Mengapa Tim Ream, Haji Wright Menjadi Panutan Bagi Calon Pemain Piala Dunia AS

Haji Wright started two of the United States’ four games at the 2022 World Cup. He was one of just three American goalscorers in Qatar, joining star forward Christian Pulisic and veteran winger Tim Weah.

Yet eight months before soccer’s last quadrennial showpiece, Wright’s odds of making the 26-man roster seemed long at best.

(Photo by Richard Sellers/Getty Images)

He hadn’t made a single appearance during World Cup qualifying. The journeyman pro, then 24, didn’t even have a senior international cap. Wright eventually made his debut in the penultimate camp before the final 26-man squad was named, then survived the final cull after a hot start to the season in the Turkish league.

Wright’s story is instructive as he and 25 other 2026 World Cup hopefuls gather in Austin, Texas this week ahead of the tournament co-hosts’ friendly there versus Ecuador and another next week against Australia in Commerce City, Colorado.

When it comes to earning a World Cup trip, timing is everything.

“My mindset doesn’t change whether I’m in camp or not,” Wright, the current Golden Boot race leader in England’s second-tier Championship division, said Tuesday during a video conference with reporters. “Hopefully, that hard work turns into an opportunity with the national team.”

U.S. coach Mauricio Pochettino likes to talk about his “open system” of calling up players. Last week, the former Chelsea and Paris Saint-Germain manager invited midfielder James Sands into the fold for the first time since being hired a little more than a year ago. On the flip side, there was no place for a pair of 22-year-old 2022 World Cup alums Joe Scally and Yunus Musah. 

Both play regularly in some of Europe’s top club competitions, though Musah has been used mostly off the bench for Italy’s Atalanta so far this season and Scally’s Borussia Dortmund owns one of the most porus defenses in the German Bundesliga. 

“The overall message is that nobody’s spot is guaranteed,” Tim Ream, Pochettino’s usual captain, said on Monday. “Just because you were at a previous World Cup doesn’t mean you’re guaranteed another one.”

Having turned 38 on Sunday, Ream knows it better than most. He didn’t make the 2014 World Cup team, served as a reserve on the U.S. side that shockingly failed to qualify for 2018 and was on the outside looking in for almost all of 2022. When Ream started the Americans’ World Cup opener against Wales, it had been more than a year since his previous international appearance.

“He revitalized his national team career at an older age,” Cristian Roldan, 30, said of Ream. “It provided me with a little bit more added motivation to get back here with the team, to really believe that I could get here.”

(Photo by John Dorton/ISI Photos/USSF/Getty Images)

A depth piece on the 2022 team, Roldan hadn’t represented the U.S. for more than two years when he came on as a sub in a 2-0 loss to South Korea last month. His performances for the Seattle Sounders at the FIFA Club World Cup helped catch Pochettino’s eye. The popular Roldan also impressed the coach off the field. 

“The way that he behaves within a group, with teammates,” Pochettino said, “That is a good example of how you need to want to be involved and defend and fight for your place…you to arrive and show your personality and your character and then be available always. And if you play, you behave the same [as] jika kamu tidak bermain”

Rekan gelandang tengahnya, Aidan Morris, memulai dua pertandingan pertama Pochettino sebagai pelatih pada Oktober lalu, kemudian menunggu hampir setahun penuh untuk mendapat kesempatan lain. Dia membuktikan dirinya sebagai salah satu gelandang tengah terbaik di Championship untuk sementara, dan mencoba mengendalikan apa yang dia bisa.

“Jelas merupakan tujuan dan impian saya untuk bermain untuk negara ini sebanyak yang saya bisa, namun Anda akan melalui masa-masa di mana Anda tidak dipanggil,” kata Morris. “Di antara waktu-waktu itu, lakukan saja pekerjaan. Semuanya berjalan sebagaimana mestinya. Saya berada di posisi yang baik saat ini.”

Munculnya wajah-wajah baru dan dihilangkannya wajah-wajah terkenal lainnya bukanlah suatu kebetulan. Sejak mengambil alih ruang ganti AS di mana delapan posisi tampaknya sudah ditentukan, Pochettino telah mencoba meningkatkan persaingan secara internal.

“Para pemain yang tidak dipanggil, mereka harus berusaha keras untuk tampil lebih baik dan melakukan lebih baik serta berkembang,” kata Pochettino setelah menyebutkan pemainnya yang ke-26 saat ini untuk dua sesi tuneup di bulan Oktober.

“Dan para pemain yang dipanggil harus tiba di sini dan berusaha keras untuk tampil, mencetak gol, melakukan penyelamatan, [win] tekel, lari lebih banyak dari lawan, dan untuk meyakinkan kami punya kemungkinan dipanggil lagi,” imbuhnya.

“Itulah tantangannya.”

“Saya ingin masuk skuad Piala Dunia,” kata Wright.

“Mudah-mudahan, saya memberi diri saya kesempatan terbaik untuk melakukan itu.”

Doug McIntyre adalah reporter sepak bola untuk FOX Sports yang telah meliput Amerika Serikat tim nasional putra dan putri di Piala Dunia FIFA di lima benua. Ikuti dia @OlehDougMcIntyre.

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