Matt Freese has endured some tough moments this summer with the U.S. men’s national team but Sunday wasn’t one of them.
Freese made three shootout saves, helping the USMNT outlast Costa Rica 4-3 in penalty kicks to advance to the CONCACAF Gold Cup semifinals. The 26-year-old earned SBI USMNT Man of the Match honors for his impactful showing against The Ticos.
Freese may have been beaten twice in regulation, but the veteran goalkeeper rose the occasion in the penalty shootout. The NYCFC man denied Juan Vargas in the second round before also standing tall to punch away Francisco Calvo’s down-the-middle effort in the fifth round.
His best save came in the sixth round when Freese dove and denied Andy Rojas from putting Costa Rica in front 4-3. Substitute Damion Downs delivered the winning spot kick, setting up a Wednesday night showdown with Guatemala in St. Louis.
Freese has continued to fend off veteran Matt Turner for the No. 1 spot at the Gold Cup and Sunday’s performance will certainly boost his confidence.
“[It was a] full team effort, it really shows the energy and mentality of the group to come back from 1-0 down,” Freese said on FOX’s broadcast postmatch. “Everyone stepped up in PK’s.”
Freese edged Malik Tillman, Diego Luna, and Max Arfsten for Player of the Match honors.
What did you think of Freese’s performance? Where would you rank him in the USMNT goalkeeping pecking order?
Share your thoughts below.
I don’t know if he is the #1, 2 or 3 keeper but Freese has a spot on the 2026 WC team.
He’s the designated penalty shootout person.
Arfsten was the official man of the match by Concacaf. Someone on Twitter rightly pointed out he was partially responsible for all four goals!
he did well in the shootout. he got his hands on a couple more he didn’t keep out. however, his run of play work was just ok.
i thought luna and tillman were the better 90 minute players.
Dude has definitely made an emphatic case for himself so far. Good-plus shot-stopper, makes good decisions except for that one inexplicably goofy pass against Haiti, good at distributing out of the back. You can tell he’s got good command of the box and the team seems comfortable with him back there…there was always this feeling of unease every time the ball went back to Turner’s feet…Turner can shot-stop and boss the box for sure, but he is not a guy you want back there if you’re building from the back.
I think we found three new starters this Gold Cup – Luna, Tillman, and Freese, and Richardson has absolutely established himself as our #1 CB. Freeman’s shown enough to convince me he’s got a real future with the squad. My suspicion is there will be a ton of European interest for all those guys. And for those saying Leverkusen is a field too far for Tillman…I don’t know about that. I always would tell everyone who would listen he was one of top 2-3 most-talented players in the pool and he’s definitely playing like that for us now; if he can replicate that form for Leverkusen he’ll fit in just fine though I do worry about his tendency to vanish when he’s not comfortable.
Damion Downs keeps catching the eye too. Still early days with him but I know I’d like to see more of him.
Great PK saves. As of now he is the starter. Don’t leave NYCFC. Stay and be in the best form come WC.
Introducing……the New and Current USMNT Number 1 Goalkeeper
MATT FREESE!!!!!
Wow, Absolutely wow…….stood tall when his number was called and came through for his team….wow