World Cup: Tim Ream On Leading The USA & His Hair Promise

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1:12The Football Daily at the People World Cup 2026. With Rick Edwards and Lloyd Griffith. Live from L.A. Hello, you're listening to the Football Daily with Rick and Lloyd. England take on Dr. Congo later today in their round of 32 game. We're obviously going to be talking about that shortly. The scores from today, Mexico beat Ecuador 2-0 to make it through to the last 16. Norway beat Ivory Coast 2-1. France beat Sweden 3-0. If you want to catch up with any of the scores or highlights, head to the BBC Sport website and app. We're also going to be talking to the USA captain Tim Ream ahead of their game against Bosnia-Herzegovina later on.

1:48we did that yesterday and I realised we only had a short amount of time with him and we got wrapped up which is fair enough if you haven't agreed about time but it did mean that we didn't ask him about that game not a single question no he didn't but I think I got the sense he's probably fed up of answering that exactly and we asked him lots of questions about football loads of great questions and America but nothing about the really important game he had coming up but I just think everyone else will be doing that so boring yeah like I want to know about him and he was lovely wasn't he? Very nice man, very nice man we on the way there we were talking and saying because they're based in Irvine which is about an hour south of where we are in Santa Monica and I I felt that we had to ask something about his hair neither of us wanted to ask something about his hair so we rock paper scissored to see who was going to ask about his hair and you'll see how that played out later on but just to confirm we asked about his hair but not about the game Nothing about the game.

2:49It's not that we've cut it out. No. It's not that he hasn't made the edit. We literally did not ask him anything about the game. We were just having such a nice time. And I stand by that. And then the guy who was doing it from the USA was like, you've got one minute left. And I'm like, we've only got the hair question. Better ask whoever. Or the Bosnia game. Simple. Hair. We'll go for hair. Got to be hair. One other thing. Now that we've sort of bedded in to the oldie King's head, we've started to eye up their fantastic photo wall. So they have got photos with so many famous people and there's sort of a whole wall covered with them.

3:27And actually there's some sort of spillover onto other walls. And they've got some really high-end people. Oh, this is elite. Genuinely it is. So just sort of off the top of our heads really, we just had a quick check. You've got Adam Sandler, you've got Noel Gallagher, you've got Hugh Grant, you've got Jay Leno, you've got Vinnie Jones, you've got Ali McCoy, you've got Rod Stewart. pick up. Hasselhoff. Yes. David Beckham. Yes. Dudley Moore. Weirdly, I met one as a kid. Helen Mirren. Right. Diego Luna. Ray Winston. Timberlake. Justin. Price. Katie. Hefner. Hugh. Richard Branson pouring some ketchup onto a breakfast.

4:02That's right. This is the level that we're talking. This is elite. But we obviously feel that we deserve to have a photo up there. But it's a question of who we replace. Yeah. And of those people, I'm not sure we're making it. What I will say is there are five pictures of Noel Gallagher. There are. So they could take down a Gallagher. We have noticed Little Mo from EastEnders is up there. Yeah, she's got to go. And I think she's going to go. She's going to Little go. Like we basically, our two engineers who are doing the podcast with us are American. And when we said Little Mo, there was no reaction whatsoever.

4:37No. Nothing. Little Mo? Little Mo? EastEnders? From EastEnders? Albert Square? No. No. God. What I will say is, though, she is the sister of Gary Oldman. Well, I'm not taking him down. Yeah, no, but. I'm taking her down. I'm quite scared. Jackson Lamb just turning up my door. What have you done with my sister? How do we engineer them taking down Little Moe? Well, I think we just speak to Josh. We just say to Josh, listen. No one has to know. No one has to know. And we're the best one in the world. I think between us, we are, I don't know. I was just about to say, I think between us, we're more famous than Little Moe.

5:11But I don't think we are. Absolutely not. No. The only thing that I will say is... Which in itself is really depressing. Little Moe is a character in EastEnders. She's just a character. She's absolutely fantastic. No, she's really good. She's great. And she's an unbelievable actor as well. Yeah. But the thing is... She's not at the level of the other people, isn't she? In America, you're kind of going, well, you don't know, like Vinnie Jones. You know what I mean? Diego Luna. The Gallaghers. Justin Timberlake. Justin Timberlake. The list goes on. But it's like, who's that? Jaylen. To be fair, what will happen is we'll say, Josh, can you put our picture on there?

