A couple of hours before kickoff, there’s always one place you’ll find Matt Freese.
The New York City FC shot-stopper stands in goal — headphones on — taking in his surroundings and getting a feel for the pitch as he visualizes saving shots. It’s a pre-game routine the 27-year-old has followed since his days at Harvard University, a place that played an immense role in his development as a soccer player.
Although Freese only spent two years playing for Harvard, his time as a Crimson helped shape him into one of the best goalkeepers in Major League Soccer — and put him on the path to become the United States men’s national team’s starting goalkeeper with the 2026 FIFA World Cup less than one year away.
Before deciding to play soccer at Harvard, Freese had an offer to move away from his home in Wayne, PA, to join Manchester United on an apprenticeship contract. The opportunity enticed Freese, but his parents wanted him to go to Harvard and focus on his studies.
“It was largely a family decision,” he said. “There were some tough conversations between me and my parents about this one. There was a clear path that I wanted to go on, but I had to respect what they wanted. They sacrificed so much for me, so I had to repay that and honor what they wanted and then, when the time was right, make my decision for myself.”
Hudson River Blue Staff
Hudson River Blue Staff
From Harvard, to benchwarmer, to starter
Freese spent only two years at Harvard before leaving early in December 2018 to join the Philadelphia Union as a homegrown player.
“It was very clear to me that in order to have the career I wanted to have on the field and to achieve things I wanted to achieve on the field, the earlier my career could start, the better,” he said. “It was a pretty natural decision; everyone was kind of on the same page.”
Freese made his MLS debut on April 19, 2019, but ultimately never won the starting role at Philadelphia because he was stuck behind three-time MLS Goalkeeper of the Year winner Andre Blake.
“I think it was actually probably the best thing that could have happened for me,” he said. “I think if I was thrown immediately into a starting position, it could have been very different. When that happens, sometimes you lose a level of humility that I was forced to have, not only for four years there, but because that humility was entrenched so deeply into me during that time, and it’s something that I’m planning on keeping with me throughout my entire playing career.”
Freese revealed that Blake is a mentor to him and referred to him as one of his “very close friends.” The two of them, according to Freese, stay in touch.
Glenn Crooks
“I also think just learning tactically and technically with Andre — we’re very different athletes and we have a different style of playing,” Freese said. “But just being exposed to his professionalism and his style of play and his communication, so many things, and just his ability — I learned a lot from him, but it also pushed me. I didn’t have an automatic potential to start right away; I had to earn it and ultimately didn’t earn it there.”
After 16 appearances over four seasons with Philadelphia, Freese joined NYCFC on January 27, 2023. Once again, he found himself as the backup goalkeeper, this time behind Luis Barraza. But Freese eventually won the starting spot, taking over the position for the last eight games of the regular season and logging five clean sheets.
“There was a lot of development and a lot of adapting I had to do,” Freese said. “I had to work hard, listen to the coaching staff, listen to Rob (Vartughian). Rob was super patient with me, but pushed me a lot because I think he saw the longer-term plan, and when I got to the threshold as far as possession-oriented style of play they wanted to see, I started getting opportunities and just had to take advantage of those opportunities.”
The 2024 season was a career-defining campaign for Freese. He totaled 135 saves, the third-most in the league, and had a save percentage rate of 73.4%, the fourth-best in MLS. He also prevented 8.9 goals, second only to Kristijan Kahlina, who was named Goalkeeper of the Year.
Freese followed up his outstanding regular season with a huge performance in Round One of the playoffs against FC Cincinnati. He made six saves in Game One, four saves in Game Two, but Game Three was where Freese made the biggest impact — he made four saves in regulation, followed by a three-save penalty shootout display to send New York City to the Eastern Conference Semifinals.
Matt Freese | Best saves vs FC Cincinnati, Round One
“It wasn’t one of the best years; it was just my first year, so it was the only opportunity I had to show it,” he said. “I had been doing stuff in practice for five, six years before that. So I just wanted to do the same exact thing I had been doing in training and stay consistent. I think the big part of that first year for me in 2024 was the consistency of it because there was a few good performances and then a few average performances — I don’t like being average.”
Journey to become the USMNT's No 1
Despite Freese’s breakout season, he didn’t get any recognition from MLS or Mauricio Pochettino and the USMNT — it seemed like only NYCFC fans were noticing his stellar performances.
“It was still so early on for me; it wasn’t frustrating,” he said. “It kept me hungry, but I didn’t need that to keep me hungry because I’m someone that will always be hungry no matter what. I really think it was, ‘you’re not gonna get called up to the national team for half of a good season’ and that’s just not how the sport works. As far as MLS, it’s kinda similar. You need a name for yourself before MLS starts to notice you; that’s just the reality. National team, that was a goal of mine. I knew I was doing it, but I had to do it for a longer period of time — the sample size had to be larger to get really noticed.”
