While U.S. men’s national team head coach Mauricio Pochettino has not yet formally named a captain for the 2026 World Cup, the identity of the leader for the first game against Paraguay on June 12 might be the squad’s worst-kept secret.Veteran center back Tim Ream, who emotionally accepted that his international career was likely over at the end of the 2022 World Cup but later became a trusted voice of experience under Pochettino, is who all signs point toward as skipper.Pochettino has not made his plans clear regarding a captaincy announcement, but he has time and again gone back to Ream for the armband, with the Charlotte FC defender having occupied the role for 16 of Pochettino’s 23 games in charge.At 38, somewhat remarkably, Ream is in line to become the oldest American player ever at a World Cup, beating the previous record set by the late Fernando Clavijo in 1994. He’ll be 38 years, 8 months and 7 days old when the U.S. takes to the SoFi Stadium field for its World Cup opener.“I’ve done everything I possibly can to be sitting here, to be part of this group to make a second World Cup and have it be on home soil,” Ream told reporters on Tuesday. “I’m proud of all the decisions I’ve made, all the work I’ve done on and off the field that has landed me a second opportunity.”Ream left Fulham of the English Premier League in 2024 to return to Major League Soccer, where he began his career with the New York Red Bulls in 2010. Even with Ream having been named to every camp under Pochettino and having been installed as captain for the Concacaf Gold Cup last summer, his appointment would be a notable departure from 2022, when Gregg Berhalter made midfielder Tyler Adams the youngest captain at the World Cup in Qatar. The 2022 squad voted on who they thought the best fit for the role was, and went for Adams a few days before the opening game against Wales.