5:46He'll go, guys, not a problem. We'll come back. We'll come back. And I was like, who are they? Who are them two there? Hail and pace? Little and large? Morecambe and Wise? Wow. I was thinking, yeah. Morecambe and Wise, yeah. Vic and Bob? No, I was thinking more like it was more like appearance-based as opposed to success. So we drove to the USA camp in Irvine to sit down with the USA captain. Tim Ream, how are you? Very good, how are you? Really well. We're in the US for a World Cup on home soil. You're the captain. This is the dream, right? Yeah, something like that. I think it's more than a dream, to be honest with you.

6:26I'm not sure that this was ever the dream to be captaining a side in a World Cup. But listen, we're here and enjoying every minute of it. What was the dream then, growing up? Playing in a World Cup, winning a World Cup. Of course, that was a dream. Being a captain is a little bit extra, unexpected. But yeah, listen, it's a great honor to be sitting here with a once-in-a-career opportunity, as I've said before. You don't get many chances to play in a World Cup at home, and we have that. Being in America, it's quite obvious that football, soccer isn't the biggest sport here. American football, baseball, basketball, even ice hockey.

7:03Why did you choose soccer? I mean, it was just something that I love to do. I played loads of other sports. I did the hockey thing. I played basketball until I was 17. I played baseball until I was 14. I played everything. And soccer was the one constant that, you know, I always had a ball at my feet, always had a ball in the house. And it was just something that I always wanted to do. It was the one thing that I always looked forward to do and what I gravitated towards. And, you know, that was obviously something that my family were into the sport long before I came into the picture. And that's just what I gravitated towards.

7:36Are you one of these really annoying guys who is just good at all sports? You could say yes. Yeah, probably. Yeah, I mean. Unbelievable. I'm athletic enough that, yeah, coordinated enough that I can handle myself. Obviously, not professionally in every sport, but, yeah, I can pick things up pretty quickly. Yeah. Sorry. No, that is a no. You have to be sorry. It's not your fault. I'd like to be able to just do one. Yeah. And that is actually Lloyd's dream. It will never happen. You were, I guess, six when the World Cup was last in the US. Yes. Do you remember that? Do you remember the impact that it had?

8:13I don't remember it totally. I remember bits and pieces of it. Seeing some of the games on TV and some of the atmospheres, you get bits and pieces. Like I said, I don't remember specifics. I mean, I remember the US beating Colombia, but I don't remember everything. I do remember how energized and how crazy the fans and the crowds were, but nothing really more than that. But from there, obviously, it grows. A league gets developed and created from there. And so, yeah, a lot's changed since then, that's for sure. I'd say so, yeah. What do you hope this World Cup does then for six-year-olds now who will watch this World Cup and think, wow, this is amazing, I haven't really seen football on this stage before.

8:57What legacy do you think it helps them with? Yeah, I think, and I said this weeks ago, we have a chance, and when I say we, obviously the the u.s team in this country to to grow the sport even even more so but i think as as players no matter what national team you play for you have an opportunity to inspire so many different generations of people i mean i start with young adults who maybe don't have kids who okay they're thinking of you know their futures and and what sports are they going to put their kids in right we we have an opportunity to inspire that that generation um the older generation who has not been interested in soccer at all.

9:35But there's so many guys on this team from so many different backgrounds, so many different areas, so many different corners of the country that somebody somewhere can relate to somebody on this team, to one of the guys on this team. And then you just work your way down. The next generation of kids who have that dream of representing their national team, representing their country, playing in a World Cup. Then the ones under them who are, I don't know if I want to continue to play the sport. I need to find some type of inspiration, somebody that I can look, look up to. And then you have the kids who have never picked up a ball.

