Tim Ream Called into U.S. Camp

When Tim Ream left the Red Bulls after the 2011 season most Red Bulls fans figured he was well on his way to bigger and better things.

But it hasn't quite happened that way.

Ream left Red Bull Arena for the Reebok Stadium after a rocky 2011 season that saw backline partner Rafael Marquez slam him for not being on his level, as the team floundered its way to the playoffs. All the while, Ream was being connected to teams like Arsenal before making the jump to Bolton Wanderers.

Unfortunately for Ream, the honeymoon in Bolton that postponed his actual honeymoon didn't last. After making the jump, he started 13 games for the relegation candidates. The next season, he was relegated to the bench, making just two more league appearances in 2012-13 than he did for the side in the Premier league. You wonder if he wished he had signed the contract former GM Erik Soler reportedly shoved in front of him while sitting on the team bus.

Anyway, Ream seems to be back in the thick of things for Bolton. He made his first appearance of the season in a Capital One Cup match-up against Shrewsbury that Bolton would go on to win. He's made the bench for both of Bolton's first two league matches, against Burnley and Reading. And today, we learned he got the call-up to the national team for Wednesday's friendly against Bosnia-Herzegovina.

Granted, it's one where national team coach Jurgen Klinnsman seems to be kicking the tires on a few European-based players. U-20 national team goalkeeper Cody Cropper gets his first call-up, as does promising German-American defender John Anthony Brooks and former Iceland international Aron Johannsson, who filed his one time switch with FIFA two weeks ago, much to the dismay of Iceland. Bobby Wood gets the call, too, after his club, German second division side 1860 Munich, asked to keep him for preseason. Sacha Kljestan, thought to be a fringe national team player at this point, is also in camp.

But given all that, it's still good to see Ream back in the fold for the national team. He handled the Marquez situation well and was, more than anything, a victim of the Backe-Soler regime's bumbling idiocy.

With Brooks, Geoff Cameron and Michael Parkhurst in camp, it remains to be seen if Ream -- who's learning left back, too -- will see any minutes Wednesday, but with questions at centerback, this might be an opportunity for the former Red Bull to assert himself ahead of next summer's World Cup.