Four American players added their name to the U.S. men’s national team history books on Saturday after making their senior debuts for the program.
Goalkeeper Matt Freese, defenders Alex Freeman and Nathan Harriel, and attacker Quinn Sullivan all featured in the USMNT’s 2-1 home loss to Turkey on Saturday, becoming the latest group to debut in the Mauricio Pochettino-era. Freese and Freeman both played the full 90 minutes while Sullivan and Harriel featured off of the bench at Rentschler Field.
Freeman, 20, has starred for Orlando City this MLS season, quickly becoming a first-team regular after three-consecutive seasons in MLS NEXT Pro. The son of former NFL wide receiver Antonio, Freeman rarely put a foot wrong in his debut at right back, winning six duels and completing over 80% of his passes.
While being positive after his debut, Freeman also praised the confidence in the current squad with many new faces playing together for the first time.
“It feels great, I feel like I had been dreaming of this moment and to finally be able to do it on our home turf is amazing,” Freeman said postgame in a U.S. Soccer interview. “It was something that I was really looking forward to. Good to get a good 90 in for the debut and I think I can build off of it for my country.
“I feel like for the performance I thought we did well, the first 20 minutes we did well but then the next 10 or so they got a goal and it kinda shifted momentum,” he added. “After the 10-minute period where they scored two goals, I thought we did well. We had a lot of new people and I thought we did well and it was something that we all can look up to even though we didn’t get the win.”
Sullivan and Harriel both played the final 25+ minutes in the match, coming off the bench with the USMNT down 2-1. The Philadelphia Union duo showed positive moments in their cameos, trying to make a difference in the final scoreline.
Sullivan was proud of the USMNT’s ability to fight until the final whistle, but admitted improvement is needed to grind out winning results.
“It’s definitely a dream come true to represent the country on the senior team level is awesome,” Sullivan said. “Disappointed in the result obviously, I thought we created enough chances to put the ball in the back of the net. Individually it was a proud moment, I thought I brought some intensity and aggressiveness that coach talks about so I’m going to bring that every time.
“We have positives to take from it,” he added. “We can’t be complacent though with just some good work and some good stuff in the match. Overall, Mauricio said we should be happy with how we played and with this group being together for the first time.”
Freese, 26, made three saves in the match to help keep the USMNT alive in the match despite them trailing before halftime. A former Union homegrown player, Freese has been a starter for NYCFC over the past two seasons, which has led to his recent inclusion into the USMNT squad under Pochettino.
Despite being one of the older players in the current squad, Freese thanked Pochettino for trusting him to make his debut and credited the overall work rate in the entire squad.
“It was amazing, it was a great honor and big thanks to Mauricio and the rest of the staff for giving me the opportunity,” Freese said. “I am someone that cares more about winning soccer games than anything else so it would’ve been nice to get the win but overall I thought there were some positives for the whole group to build upon heading into the next friendly and into the Gold Cup.
“I thought we were one team pushing together, from the opening whistle to the subs lined up cheering us on, to the way we celebrated our goal, to the way we let in the goals,” he added. “I think it showed pretty good camaraderie and teamwork is really where it all starts, being one nation and one team. I thought everyone was quite comfortable on the ball and played with a lot of confidence today.”
All four players will now aim to be part of the plans for the USMNT’s Tuesday night showdown with Switzerland in Nashville, Tennessee.
mcglynn reads as “different” but he’s actually a similar january guy whose seeming separate stature has been earned by performances. hence my emphasis on “reward performers.”
luna, agyemang, and tillman did enough to ask back. luna had an off game but showed some qualities. tillman looked good but often doesn’t. agyemang looked bad but usually doesn’t. so they stay relevant as “mixed bag” options. but we need more “sure things” and less of this “shows up one game but not the next.”
and to emphasize performance again, luna and agyemang were just as “january” as some of the rest of this list. i say this because when some of you indulge “sullivan” or “white,” it’s like, how many caps? when’s the upside? they are past the point a non-entity usually gets cut and we try the next noob hoping they are ideally pulisic at least mcglynn/luna instead of sullivan.
i did think freeman showed interesting signs as a marker but he also sometimes got nervous and ball stuck under foot. i think he deserves more chances to see if he grows out of it or it’s simply what he is.
sullivan and harriel were unimpactful, IMO little different than white or . freese made a couple good stops but was also steffen-frozen on the first goal. watch the replay and it’s like he’s stuck in concrete as it goes by. kind of like the CR roller that pastured steffen years ago. it’s like he can’t believe it so he doesn’t move.
however for a finite roster tournament, my feelings are probably beside the point. many will see minutes just so we can rotate bodies.
I think he’s shielded, I’m not a goalkeeper aficionado, but there’s two or three guys between him and the ball. From that distance if you don’t see it being hit that’s a hard stop to make. Lots of mistakes in that sequence from different players. Pretty good idea by the attacker to hit it near post. I know your not an analytics guy but most of Freese’s conceded goals in MLS are low to his right.
when i say he froze, i am talking about goal 1, the deflection. it is actually a fairly slow ricochet, that reminded me of the lucky goal costa rica got away far post on steffen. on that goal, the ball rolls by steffen neither fast nor that slow. but he doesn’t react or is shocked or maybe thinks it’s wide.
this felt like that.
JR,
On that second goal when Akturkoglu took that shot he was not that far out and it looked like there were 2-3 US defenders between him and Freese. We usd to say that Freese was “unsighted”. Which means by the time Freese could have seen the ball it was probably already almost in. Akturkoglu was on the near post when he took the shot but Freese was at the far post or at best in the middle of the goal. I can think of a few keepers who might have made that save but none of them are USMNT eligible.
The goal was the fault of a completely disorganized defense. Normally you expect Richards , Freese, Miles or Tyler to get everyone focused after Johnny’s mistake but Tyler wasn’t playing and I don’t think Freeman, Richards. Miles and Arfsten have ever played together as a back four. So disorganization on the part of these “fresh faces” is no surprise.
You said Arfsten was not a very good left back and I can see that but he did quite well tonight. Now if he knew how to head or volley a ball, he could have scored two goals at the far post.
Considering that these guys have never played a game together as a team, I was impressed by how coherent they seemed to be.
i wasn’t talking about goal 2. goal 2 i put down to the backs “blocking” instead of “clearing” and then our tendency to overcommit to the ball leaving the area in front of the backs — where DMs should reside and be marking — open.
yes, in that goal he’s a little blind behind some defenders.
to me we give up too many goals squared to the area in front of the backs, or played to the far post. it’s a scheme issue. we have too few mids in the formation. they are being told to cover ground and put out fires. there are too few mids and men are open in the middle and on the backside.
IMO we need more mids in the formation where the middle line is more congested just by sheer amount of bodies. you then can’t just square a ball back into the spot, or hit a cross far post. you have to actually work the ball through it. we can handle things when the ball is trapped in a swarm. 4 or 5 mids would get you that swarm.
re “fresh faces,” sorry but the starters have the same issues. worse, the starting backs start getting beat in A contests. so you can not just score on these square balls or weak side switches, but also just pin the back and turn and shoot.
some of this is as a defender from atleti type schemes, where work is expected and everyone has a responsibility, and you don’t take dumb risks, i see our pressing and shifting to the near side as childishly naive risktaking. like diving in. if you don’t win that ball overcommitting the area behind you is open. so i want a more strategically sound approach.
IV,
“re “fresh faces,” sorry but the starters have the same issues. worse, the starting backs start getting beat in A contests. ”
Freeman, Freese and Arfsten are not Johnny Cardoso’s legal representation.
They are fresh faces.
You asked for fresh faces, you got fresh faces. Own it.