Tim Ream benched at Copa America?! Jesse Marsch makes ambitious claim about USMNT veteran as ex-Leeds boss says exiled defender John Brooks should take his place

On the latest episode of CBS's Call it What You Want soccer podcast, Marsch told co-hosts Charlie Davies and Jimmy Conrad that he believes Brooks should get another shot with the USMNT under Berhalter. The Hoffenheim defender and the USA boss had a falling out in 2021, and he has not featured since.

"I think that we need to have some level of experience and know-how of what these games are about and somebody who is playing at a high level and if you now talk about the left center back for me, that's John Brooks," Marsch said. "I know that him and Berhalter aren't on the best terms and that Brooks hasn't always performed at the highest level, but when you watch him now play at Hoffenheim he's playing well."

Brooks has started 13 matches and scored one goal for Hoffenheim this season, helping them to seventh place in the Bundesliga table. Ream, meanwhile, just signed a contract extension with Fulham, keeping the 36-year-old at Craven Cottage until 2025. Marsch believes that Brooks'crucial role at the 2016 Copa America with the USMNT - which saw them earn a third-place medal - should earn him a spot back in the XI this summer.

Fulham and Ream clash with Arsenal Sunday morning, while Brooks and Hoffenheim don't report to action until the new calendar year. The USMNT, meanwhile, are back on January 20 when they take on Slovenia in an international friendly.