Matt Freese, having displaced Matt Turner as US goalkeeper, not yet looking toward World Cup

Hindustan Times

3 days ago

Having displaced Matt Turner as the starting U.S. goalkeeper for the CONCACAF Gold Cup, Matt Freese isn't contemplating starting the Americans' World Cup opener next June. HT Image
'It's not at the forefront of my mind,' he said Wednesday. 'What I'm focused on is each new game is another opportunity, and we have a big game coming up this weekend that we're focused on.'
Going into Sunday's CONCACAF Gold Cup quarterfinal against Costa Rica, the 26-year-old Freese had started all three group stage matches.
'It's a tournament that provides the opportunity to have this goalkeeper fighting for a position with Matt Turner in the future, but to check that out he needs to play," U.S. coach Mauricio Pochettino said after the tournament-opening win over Trinidad and Tobago. 'We already know that Matt Turner can handle the pressure in a Gold Cup and in a World Cup. His quality is not in question. But after a hard year without play, I thought it was important for him to provide leadership from bench, always ready to play.'
American goalkeeping hasn't been this worrisome since the 1980s. Tony Meola , Kasey Keller , Brad Friedel and Tim Howard all gained renown, but Turner and Zack Steffen failed to get regular top tier playing time in Europe after leaving Major League Soccer.
Turner who turned 31 Tuesday, became the No. 1 U.S. goalkeeper ahead of the 2022 World Cup and had started 14 consecutive competitive matches for the U.S. and 23 of 24 before the Gold Cup.
Freese attended a joint senior/under-23 U.S. training camp in January 2021, then didn't return to the national team until January 2025.
He made his U.S. debut in a 2-1 friendly loss to Turkey on June 7, sat while Turner started in a 4-0 exhibition loss to Switzerland three days later and then was in goal for three Gold Cup wins: 5-0 over T&T, 1-0 against Saudi Arabia and 2-1 over Haiti. Freese's mis-hit of a clearing attempt led to Haiti's tying goal.
'Remember, the most important action is the next one,' Pochettino recalled telling him. 'If you think in the last one like that, you're going to do another mistake. This type of accident happened, and it will happen it the future.'
A son of a Harvard college and medical school graduate, Freese attended The Episcopal Academy in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, enrolled at Harvard and was second-team All-Ivy as a sophomore in 2018. Freese viewed Howard as a role model.
'The natural raw athleticism that he has is something that I feel a little bit related to,' Freese said.
Freese left Harvard to sign a homegrown player contract with Major League Soccer's Philadelphia Union that December.
He earned his economics degree in 2022 from Harvard, where his father was a graduate of the college and medical school. Among Turner's senior projects were a Theoretical Economic Analysis of Rising Major League Soccer Franchise Valuations and a Cost-Benefit Analysis of Hosting the Olympics. He joined the U.S. Soccer Federation's board of directors in March as an athlete representative.
At Philadelphia, Freese appeared in just 13 league matches from 2019-22 as a backup to Andre Blake. He was traded to New York City in January 2023, took over as starting goalkeeper from Luis Barraza that May 31 and has held the job since.
His path to become the U.S. starter opened when Columbus' Patrick Schulte injured an oblique during pregame warmups on May 24 and Steffen hurt his right knee during training with the U.S. team on June 3.
Turner has had little playing time in the last year, making just three appearances for Crystal Palace, the last in the FA Cup on March 1.
'Every inch, every opportunity needs to be fought for and every opportunity that I've had under this current staff I've earned by my performances within training and the opportunities that I had this past season with Crystal Palace,' Turner said ahead of the Turkey match.
Freese, Turner and Chicago's Chris Brady are the remaining goalkeepers in camp. Freese was excited to learn he was starting the first June friendly and then the Gold Cup opener. He said Pochettino told him: 'Just be yourself. That's all you need to do. We're putting you in there for a reason.'
'Mauricio does a really good job relating to the players and having personal conversations that lead to soccer conversations,' Freese said. 'It starts out very friendly and then goes into instruction and his plan for you, so it was kind of a natural conversation, nothing too structured.'
Freese's relationship with Turner could be seen from afar as a rivalry
'I don't know about friends or competitors. We're teammates, and that's the important thing here," Freese said. "Whoever's playing will have the other's full support. It's my job to push him in training. It's his job to push me in training and then when game time comes the guy who's playing has the full support of the other.'
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