Finally, Freese was called up to the USMNT for the first time in his career in January 2025. Although he sat on the bench for both games played in that international window, Freese would get his opportunity five months later, making his national team debut in a 2-1 friendly loss to Türkiye on June 7.
Matthew Mangam
“It was awesome, it was something I had been dreaming about for a very long time,” he said. “It was such an amazing honor — every time you get to represent your country is a huge honor. It was something I had been working very hard for, and not just me, but many people who are close to me and have invested in my soccer career, and I think that was also a reward for them. My mom [Marcia Geary] is one of those who always sacrificed things for me and supported me even when it was very difficult for her when I was younger. Rob is another example, put his name out there for me to bring me here and to support me and push me and get me game time. I hope that it was rewarding for him as well to see that he’s fantastic at talent identification as well as development of those players.”
At that point, it was unclear if Freese would continue to start in goal with the Concacaf Gold Cup weeks away. The 2022 FIFA World Cup veteran, Matt Turner, wasn’t in great form, and potential starters like Zack Steffen and Patrick Schulte were dealing with injuries.
“My goal was never to play one game for the national team,” Freese said. “It doesn’t mean it wasn’t an honor and super exciting, but I didn’t step into the summer and say ‘I just want to get one game’ that was never the goal and never the ambition. The ambition is to maximize my opportunities as much as I can.”
Harvard's lasting impact
Freese definitely maximized his opportunities that summer, starting every game at the Gold Cup. But he had his breakout moment against Costa Rica in the semifinals, saving three straight penalty kicks to send the USMNT to the final of the tournament.
After the game, Freese famously said, “Penalties are my thing,” as he became a national team hero — the rest of the country finally found out what NYCFC fans already knew.
“It was definitely a little overstimulating,” he said. “My phone was blowing up in a way it never had. I didn’t really look at it too much. I actually put my headphones in, and I remember Tyler Adams made a joke, he’s like, ‘look at you, you’re so professional, you’re drowning out the noise already,’ but I think I was much more focused on being present and not looking at my phone and not thinking about anything. I was just trying to be with the team and enjoy that moment because you never know how many of those you’re gonna get. Later in the night, I did call my mom, and we just had a moment together because it had been so much work between the both of us to get there.”
But Freese couldn't have done it without his Harvard research project, where he studied penalty kicks. He learned how to read his opponent's hips and the overall statistics behind spotkicks, which he's shown has worked effectively multiple times this season.
After the Gold Cup, the trajectory of Freese’s career skyrocketed. He signed a contract extension with New York City in September, making him the “third-highest goalkeeper in MLS” and keeping him at the club through 2030.
It was an important move for NYCFC, as Freese was reported to be getting "strong interest from German and Dutch clubs" per Tom Bogert in January.
“I really believe in what we have here in New York,” Freese said. “I think the group we have assembled over the past two to three years, in addition to the core they had from prior, is something I really believe in. I also have a great relationship with Rob; he’s helped me develop so much. I had one conversation with Pascal when I met him this winter in January — I had one conversation with him and one film session with him, and then texted my agent and said, ‘if we can figure out how to stay in New York let’s do it’ because there were some conversations about whatever but it took one day with Pascal to see that this is gonna be a great future for this team and I’m fully focused on maximizing my time that I do have with this great organization.”
With the World Cup less than one year away, Freese remains the USMNT’s No 1 goalkeeper. He’s started all four of the nation’s friendlies since the Gold Cup and seems set to start in this summer’s tournament held in the United States.
“If more opportunities come, more opportunities come with the national team, and I need to take advantage of them, continue to be the team-oriented player I am, whether that’s on the field or whatnot,” he said. “Just keep hacking away at it, keep working, don’t get caught up with what’s happening next summer because that’s 200 days away.”
It’s been a crazy past two years for Freese, who, not too long ago, was the backup to Blake at Philadelphia. But because of Blake, NYCFC assistant coach and goalkeeper coach Rob Vartughian, his mother, and many others, Freese is in a great position to be the starting goalkeeper when the USMNT begins its World Cup campaign on June 12 at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles.
“I always knew that I had the ability to do that, and I was very confident, and I had self-belief in my ability to play at that level," he said. "The question is: do you get the opportunity? That’s something that’s out of my control, but you can control how ready you are for them … I didn’t want to leave it just up to chance, and so I decided to always be ready for whatever opportunity came my way, and I’ll continue to do that for the next 13 years because I wanna play till 40.”
