Laken Litman
College Football & Soccer Analyst
ARLINGTON, Texas – Matt Freese admittedly was trying to “overcomplicate a scenario.”
In the 19th minute of the U.S. men’s national team’s eventual 2-1 win over Haiti in its final Gold Cup group stage match on Sunday, Freese received a pass back from defender Tim Ream in a precarious situation. Ream had chased a ball back near his own goal with Haitian striker Louicius Don Deedson on his heels and figured he’d play it to Freese, who had a better angle to clear it. Instead, Freese mis-hit the ball, which was intercepted by Deedson, who proceeded to score and tie the game 1-1.
The Americans responded and came back to win the match – and Group D in the process. But it was a learning moment for Freese, who is striving to state his case for the USMNT’s starting goalkeeper job at the 2026 World Cup.
“It’s probably a moment to be smart, be safe and put it out,” Freese told reporters after the game.
Haiti evens up score vs. USMNT after costly mistake by Matt Freese
Haiti and the United States are even at 1-1 after Matt Freese gave the ball away.
Freese, 26, has started every match for the USMNT at this Gold Cup – a 5-0 defeat of Trinidad and Tobago, a 1-0 win over Saudi Arabia, and the 2-1 result vs. Haiti. He is expected to be in goal on Sunday, too, when the squad faces Costa Rica in the quarterfinal (7 p.m. ET on FOX). But the competition between him and incumbent Matt Turner has been a hot storyline so far this summer.
Freese entered this camp without a cap to his name. His expectations were just to “push myself, push my teammates and be the best version of myself on the field and off the field.” He said his objective is to win the Gold Cup like everybody else, and also build relationships with his teammates, many of whom he didn’t know before they were called up for this roster.
Freese made his debut in a pre-tournament 2-1 loss to Turkiye, before making way for Turner in a 4-0 loss to Switzerland. When U.S. coach Mauricio Pochettino told him he’d be starting against Trinidad and Tobago, Freese said the manager quickly took the pressure off and told him to “just be yourself, that’s all you have to do. We’re putting you in there for a reason, so just be yourself out there.’”
“Mauricio does a really good job relating to the players and having personal conversations that lead to soccer conversations,” Freese added later. “It starts out very friendly, and then goes into instruction and his plan for you. Kind of a natural conversation, nothing too structured.”
Mauricio Pochettino has stayed with Matt Freese at goal during the Gold Cup. (Photo by John Dorton/ISI Photos/USSF/Getty Images for USSF)
Pochettino has been asked about his goalkeeper competition several times over the past few weeks. He has stated that he trusts Turner and knows what he can do, and wants to give Freese this opportunity to see if he could be a No. 1 option for the USMNT.
“I think we all know Matt Turner, how good he is, he’s an experienced player,” Pochettino said. “But it’s a really tough moment for him after one year he didn’t play too much [with Crystal Palace]. I think it’s also a good opportunity to take some of the pressure off of him and give an opportunity to another keeper to show it’s possible to fight for a place in the World Cup [roster].”
Now that the USMNT is on to the knockout round, Pochettino has an intriguing decision to make: does he revert to a more experienced Turner in what will likely be more challenging matchups, or does he keep rolling with Freese? For what it’s worth, he hasn’t made many changes to the starting lineups in this tournament so far.
While there hasn’t been any indication which way Pochettino will go against Costa Rica, he wasn’t concerned by the mistake Freese made in the last game, and didn’t need to do anything special to build the goalkeeper’s confidence back up.
“Remember, the most important action is the next one,” Pochettino said he told Freese. “If you think about the last one, you’re dead, you’re going to make another mistake. This type of accident happens and it’s going to happen in the future.
“We’re so happy with him, with the quality of our keepers and the way that they’re supporting each other.”
From the outside, the relationship between teammates battling for one starting position always seems a bit of a taboo topic. But Freese described the dynamic between him and Turner as a “very healthy competition.”
“Matt and I are very close, and we also know that it’s our job to push each other in the right moments, and it’s our job to support each other in the right moments,” Freese said. “I’ve learned a lot from him, and hopefully he’s learned some from me, I don’t know.
“But he’s an incredibly fantastic goalkeeper and a really great teammate. And it’s very clear that he has my back and [when he’s in goal], I would have his back as well.”
Regardless of how the USMNT finishes the Gold Cup – if all goes according to plan, a date with Mexico could loom in the final – does Freese consider himself the frontrunner to be the Americans’ starting goalkeeper at the World Cup a year from now? Of course, Turner was the squad’s go-to at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, and has held onto that responsibility up until now.
Freese deflected.
“It’s not at the forefront of my mind,” Freese said. “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.”
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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