This year’s World Cup team has two players that attended St. Dominic High School in O’Fallon, Tim Ream and Josh Sargent. Tim Ream is 35.  Josh Sargent is just 22, is married, and has a daughter who is less than a year old. Science teacher, Mrs. Alicia Hirschbuehler had the opportunity to teach Sargent when she worked at Assumption Catholic School.

“I taught him in middle school 6th-8th grade,” Hirschbuehler said. “That was when he first started playing soccer and even when he stopped going to school because he went to academy training in Florida, he would still stop by the school during breaks to pick up his little sister and say hi to everyone there and tell them about his journey. He was always such an all-around nice kid and would sign jerseys or anything else they wanted him to sign. He would also help out with soccer camps during the summer at Assumption Catholic School.”

Sargent played a total of 74 minutes for the US and had the 2nd assist on the only goal in their game against Wales. He held it and sent it to Joe Rodon, who then centered it to Christina Pulisic for the goal.

With one of the biggest sports competitions in the entire world, The World Cup located in Qatar, Asia, is once every four years and lasts for 1-2 months of straight soccer games. Coming into this big play of soccer, there are 32 teams, 8 different groups, and 4 teams in each, with only 2 escaping each bracket.

As the teams advance out of the bracket, they enter the “Knockout Stage”. In the next round, each team plays one other team and if they lose, they are eliminated. This works all the way down until there is one game left and everything is on the line to determine who can win their game for their country to be crowned champions of the world.

The point system works as you get three points for a win, zero for the losing team, you get one point if you tie another team, one for the other team, and lastly if you lose a game you get zero points, and the winning team gets three points. 

Teachers and students are excited about seeing the outcome of this year’s World Cup, which is during school hours rather than during the summer due to the weather in Qatar.

“I think England could top their group, Group B, but it is a toss-up between the other three,” Landon Waller (‘26) said.

Although Sargent is a dominating forward on the team, Time Ream, who also went to St. Dominic, plays defense and defended extremely well in the first game against Wales. Unfortunately, Walker Zimmerman fouled a player in the box, which led to a penalty kick, ending the game in a 1-1 tie.

“I am most excited to watch Tim Ream on the USA team because he is the greatest player in the Premier League right now,” Brady Hoelting (‘26) said. “I think he played pretty well against Wales and I’m excited to watch him against England on Friday.”

The favorites to win the world cup according to the experts and all of the predictions ran are number one Brazil, number two Belgium, and number three France. Other good teams that should be in the running are Portugal, England, Spain, Netherlands, and Germany.

“I predict the US will advance on goal differential,” Soccer Coach Greg Schroeder said. “We will lose to England but beat Iran by enough to advance.”

I believe that either France or Argentina will be victorious in the World cup but anything can happen in Sports. Wouldn’t it be great if USA made it to the final?