LOS ANGELES — Most soccer players are retired by the time they celebrate their 38th birthday.

Most players aren’t Tim Ream.

When Team USA stepped onto the pitch at SoFi Stadium on Friday, the man wearing the captain’s armband was carrying nearly two decades of professional experience on his shoulders.

At 38 years and 250 days old, Ream became the oldest player ever to appear for the United States in a FIFA World Cup match. That accomplishment is impressive enough, but what happened next was even more remarkable.

Ream’s place among Team USA’s starting 11 wasn’t ceremonial. It wasn’t a sentimental nod to a respected veteran before riding off into the sunset.

The veteran center back can still play at a high level, and despite being a few months shy of his 39th birthday, he delivered one of the finest performances in our country’s history.

Ream, a former New York Red Bull, completed 23 line-breaking passes during the United States’ 4-1 victory over Paraguay.

It was eight more than any player at the tournament so far, and the most by a defender in a World Cup match since Ghana’s John Paintsil in 2010.

Ream’s passes against Paraguay were ambitious. Twenty of his 91 attempted passes ended in the final third. That’s part of the reason U.S. head coach Mauricio Pochettino selected Ream as the captain. He’s not just a vocal leader, but he’s one of the best on the roster at distributing the ball.

Ream split Paraguay’s defensive shape with passes that turned defense into attack instantly. The result was four goals, the most in U.S. World Cup history.

Four years ago, Ream believed Qatar was his last World Cup with the U.S. squad. At the time, he was anchoring Fulham’s defense in the English Premier League and serving as the elder statesman on a squad of young American players led by then-captain Tyler Adams.

Young players gravitated toward him because of his professionalism, honesty and steady presence. Players praised his calmness on the pitch. When Pochettino was appointed manager in 2024, he preached a simple message: Representing your country should feel like the highest honor a player can have. Every time you take the field wearing the USA crest, it should feel like a World Cup final.

Few players embraced that philosophy more than Ream.

Slowly, almost organically, he became the extension of Pochettino’s voice inside the locker room.

“He’s a great professional,” Pochettino said. “He’s 38. He’s really fit. He’s committed. And his experience is massive playing over 10 years in Europe. When he plays, he’s a leader on the field, and if he doesn’t play I feel like he’s still on the field.”

That’s what separates Ream from past captains. His leadership is not attached to playing time.

“This is more than a dream come true,” Ream said. “I’ve done everything possible to be a part of this group, to help this group along.”

There may be younger and faster defenders in the U.S. pool, but few have Ream’s experience.

Now that the World Cup is back on home soil for the first time in 32 years, there are tremendous pressure and expectations on Team USA. Ream, a native of St. Louis, embraces it. In their first match, he looked like the player most comfortable carrying the weight of the moment.

If the Americans are going to make history this summer, they’re going to need Ream to lead the way and prove that age is just another number written on the roster sheet.