Luna then that’s on US.
Your comparing old time with new times. Have you ever heard of late and early bloomer? Sargent getting signed at Bundesliga at 18 which he was signed to Wolfsburg and played for their reserves Wolsburg II. Esmir going straight to Europe playing D1 no reserves. Again currently I would take Esmir he has not reached full potential and has excellent play maker skills and has more upside. Again you all keep windmilling for Beerholder, his recruiting was bad, look at Balogun was on fire now he is injured always and has been mid for USMNT only scoring on weak concacaf teams and a discombobulated Ghana.
Striker,
I agree, that Esmir has quality. That said, no spot on the USMNT, even for friendlies, is GIVEN…each spot is EARNED.
It can be debated all day long if Esmir had earned a spot on the USMNT for Copa America, but that was someone else’s decision to make. I just went back and reviewed the USMNT roster for Copa America, and personally, I don’t see where Esmir had earned a spot over the other players selected.
It’s Esmir’s career, so he gets to make the decisions respective to his path. With that in mind, I applaud his gumption to have the mindset that he thinks he should play now…BRAVO. Additionally, props to him for having the stones to make the one time switch to B&H, but we shouldn’t be giving spots on the USMNT to players because they might “leave” if we don’t.
In addition to earning a spot on the USMNT, players HAVE TO WANT to be here. If not, then personally, I say, deuces!…and don’t let the door hit you on the way out.
Instead of saying, ” Esmir needs to be given a spot on the USMNT,” why aren’t we asking, “why is Esmir not willing to stay, fight, and earn his spot?”
Lastly, does the name Jonathan Gonzalez ring a bell? He was a Hispanic kid from Cali that got some run with USYNT’s and everyone was clamoring for him to be GIVEN a spot on the USMNT because he had dual citizenship and was dropping hints that he might play for Mexico. Can I tell you how many people were saying?…”he deserves a spot” and “the US Soccer Federation treats Hispanic kids like shit.” I countered with, “forget whether he is Hispanic, African-American, yellow, purple, or pink…what has he done to earn a spot?” Gonzalez decided to leave and my thought was, “don’t let the door hit you on the way out!”
Guess how many appearances Gonzalez has made for the Mexican National Team?…3.
Guess where he is now playing?…at age 25…Juarez in Liga MX. Prior to Juarez he spent the last 4 years as a journey man in Liga MX and even had a cup of coffee in MLS with MN United.
The USMNT CAN’T give spots away to any player, including, and least of all, to a player that says he will leave if he doesn’t get a spot.
Poch is talking about the need to elevate the mentality of the USMNT player pool. Embedded in that communication is the message that spots on the USMNT are to be earned, and as a result, I’m pretty sure the days of giving someone a spot so they don’t jump ship are gone.
With that in mind, I have two thoughts for Esmir…all the best kid!…and DEUCES BITCH!
Lol well said Papi Grande, you right primo! I was just saying Esmir and Pax would have been good off the bench against tired def in Copa. Pax and Esmir were way better than a Christian Roldan.
Christian Roldan wasn’t on the Copa America roster. Balogun, BAaronson, Pepi, Wright, Sargent, Pulisic, Weah, Reyna, Tillman. Is Esmir today better than any of those guys?
Jr I said some day will be as good. Esmir and Pax are better than Josh Sargent. I am confident and not crazy saying that JR, lol.
Striker: not crazy we all have our own preferences.
Esmir: 5 professional goals
Sargent: 52 professional goals
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Esmir: 0g in top 5 leagues
Sargent: 15g in top 5 leagues
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Esmir: 0g for NT (USA or BH) by age 19 and 9 months(Esmir’s current age)
Sargent: 5g for NT by age 19 and 9 months
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0g: number of NT goals either have scored since Josh turned 19 and 9 months.
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Honestly, shouldn’t have included Pepi, Sargent, Balo is none of them play same position as Bajraktarevic.
JR Pax has been in better form in a slightly harder league. I know Championship and Eredivisie are not far off from one another. Also Esmir does not get much playing time and m is way younger by 5 to 6 years vs Sargent.
Striker: you’re excited by Esmir because he’s shiny and new. Sargent at 18 was signed by Bremen in the Bundesliga and then signed by Norwich when they were in the EPL at 21. Where Esmir is when he’s 21 or 24 I don’t know, but you aren’t going to convince me that Esmir last year when he had 1 MLS goal before Copa America was better than Josh Sargent coming off 16 in The Championship. The math doesn’t math.