10:07And what are we doing on a, on a daily basis? But then obviously in the games that, that inspires them to, to have that energy to say, I like this sport. I love this sport. I want to, I want to go outside and I want to kick a ball. Mom, dad, do we have a ball anywhere? Cause that, that's all I want to do now. So it's just, the legacy is how, how much impact can you have across the generations? And we won't know that until after the fact, but that's the way i look at it the usa fans i think are feeling really confident saw a poll on tv the other day and 85 percent of usa fans think that the usa are going to win the world cup oh we're a confident bunch aren't we pochettino also said why not us is is that the attitude within the team as well like i suppose you have to believe you can win it yeah what's the point of playing in a game if you don't believe you can win it what's the point of playing in a tournament if you don't believe you can win it you don't just go to to be a participant you you go to win things listen we're we're bold we're brash we're we're american we we believe that we can be the best in everything and and so yeah why not right why why not us as as Maurizio has said and and as players it's it's our job to listen we we believe anyway but it's our job to to make others believe it's it's our it's our opportunity and our chance to to show the rest of the country that we are a team that can do something really really special and to have their support backing us and for them to believe along with us and it creates this this really special feeling in the group stages that that we created and we're looking to carry that through we've we've been to a number of games went to the opening usa game in la and the crowd just always behind you it's it's it's and it's what's really nice is like as you said earlier there's like young kids a real mix of ages quite family very family and a real mix of genders as well which is really nice but they they seem to be constantly behind you and very very positive have you noticed a difference from playing in the uk in the premier league to to the crowds here no honestly it especially now listen there's no getting around and no no sugarcoating that in the games before the i don't include the two for two friendlies that we played leading up to this world cup but in the games before we have always struggled to have a pro u.s crowd now that may come as a surprise to to a lot of people but that's just the way we are we are a nation of of immigrants and when we play teams there are so many people from all over the world who live here who want to see their their national team play as well so we haven't always had that pro u.s crowd so in charlotte then in chicago then you know the as you said in in la for the for the paraguay game the crowds have just grown and grown and grown and we feel that buzz we feel that excitement we feel that energy it's like playing in the in the Premier League you have that home support and it's you you know if you're not playing well you're you're gonna be a little bit antsy and a little bit irritable and they'll let you know and we that is the same here but more times than not it's it's the positivity it's the the chanting it's it's feeling their buzz and their energy behind us from the first whistle and that's been a big a big thing for us in this World Cup for sure.

13:10When you got the call from Pochettino saying that he wanted you as his world cup captain what was that conversation like how surprised were you uh it was actually a sit down face to face right did you think you're in trouble in my office not normally not normally with him with him um it was a a little bit of a conversation and and it was just like yeah like you know this is this is incredible like a huge honor and what really surprised me is that they brought me out and did a whole announcement that was the the kind of reaction that everybody saw and because i didn't expect that i just thought we were going to go about the same way we've gone about all the other windows.

13:46And, you know, if I play, then, you know, I'll have the armband. And it's not expected, but, you know, anybody could have it. So it was an eye-opener. And that announcement that we did before the May 30th game in Charlotte was kind of a culmination of, right, all the decisions you've made, all the sacrifices you've made. It's all been, you know, for this moment to be on the World Cup team. And then the extra added bonus is to be, you know, be captain. You're the oldest American to play at a World Cup. Is it true that you get called gramps by your teammates? Wow. Do they do impressions of you where they're walking around with a stick and stuff?

14:21Sometimes, yeah. There's a lot that goes around. My kids give it to me more than they've told me that if I score, I have to actually do that celebration. Yes. But you know what? It's all in good fun. I think it comes from a place of love. I would hope so anyway. You'd hope so. because I think they all appreciate that not too many of them are going to get to 38 and be still playing and potentially playing in a World Cup. But listen, I poke fun at myself all the time. So I think it opens the door for those guys. Listen, being in England for so long, you have that banter back and forth. There's no getting away from it.

14:57You've been called worse. I've been called much worse. So I'm like, you know what? I may as well join in. And then what can they say, right? If you win the World Cup, will you let the hair free? Yeah. I've actually I will let it free there has been discussion if we win that it will it will be chopped off but I'm still up in the air debating that I don't know that I can take it off I don't know that I can get rid of it I'll definitely let it down though that's not a problem it's iconic it needs to be let down Tim pleasure talking to you thank you so much thanks guys appreciate it thank you so yeah Tim Ream there and yeah I lost rock paper scissors and I asked a hair question and I'm glad I did well the thing is the question I think you wanted to ask which I saw in your notes you didn't actually ask did you?

15:43Well no I didn't I didn't compare him to Alexi Lalas No because I thought we're getting on we're getting on and that's one step too and that press bloke would have been like you're never coming back also if he scores a goal then I really hope he does do the grand pass as a stick celebration that would be superb that's better than Gordon King Mbappe doing the flute.

16:12It's lovely, isn't it? Look, Fabrizio Romano might get transfer exclusives, but you've got one that is going to do that and also maybe cut his hair. Yeah. I mean, he does score a lot of goals, so I wouldn't hold your breath. But also, imagine if he does. We'd love that. I would milk that. Yeah. Well, I think we should probably move on to the football now. Mexico, Ecuador, in Mexico City, absolutely mouth-watering fixture on paper. Didn't disappoint. Like proper sort of Latin American Derby feel. It was fiery. In here, it was so, almost exclusively Mexico fans, so like raucous and shouting the whole way through.

