Ahead of their World Cup opener against Paraguay, USMNT received a message of encouragement.The message came from United States President Donald Trump and it didn’t garner the reaction he would have hoped for.Trump sent a message of encouragement to USMNT ahead of their World Cup openerGettyWhen Andrew Giuliani, the Executive Director of the White House’s Task Force for the World Cup, passed the phone to manager Mauricio Pochettino and captain Tim Ream, things got awkward.Speaking to Pochettino, Trump said: “I just called to say you’re a fantastic guy, a fantastic coach.“I think you’ve got a real good chance of going all the way.”After grimacing and laughing at the comments, Pochettino replied: “Thank you so much for your support, Mr. President. “We’re going to do everything to make you proud and all the people here in this country.”Meanwhile Ream, sitting right beside Pochettino, chose to remain completely silent, failing to even acknowledge Trump in any way.Speaking exclusively to Ben Jacobs, the USMNT correspondent for talkSPORT, Ream didn’t make anything of his reaction, instead he praised the President for taking the time to call.“Yeah, it was great,” Ream said.“Obviously he called to wish us luck and we had a few exchanges of words and told us that everyone was behind us.“It’s always nice to hear from the powers that be and we are appreciative and grateful he took the time to give us a call.”View Tweet: https://t.co/m35XuM25iUReam told talkSPORT he was grateful for the President’s call, despite the reactionGettyTim Ream makes USMNT and World Cup historyWith Trump’s words of encouragement, the US kicked off their World Cup campaign in style on Friday night, with a history-making 4-1 win over Paraguay.The three-goal margin of victory was the United States’ largest at a World Cup since the inaugural tournament in 1930.Folarin Balogun gave a perfect 10 out of 10 performance, scoring twice in the first half to become the first American with two goals in a World Cup fixture.For Ream, it was a historic night for him personally.At 38-years-old, Ream became the oldest player in USMNT history to appear in a World Cup fixture.Then, 53 minutes into the match, he made an entirely different type of history as he became the first player at a World Cup to benefit from the International Football Association Board’s “mistaken identity” rule change.Tim Ream became the oldest player in USMNT World Cup history, and the first player to benefit from the new mistaken identity ruleGettyThe revision to the laws of the game, made earlier this year, gives referees the opportunity to use VAR to overturn red and yellow cards issued to the incorrect players.Ream was booked after Paraguay midfielder Miguel Almirón went down under a challenge.World Cup WhatsAppDon't miss an update from talkSPORT in our dedicated World Cup WhatsApp channel.Search for ‘talkSPORT World Cup’ in your ‘Updates’ tab on WhatsApp and we’ll drop the proper, unfiltered football chat straight to your lock screen—no fluff, just pure talkSPORT energy.It’s where you’ll find out all the new rules to watch out for, England and Scotland reaction and big match player ratings. Plus there will be loads of debates on the biggest talking points as Haaland, Mbappe, Kane and the biggest names in football descend on America, Canada and Mexico.Despite his protests, he was issued a yellow card, but minutes later, referee Danny Makkelie was ordered to the monitor by VAR’s Carlos del Cerro Grande to review the play. Makkelie eventually overturned the yellow on Ream, instead booking Almirón for simulation, justifying the mistaken identity definition.Stay up to date on all things USMNT across our talkSPORT platforms – subscribe to our YouTube channel for the latest news, opinion, exclusive interviews and our daily unfiltered, unscripted show ‘The S* Word, from 8am ET.