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I really hope Bajraktarevic works his way in at PSV because Perisic and DeJong don’t work together, the two together don’t stretch the backline which means less space for Tillman to do his thing. Which grinds the offense to a halt.
JR Your comparing old time with new times. Have you ever heard of late and early bloomer? Sargent getting signed at Bundesliga at 18 which he was signed to Wolfsburg and played for their reserves Wolsburg II. Esmir going straight to Europe playing D1 no reserves. Again currently I would take Esmir he has not reached full potential and has excellent play maker skills and has more upside. Again you all keep windmilling for Beerholder, his recruiting was bad, look at Balogun was on fire now he is injured always and has been mid for USMNT only scoring on weak concacaf teams and a discombobulated Ghana
Striker: Sargent still had 16g last year to Esmir’s 3. I don’t care about 2028 in 2024. Josh was better last summer. I mean he had more g+a in August and September this season before injury, 9, than Esmir had his whole MLS season.
“Again currently I would take Esmir he has not reached full potential and has excellent play maker skills and has more upside. Again you all keep windmilling for Beerholder, his recruiting was bad, look at Balogun was on fire now he is injured always and has been mid for USMNT only scoring on weak concacaf teams and a discombobulated Ghana.”
Esmir may become a star. But it seems like he wasn’t going to do it here for the USMNT. That is unfortunate but you can’t force someone to love you.
Esmir is like that woman who you could not convince to marry you. If you failed at that then there’s probably a really good reason for the failure.
I’m pretty sure no one here is “windmilling” for Gregg whatever that means.
Gregg brought in some good players (like Ricardo Pepi. Johnny, ) and brought in some less good players. Give him credit for his good choices and criticize him for the bad choices. But frankly you like to keep crucifying a guy who has little left to nail into the cross. He has few if any defenders here and those who do defend him are not so much defending Gregg as they are defending a particular thing he did. There has never really been any affection for Gregg here. Mention Gregg and the words clown, scorn, awkward, stubborn, brain fart and embarrassing come to mind.
In other words, Gregg is a dead horse and beating him is getting boring.
Besides, the reality is for some of the guys that Gregg brought in their USMNT story isn’t over yet. Until they play that last game their story is not over.
What has to be evaluated is why was the player recruited for the USMNT?
Gregg recruited Flo to “legitimize” the #9 position for the USMNT, for the Copa America and the 2026 WC. The role has been a problem since McBride retired. Jozy did very well but he wasn’t really a #9. Flo was just beginning to look good then he got hurt and is currently on his way back. Maybe he’s finished but I think you’re writing him off prematurely.
It looks like he just might get back into it at a time when Pepi is beginning to mature into a full time #9 and Josh and Haji will be coming back from injury. The end of the Euro season in 2025 ought to be real interesting. And Gregg just might prove to be right about Flo in the end.
Q, unfortunately I am not able to follow MLS very closely, but from what I am to follow it seems like most of the young American prospects are getting European contracts and heading over before they ever really establish themselves in MLS. Also, when I look at the rosters of game summaries, it seems like most of the starters aren’t eligible to represent the US. Is this accurate or just perception? I am trying to think of the last US MLS player to establish himself in MLS before heading to Europe for a successful career there and Ream and Pepi are the only guys I can come up with. Am I missing some others? I don’t recall Aaronson or McKenzie being standouts in MLS before going to Europe but standout is subjective and maybe I am not remembering correctly.
A lot of people hate him as a Pundit but probably Stu Holden.
It was cut short by injury but Stu was good to really, really good. Had he stayed healthy there’ s no telling how far he might have gone.
Yes. He is a good example – forgot about him. He was making best XI in EPL before Johnny Evans.
Tele57,
I see Stu as the guy, who had he not been injured, could have had a very positive affect on two WC teams. 2010 and 2014.
He might have helped Bob keep his job.
Or, if nothing could save Bob, made JK a more likeable manager. The 2014 WC team is arguably our strongest WC team and a fit Stu on that team would have been something.
Vac, 2014 wc was not strongest. 2002 team is way better and actually beat Portugal. I know C Ronaldo was ntt on 2002 Por team, but 2002 team still would have won.
“Vac, 2014 wc was not strongest. 2002 team is way better and actually beat Portugal. I know C Ronaldo was ntt on 2002 Por team, but 2002 team still would have won.”
It’s open to debate.
1. I saw that Portugal game. I am not exaggerating when I say that they did not take us seriously until they were back at their hotel. And then suddenly it occurred to them that this was an official game not practice. In 2002 a lot of teams did not take the USMNT at all seriously.
Did I care? No. We won.