16:57Although I'm not sure they were from Mexico, because they kept shouting, Mexico. I was like, you're missing the X. You were correcting them, weren't you? I was like, guys, you're missing the X. But they couldn't hear because they were watching the football and enjoying the football. Two great goals from Mexico. The second red card that we've seen for a player covering his mouth. Look, I hate the snitch. I hate the snitch so much. He runs off with such glee. Rav! Rav! He covered his mouth. Shut up, mate. It's proper school. It's so school. running off to the teacher. They said I was tubby. I'm just asking an example.

17:39That's a good example. I just thought of. I do get it. But obviously the rule is, you know, it's come in for certain reasons. Good reasons. Good reasons, yeah. But there, Pincapie was obviously just insulting him. It was a very, very fiery match. It was a very, very fiery match. We don't know what he said. But it's the fact that he's then gone over. But it's very clear that he's not going to the referee and saying, he just said this. He's going over and saying, He's covered his mouth. He's covered his mouth. It could have been generic stuff. We don't know. I think leave that to the VAR assistant.

18:14The chanting from the Mexican fans in here was quite good. So just going, Rocco, Rocco, Rocco. Did you know what that meant? What does Rocco mean? Red. Red? Yeah. They're just chanting red for the red card. Oh, for the red card. Right. Four wins out of four in the tournament for Mexico. and I feel like they've got better and better, really. And I know we've said this quite a bit now, but if England get through against Dr. Congo and face Mexico in that stadium, I don't fancy it. No. That is such a big ask. I do fancy it, you know, because I'm a big believer of the England set-up and the system and I love the lads.

18:55But it's going to be tough. I mean, I think Mexico are really impressive, especially out of the three home nations, Mexico, no offence to the USA and Canada, have kind of just excelled in the group stages for a long time. The only team to have got three wins and they look great. Yeah. Can I just say, Raul Jimenez, who I think is absolutely brilliant. Lovely lad. Obviously gone through quite a bit over the years. He signed to Wolves just before the World Cup and he's having a fantastic World Cup. And you kind of think... He could have squeezed a bit more money out of someone. Why did you? You're playing in the championship next season.

19:31Do you mean you could have waited? You could have been playing for, I don't know, Hull City. Yeah. In the Premier League. Well, not necessarily Hull, but I think he could have definitely got a decent Premier League move. He's had an exceptional tournament. Very, very popular in here as well. Very popular in here. When he scored, people went nuts. But, you know, there's been certain strikers that have kind of gone under the radar because we're talking so much about a specific five or six set of players. but Jimenez, I mean, he's having a lovely tournament on home soil. I'm really buzzing for him.

20:01One thing that the England team might need to prepare themselves is the serenade that a load of Mexico fans gave the Ecuador team outside their team hotel. It was quite noisy, and the Ecuador lot have said, well, that's a bit, you know, we can't sleep, lads. Over 1 ,000 Mexican fans outside the hotel. like they were loud just in the oldie king's head there's only about 50 of them imagine them thousands of them going Mexico Mexico where's the X if I were England I'd be going do you know what we've heard what's happening should we just fly in on the day yeah or just fly in on the day don't get a hotel flying some fans they're all doing wonderful outside the Mexican hotel and then we'll see who likes it oink do you know what I've seen recently there's quite a lot of lookalikes and a lot of them have been bad lookalikes, okay?

20:54What I think the England team need to do is hire, essentially, the bad lookalikes, put them in a coach, send them to what they think is the official hotel. That's brilliant. A decoy. And then get the real lads staying at Youth Hostel just down the road. Have some fun. Bunk up. Exactly. See the stars. You know, the sky is your roof. Is that a thing? The sky is your roof? I thought you were going to say the sky is your oyster then. I don't know what I was thinking there. Oh, I don't know. I think I'm still high off Mexico winning. Listen, England, the sky is your oyster. Come on, lad. The sky is your roof.

21:28I don't know what's going on.

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22:16At Whole Foods Market, no antibiotics ever, burgers and kebabs are prepped and ready to throw on the grill. Fire up a juicy ribeye. Grab creamy potato salad and savory flatbreads from the prepared foods department and round it all out with 365 brand condiments, chips and dips at everyday low prices. Whole Foods Market, make your summer sizzle. Five lights full. So here's the first ball of this series. All the cricket you love lives on BBC Sounds. Smash straight back down the ground, this girl. Hear ball-by-ball coverage of the biggest competitions on the domestic and international circuits. It's a ball cricket and it's the huge one.

