Late last fall, Tim Ream learned that he was not going to Disney World. More importantly, perhaps, Tim Ream realized he had to tell his three young children that they were not going to Disney World, either. The trip had been timed to coincide with the World Cup, one of the rare stretches when a professional soccer player can actually get a break.
This carefully constructed plan, of course, relied upon the Fulham center back not making the U.S. roster. This seemed like a good bet. Although the 35-year-old was having an excellent season for newly promoted Fulham in the English Premier League, he hadn’t appeared on the American squad since September 2021.