Three Contenders to Take Over As USMNT Captain From Tim Ream

The U.S. men’s national team has a void to fill. As the new cycle begins in the lead-up to the 2030 World Cup, the team must pick a new captain to take the honor from 2026 World Cup leader Tim Ream.

While the 38-year-old Ream offered experience from his days playing in Europe and more recent history in MLS with Charlotte FC, his time is up, and the younger talents across the roster now have a home World Cup experience to lean on.

Captaincy for a national team, though, is an odd calculation. Players don’t necessarily play every game, or even attend every international window. Leadership largely comes from a group, with no assurances that the entire group is called up each time. It makes picking a captain more of an emotional decision than a solidified one as it can be at the club level.

Yet, teams still often do pick a first-choice captain. Behind them, there are often other leaders who can also take the armband. Here, Sports Illustrated takes a look at three contenders to be the next primary captain for the USMNT in the lead-up to the 2030 World Cup.

Tyler Adams

Tyler Adams has already routinely worn the armband with the USMNT, doing so 11 times since he made his international debut in 2017. Despite being just 23 years old at the time, he took on the responsibility at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, before relinquishing the honor when Pochettino tipped Ream for 2026 on home soil.

While neither leader pushed the USMNT past the round of 16, Adams’s youth and future offered more hope than Ream’s composure and veteran presence at the 2026 tournament. Even still, Adams remained one of the team’s most important pieces this summer, and will be through the future as well.

Set to be 31 years old at the next World Cup and likely poised to maintain a regular spot in the Premier League with Bournemouth or elsewhere in Europe, the former Red Bull New York star appears to be the perfect pick for the captaincy through the next cycle.

Chris Richards

At 26 years old, Chris Richards has already established himself as a bona fide leader at the back. The star central defender came into his first World Cup after heartbreakingly missing the 2022 roster, and entered the tournament with 122 games under his belt at Crystal Palace, including the high-tension atmosphere of a victorious FA Cup run and the spotlight of prevailing as Conference League champions in a season of European soccer.

While he entered the summer nursing a slight injury, he quickly brought his level to the World Cup standard and thrived as one of the team’s most important players down the central spine. As someone committed to the side under all of Pochettino’s tournaments, including the 2025 Concacaf Nations League and Concacaf Gold Cup, he knew what was expected of him in the situation.

For Ream, the outgoing captain who played alongside Richards for much of the last year, his defensive partner is the perfect fit.

“I think Chris Richards is made for it. I think he would be perfect. But again, it’s gonna come down to whoever is in charge and what they see and what characteristics and what personalities that they value,” Ream told NBC.

“But I think Chris has all the intangibles to be that next captain. He’s already a leader within the group. He already knows when and how to approach different guys. But I think that the biggest key is knowing all the different personalities.”

Sebastian Berhalter

The USMNT has as deep a player pool as ever, and with that comes the opportunity to select different tiers of players for the World Cup and Copa América than for the Nations League, Gold Cup and other competitions and friendlies.

As seen at the 2025 Gold Cup, many of the top players don’t commit to every window, given grueling European schedules and the level of competition in regional tournaments.

That’s where Sebastian Berhalter—or a player like him—could contend for the captaincy. He’s not likely to crack a first-choice starting lineup, but is good enough to be on the top roster, as well as the teams that go to every single match.

Poised for a European move after back-to-back starring seasons with the Vancouver Whitecaps in MLS, he could offer the most consistency to the position, even if it means often not having him in the starting lineup in the biggest games. In those scenarios, one of the other candidates would take the armband, as a pseudo vice-captain, until Berhalter steps on the pitch.

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