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23:14The Football Daily Podcast at the People World Cup 2026 with Rick Edwards and Lloyd Griffith. Listen on BBC Sounds. Couple more games to discuss today as well and we're joined to discuss them by Laurie Whitwell from The Athletic. Hey Laurie, how you doing? Hi guys, thanks for having me on. Obviously we've hung out before, Laurie, but this is Lloyd. Oh hi Lloyd, nice to meet you. Yeah, we've not hung out this tournament now have you? Just me and Rick it was, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. We had a lovely time. When? I'm not with you 24-7. Sometimes I slip out and have a nice time. Is that when you said you're going out for milk?

23:47Yeah. Yeah. And you were... It was a lovely movie. It was so nice. How much longer are you here for? I've only got a few more days. Friday is when I go. Yeah. Well, we'll squeeze another lunch in. That'd be nice. That'd be nice. Yeah, great. Let's talk about Norway then. They made it through to the last 16. Only the third time in their history. And it wasn't just the Erling Haaland show. until it kind of was but right at the very end do you think Norway shaded it? I think so I think they had the better of the chances really I know that Ivory Coast were pressing and were good value for coming back into the game and I was excited maybe for having an extra time I enjoyed all the extra times that were in the first round of 32s but yeah Erling Haaland did his stuff at the very end although he kind of looked like he may have slightly mishit it he looked a bit worried for one second didn't he?

24:40Everyone's talking this year about how fast that ball is and how goalkeepers can't get to it. That was the slowest goal I think I've ever seen. It took like three days to get in. There's one bit where I think he went, I'm not sure if it's going to go in. And then looked to go and get it. And then the goalkeeper's like, oh, I probably could have got that. Why has he done that? I thought he was going to hit it really hard. He hasn't. Erling Haaland. It's like Erling Haaland always has to do something special. And in this case, he thought, well, everyone's hitting it hard. I'm going to score the slowest goal.

25:07Slowest goal of all time. he did look very pleased with himself after full time though didn't he yeah he just stood there with the Viking hat he's having the time of his life and I'm very happy for him so it's his dad they come straight to his dad in the stands it looks like he's on a stag do when the World Cup has got in the way he's there with a Viking hat there's a load of lads drumming he's rowing he's rowing on a stag do he has now scored in his past 13 competitive appearances for Norway and scored 25 goals in that run I mean we've said it before on this podcast he is an absolute machine yeah joke really isn't he it's sort of it's been great though hasn't it how all the big names have come to the party at this World Cup and he's no different and yeah you sort of see him at the end of that game and you're sort of thinking he's already thinking about the matchup with Gabriel isn't he he's already thinking about reigniting that little feud from their club teams onto the international stage Brazil he's licking his lips so yeah I'm fascinated to see how that one goes because that's a such I mean all the last 32 matches have actually been already quite good they look good on paper they've actually lived up to the expectations so far but that is a last 16 side that I think will be greatly appealing I think I feel a bit gutted for Amad Jarlow because he scored one of my favourite goals of the tournament it's a beautiful goal and also nearly scored with a sensational free kick that, I mean, from a goalkeeping point of view, Lloyd, I did like the attitude, Lloyd is a, has he never mentioned that?

26:43Sorry, sorry. Yeah, to be fair, he only mentions it, would you say, every day? Oh, at least, yeah. Yeah, yeah. I think it's just good to let people know. Yeah, that and the fact he's been to Australia. So the Norwegian goalkeeper has looked at the position of the free kick and gone, lads, I don't need a wall for this, which is pretty bold. And Amarjalo's gone, oh, yeah. we'll see about that sunshine there have been some questionable free quick free quick easy for me to say yeah free quick I'm Jonathan Ross you wish I'll be able to get on the wall though probably there you wish definitely there have been some questionable go on free quick walls this tournament yeah and that one you kind of go I just was that worth the wait do you think is it worth you getting that out anyway France Sweden

27:39also anyway the point is the goalkeeper made a very good save in the end he did yeah but I mean stick a wall in there stick a wall in it's not a World Cup for walls you know Lionel Messi didn't need a wall against Jordan that seemed to just go on Lionel have another goal in this World Cup Amadella he actually I cover Manchester United usually so he has been perhaps underwhelming for United in the last part of the season and actually he's come to the World Cup and done the business really I mean that goal today was absolutely fantastic, wasn't it? And then the free kick as well. So you're sort of thinking, okay, maybe he could take the ball off Bruno Fernandes for United.