Forget Pulisic & Tyler Adams — Lalas Names Tim Ream as USMNT's Ideal World Cup Captain

The USMNT is gearing up for its first World Cup under Mauricio Pochettino, with all eyes on the national team with the coveted tournament taking place at home. Fans have already built a lot of expectations for the team, with a place in the knockouts currently being set as the minimum expected from the Stars and Stripes.

With this likely to be the last World Cup for many senior players, there have been questions surrounding who could lead the team heading into the competition. While Christian Pulisic and Tyler Adams seem like the obvious picks, USMNT legend Alexi Lalas threw a surprising name in the hat when asked about his thoughts on who could lead the team.

Lalas backs Tim Ream as USMNT's skipper

Alexi Lalas touched on the question in the latest episode of his State of the Union podcast. Talking about the potential names to lead the team, Lalas claimed that while Tyler Adams was the obvious name to lead the team, owing to his performance, Pochettino could look at someone like Tim Ream, who brings in an absolute wealth of experience.

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/AjOTWGjI5f8

Lalas stated, "I would still think it was going to be Tyler Adams. If he is on the field and he is still the Tyler Adams of the old, if not, then we all can yell and scream about it, but the reality of things is Tim Ream will be a starter unless someone comes along in the next 300 days. If Ream is on the field, I can absolutely see him being the captain, not just because he is old, but he brings the experience and wisdom with being the captain."

It will be interesting to see who Mauricio Pochettino names as his skipper leading into the World Cup. The manager has his hands tied with multiple senior names gunning for the role. While the obvious decision could be to leave the decision to an internal vote. Pochettino would be better off picking his own man to have better control over a budding team.