2. In 2002 we beat Portugal and then tied South Korea. Then we got taken apart 3-1 by Poland. Poland had just lost 4-0 to Portugal ( who had finally woken up) and 2-0 to South Korea. That meant we were probably eliminated because the final group game was between Portugal and South Korea . Both teams needed just a draw to advance.
Instead Korea played it straight, did us a solid and beat Portugal 1-0. We were fortunate to then get the one team that everyone on the USMNT knew we could beat and that was Mexico. As DMB said El Tri never had a chance.
2002 were good but they were also lucky. They had had the best results of all time no doubt but 2014 was a better, more dangerous team.
In 2014 we beat Ghana handily and should have beaten Portugal in the next game if not for Michael Bradley not being able to clear the ball properly with only seconds to go.
Of course that’s just my view and we’ll never really know.
But you know, the guy to ask is DMB who was on both teams. He ought to know.
McKenzie, was a regular starter in 2017 and 2019, had an injury in ‘18 plus missed a lot of time for U20 WC. Aaronson was Union’s starting #10 for two years beat out Marco Fabian (43caps with El Tri). Both were named MLS Best XI in 2020 and MLS is Back all tournament best XI. Maybe not superstars but we’re regulars. They won the Supporters Shield that year. Zach Steffen would be one I guess but never did well in Europe. He was MLS GK of the year in 2018. Matt Turner for sure for standout MLS to Europe. Tyler Adams had two years as a regular and won the supporters shield.
Thanks. All good examples.
It’s still tiresomely trendy to sneer at all things MLS, but there is a ton of value in these camps. Yes, it’s “just” MLS…but MLS is a moving target and people don’t seem to realize just how much it actually is moving. When David Beckham came into MLS in 2007, the league’s entire payroll was just $38 million – and Beckham got $5 million of that himself, plus of course the rights to a future franchise that ended up being Inter Miami. Last year the league spent $578.9 million – more than fifteen – repeat, (15)! – times what the league spent in 2007. And the Inter Miami team that wasn’t even a twinkle in Golden Balls’ eyes in 2007 spent more – $41.5 million – than all MLS put together in Beckham’s first season.
Actually, in 2024, MLS spent more, and had a higher-per team payroll average, than any league outside the so-called “Big Five” in Europe, Saudi Arabia, and Brazil. Opta, sort of the baseline standard for Eurosports stats, now has MLS ahead of the EFL Championship, the Turkish Süper Lig, Liga MX, and the Dutch Eredivisie in league strength.
Yes, most of the USA pool’s best players do indeed play in Europe. But a ton of those guys started in MLS. And given the league’s commitment to homegrown development, there’s still a ton of very good younger players coming up through the league that are not in Europe yet for one reason or another.
There’s real players to be found in this group. I can almost promise you Pochettino will find several. Camp Cupcake is still absolutely worth having…and it’s still worth watching, IMHO.
Using numbers from Capology, there were 109 MLS players making 1 million or more last season. 17 are Americans, 15.6%. That includes guys like Aaron Long, Gyasi Zardes, Christian Roldan, Kellyn Accosta, and Darlington Nagbe that aren’t likely to ever play for NT again. Also guys like Justin Glaad and Tim Parker that are fairly unlikely as well.
Not sure what Capology’s problem with MLS was last year but their numbers were way off – Spotrac’s are way more accurate at least regarding MLS, I verified this – but that observation does highlight an interesting feature of MLS: due to its intricate salary-cap and player acquisition rules (which I personally like in a lot of ways, because it forces teams to develop and invest in young players and grow the game from the ground up…the way it should be) – you tend to see the best Americans in MLS only at the beginning or end of their careers. You do – or did – occasionally see MLS lifers like Landon Donovan who remain in the league the duration of their careers but those are far and few between. The majority of the DP and TAM players – the ones who make $700K+ – are foreign-born.
The guys I think Pochettino might possibly like – with the exception of DeJuan Jones, who was in college for five years, which really delayed the start of his professional career – are all in that first category. And even Jones is only making $793,246 dollars…which is nothing to sneer at but is still massively under what he’d be valued at in Europe had his career followed a more traditional path. Diego Luna is only making $448K, and John Tolkin $720K…which is kind of wild. Jones and Tolkin both play left back, arguably the toughest position in professional soccer to find players for…they’re making less than half what they’d be valued at in Europe.
The guys Poch is looking for aren’t going to be household names yet, almost by definition. I still think there’s several rough gems in this group.
Q: it could be Capology doesn’t track all the GAM and TAM or sometimes it’s guaranteed and bonuses that salary trackers struggle to keep up with.