Matt Freese is starting in goal for the United States at the World Cup, and the 27-year-old Harvard graduate has turned an unusual academic path into the job. Auston Trusty sits beside that story as the name attached to the angle, but the focus is Freese’s rise and the pressure of guarding the U.S. net now.
Freese said, “I wouldn’t say it’s intimidating, I would say it’s inspiring,” before a Tuesday morning training session in Irvine. He also said, “To have my name next to theirs as the next guy up is an incredible honor, and it’s something I’ve dreamed of.”
Harvard to the U.S. net
Freese joined the Philadelphia Union academy as a teen, left soon afterward to enroll at Harvard, and then returned to Philadelphia after two seasons to sign with the MLS team. He continued to take classes online after going back, and he once wrote a paper on penalty-kick analytics.
That route stands out because it ran through Harvard in a sport where many top goalkeepers move straight through academy systems. Freese graduated in 2022 with a degree in economics, and he said taking classes occupied his time and mind and gave him a natural release off the field.
Freese and the U.S. goalkeepers
The U.S. goalkeeping job comes with a heavy past, and Freese pointed to that standard without shrinking from it. “I dreamt of this opportunity. But you never know if it’s going to come,” he said, then added, “I learned the ones that work hard without the promise of reward are the ones that usually succeed.”
At 27, he is now the latest starter in a position previously associated with Matt Turner, Tim Howard and Brad Friedel. Turner is his backup in the tournament, while Howard set a World Cup tournament record with 16 saves in a knockout-stage loss to Belgium in 2014 and Friedel made six stops in a 2-0 win over Mexico in 2002.
Turkey and the shutout chase
Freese first started for the United States against Turkey 55 weeks before Thursday’s group-stage finale against Turkey, and now the same opponent frames his next chance to add to a rare shutout line. Through two games at the World Cup, he has given up one goal, and the team is unbeaten and already through to the next round.
A clean sheet on Thursday would put him alongside Matt Turner in a rare World Cup shutout record, and that gives the night a direct target rather than a vague milestone. For Freese, the path from Harvard paper to World Cup starter has already changed the way the position looks for the United States.
