'Penalties Are My Thing': Matt Freese's Stardom Rises In USA's Win at Gold Cup

Fox Sports

a day ago

Matt Freese saved three penalty kicks and Damion Downs scored the decisive penalty as the U.S. men's national team beat Costa Rica 4-3 in a dramatic six-round penalty shootout. Now, the Americans will advance to the Gold Cup semifinals, where they will face Guatemala on Wednesday, July 2 in St. Louis.
The USMNT showed intensity, personality and confidence in victory – traits the squad had not portrayed in quite some time. After giving up an early goal – a PK no less – in the 11th minute after a foul by Max Arfsten, the Americans responded when Diego Luna scored his first international goal minutes before halftime.
The U.S. took the lead when Arfsten scored in the first few minutes of the second half, essentially making up for the mistake he made in the first. But later, he got beat and Costa Rica equalized 2-2.
With no extra time until the final, the match went directly to penalties following a deadlock at the end of regulation. And the USMNT came out on top to keep its Gold Cup trophy hopes alive.
Check out every penalty kick in this matchup between the United States and Costa Rica in the Concacaf Gold Cup Quarter Finals.
Here are takeaways from the match:
Matt Freese or Matty Ice?
There was some discussion entering the knockout round of this tournament that maybe manager Mauricio Pochettino would elect to start the more veteran Matt Turner in goal over Freese, who has started every game for the USMNT in the Gold Cup so far.
But when the lineups were released an hour before kickoff, there was Freese in goal again.
Pochettino can be satisfied with his decision, especially after the way Freese stepped up during the penalty shootout. The 26-year-old goalkeeper guessed right five straight times and saved three shots to help send the U.S. to the semifinal.
"Penalties are my thing," Freese told the FOX Sports broadcast after the game. He said he studied Costa Rica's PK tendencies on the flight to Minneapolis and gave credit to his goalkeeping coach.
"I was ready," Freese said.
Freese posted consecutive clean sheets to start this tournament, then overcame a mistake that led to a goal against Haiti and redeemed himself further with his performance in this quarterfinal. Is he now the favorite to be the USMNT's starting goalkeeper at next summer's World Cup?
"It's not at the forefront of my mind," Freese said ahead of the quarterfinal. "What I'm focused on is that each new game is another opportunity and we have a big game coming up this weekend that we're focused on."
Matt Freese discussed his game-winning performance during penalty kicks for the United States vs. Costa Rica.
A young American team responds
The USMNT found itself in a hole early when Costa Rica converted a penalty in the 11th minute after Arfsten lunged toward Kenneth Vargas, tackling him in the box. Francisco Calvo stepped up to the spot and nailed his shot past Matt Freese into the bottom right corner to give his team a 1-0 lead.
This was Costa Rica's first attack of the day and they made the most of it. The question immediately turned to how the U.S. would respond after an early mistake.
In the 32nd minute, the Americans were awarded a PK of their own, but Malik Tillman hit the post instead of leveling the score. Things got chippy after the miss, and U.S. players defended each other – Freese even ran all the way down the field to put his arm around and console Tillman.
Over the next few minutes, the USMNT put the pressure on and created multiple scoring opportunities. Ultimately, Luna took a shot that deflected off Alexis Gamboa and sailed past veteran goalkeeper Keylor Navas to tie the game, 1-1.
Of course the game wasn't over at that point. The U.S. went up 2-1 early in the second half before Costa Rica equalized, which eventually sent the match into a shootout.
Now that the USMNT has advanced to the semis, what does it need to do to keep its momentum?
"Win again," Freese told the broadcast afterward. "That's the only way to build."
Guatemala pulls off upset vs. Canada
Penalty kicks were the theme of the day. Before the U.S. and Costa Rica's tense finish, Guatemala pulled off a massive upset over Canada after a seven-round penalty shootout in the first game of the day.
Canada's Luc Rollet's shot flew off the crossbar and then Jose Morales buried the game-winner to send Guatemala to the semifinals.
Before the game got to that point, the Reds held a 1-0 lead following Jonathan David's conversion from the spot in the 30th minute. But right before halftime, forward Jacob Shaffelburg was ejected after he was shown his second yellow card, forcing his squad to play down a man in the second half. Canada held on for a while, until Rubio Rubin scored the tying goal with a header in the 69th minute.
Now, Guatemala will face the U.S. in the semifinal on Wednesday, July 2 in St. Louis.
Laken Litman covers college football, college basketball and soccer for FOX Sports. She previously wrote for Sports Illustrated, USA Today and The Indianapolis Star. She is the author of "Strong Like a Woman," published in spring 2022 to mark the 50th anniversary of Title IX. Follow her at @LakenLitman .
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