Tim Ream’s broken arm will sideline him from CONCACAF Nations League and Gold Cup action this summer, the U.S. men’s national team defender has told Pro Soccer Wire.
Ream suffered the injury with Fulham in a Premier League match against Manchester City on April 30, with the veteran center back undergoing surgery days later.
Fulham has said it expects Ream back for its preseason, which will begin in July. Ream said he was holding out hope he could play some part for the USMNT this summer, but the two competitions ultimately would arrive too soon.
“I’m definitely not playing any part with the U.S. unfortunately,” Ream said in an interview. “There was an outside chance that I would have been able to for the Gold Cup. Nations League is too soon.
“I am under strict orders of six weeks of no-contact training or physical activity. So six weeks comes I believe two days before the Nations League semifinal. And that only leaves me two days of contact training, and that’s not really conducive to performing at a high level with the national team.
“So I’m obviously ruled out of [Nations League] medically and then with the Gold Cup being so soon after, we’ve taken the decision to let the arm heal even more.
“Because if I leave it and come back for preseason that puts me at between nine and 10 weeks of of healing. And that’s a whole heck of a lot better than saying ‘OK, let’s take a risk at six weeks.'”
The USMNT will face Mexico on June 15 in the Nations League semifinal, with the final scheduled for three days later. The U.S. will then kick off the 2023 Gold Cup against Jamaica on June 24, with the final set for July 16.
Ream started all four of the USMNT’s games at the 2022 World Cup, and was set to play a major role in the Nations League at least.
Ream set for Summer Series
Though he’ll miss out for the USMNT this summer, Ream said he expects to be fit for Fulham’s preseason tour of the United States.
The Cottagers are one of six teams in the Premier League Summer Series, the league’s first preseason tournament in the USA. Ream said he’s looking forward to showing his teammates how big the Premier League has become in his home country.
“I’m looking forward to bringing the team to the U.S. and showing them the amount of fans that are based in the U.S.,” the 35-year-old said. “Being able to come and play in some big cities, nice stadiums and just show where the culture is with soccer in the U.S. and show my teammates what it’s like.
“Obviously there’s a lot of [Americans] playing in the Premier League now and the interest just grows with the number of players that we have over here.”
Ream first moved to the Premier League in 2011-12 with Bolton and he said that compared to back then, more fans in the United States have made up their minds when it comes to their Premier League allegiances.
“There was a lot of flip-flopping teams, right? Whatever teams were winning at the time, fans were happy to kind of jump on bandwagons,” Ream said. “Now you’re seeing more and more people who are picking teams and sticking with them, no matter what happens.”
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