Matt Freese got his breakout moment with the United States men's national team, making three saves in a penalty-kick shootout against Costa Rica to seal a dramatic victory and help the USMNT advance to the Semifinals of the Concacaf Gold Cup.
His performance in the shootout was breathtaking, with the New York City FC goalkeeper only beaten cleanly by his club teammate Alonso Martínez to open the spot-kick contest. Freese got close to stopping every other Costa Rican attempt – he got fingers on the two makes after Martínez, guessing the right direction each Costa Rican kicker was going with their attempts.
Matthew Mangam
The heroics from Freese sent a ripple through the American soccer world, putting the NYCFC goalkeeper firmly on the national team map. Not only did he best legendary Costa Rican goalkeeper Keylor Navas, but Freese washed away much of the doubt that lingered over his continued inclusion in the USMNT Starting XI through this summer's friendlies and Gold Cup games.
This is rare air, as never before has a player with New York City FC broken through like this as such a central USMNT difference-maker. After the thrilling win over Costa Rica, there was so much being said by Freese and about Freese, so this felt like a good time to stop and collect some of the various reactions, quotes, and comments swirling around the USMNT's new No 1 goalkeeper.
Freese: 'Penalties are my thing'
Immediately following the game, Freese spoke to Jenny Taft of Fox Sports about his comfort in shootouts, which you can watch below. When asked about his confidence level with PKs, Freese dropped that immediately iconic quote: "Penalties are my thing."
Video via @FoxSoccer
This isn't an empty boast or bit of post-shootout-victory overconfidence from Freese, either. The 26-year-old has a legitimate track record of shootout excellence, and now has made three saves in three different shootouts.
In November 2024, in the shootout that decided who advanced from the best-of-three Round One MLS Cup Playoffs series between NYCFC and FC Cincinnati, Freese also made three saves, keeping out shots from Pavel Bucha, Gerardo Valenzuela, and Teenage Hadebe en route to a New York City victory.
Oliver Strand
Paul Kennedy of Soccer America also pointed out Freese posted a three-save shootout in MLS Next Pro while with Philadelphia Union II – that was on June 19, 2022, against Chicago Fire II, when Freese stopped all three Fire kicks in a row while his Union teammates made their first three kicks, delivering a flawless PK victory following a 1-1 draw in regulation.
Freese won all three penalty shootouts he faced in his MLS Next Pro career with Philly, and made a total of six saves across those three shootout wins. With NYCFC in 2024, besides the Cincinnati playoff win, Freese also beat New England Revolution at Gillette Stadium in Leagues Cup (though didn't make any saves), then suffered his lone career shootout loss to Columbus Crew, despite making an excellent diving save on Diego Rossi.
His in-match record against penalties isn't as good – he's only made saves on three of the 14 penalty kick attempts he's faced in his career.
In shootouts, though, Freese reaches another level. Following the win over Costa Rica and spanning all seven career PK shootouts he's participated in across MLS Next Pro, Leagues Cup, MLS Cup Playoffs, and now the Gold Cup, Freese has faced 41 penalty attempts and made 13 saves while winning six out of his seven shootouts. They really are his thing, and as you can see from more of his postmatch comments below, Freese has fun when it's time to decide a winner with kicks from the spot.
Landon Donovan: 'A star is born'
Immediately following the conclusion of the shootout, Freese got showered with praise by a number of former USMNT stars. Out front of that group was Landon Donovan, who began the postmatch analysis in the Fox studio by saying, "A star was born tonight. It's not hyperbolic to say that. He was fantastic. A lot of soccer fans, sports fans, and American fans will know the name Matt Freese after tonight. He was fantastic, and you have to give him a ton of credit."
It's a quick about-face from Donovan, because on his podcast, Unfiltered Soccer, co-hosted by fellow USMNT legend Tim Howard, Donovan loudly called on Pochettino to drop Freese in favor of Matt Turner following Freese's error against Haiti, saying "He's [Freese] a fine goalkeeper. But now you need to win the Gold Cup. And I know Matt Turner's not been great, he's not been playing a lot, but that's the guy you need to have in the goal."
So much for that, as they say. It's been an eventful summer for "Landon Donovan, USMNT pundit," following that firestorm he kicked off by criticizing Christian Pulisic's non-involvement with the United States squad this summer. Now he's done a 360-degree turn on Freese in a matter of days – you could say The Iceman proved something to the former USMNT No 10.
Another outspoken attacking legend of the USMNT, Clint Dempsey, had lots of praise for Freese while co-hosting a live post-match reaction show with Men In Blazers and Roger Bennett. Dempsey said of Freese, which you can watch below, "I just thought he did a great job of being a dominant presence in there, guessed right on a lot of occasions, got his hand on a few. Some of those big saves he made —Man of the Match, for sure."
"The first one, I feel like he went too early. I like that he took his time a little on the other ones. Make 'em beat you. He's got a big frame...I just think he did a great job of being a dominant presence in there." Clint Dempsey gives Matt Freese his flowers 🇺🇸🧤
— Men in Blazers Media Network (@meninblazers.bsky.social) June 29, 2025 at 10:35 PM
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Not just legends of the USMNT past came out to praise Freese, as current defender Chris Richards said "Freesey stood on his head in the goal...we call him 'Freesey' for a reason, he's ice cold. We really appreciate him today, he saved us a few times, hopefully next few games he won't have that much to do."
SoccerSky reacts
Lots of people want to tell you BlueSky is a passing fad, flavor-of-the-month social network and doesn't have the juice when it comes to things like reacting to live sports and offering lively discussions about things that aren't left-leaning politics. We're here to tell you that they're wrong, because just look at all these great posts about Matt Freese.
Good penalty saves from Matt Freese, but the best was the one where he just stood in the middle of the goal and punched the ball away.
— James Nalton (@jdnalton.bsky.social) June 29, 2025 at 9:25 PM
Keylor Navas might’ve done as well as Matt Freese if he’d ever played in MLS Next Pro
— Kris Nordstrom (@krisnordstrom.bsky.social) June 29, 2025 at 9:21 PM
FREESE FOR SECRETARY OF DEFENSE
— obnoxiously pitt girl (@opg.bsky.social) June 29, 2025 at 9:14 PM
Matt Freese may have just booked his ticket to the World Cup just to be the emergency penalty shootout goalkeeper #USMNT
— Pardeep Cattry (@pcattry.bsky.social) June 29, 2025 at 9:22 PM
Harvard's rejection rate stays unmatched
— John Muller (@johnspacemuller.com) June 29, 2025 at 9:20 PM
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Matt Freese guessing right on every pen EXCEPT Alonso Martinez’s is just 🤌🏻
— John Baney (@thepigeonsnycfc.bsky.social) June 29, 2025 at 9:33 PM
People were quick to hate on Matt Freese after his mistake against Haiti. The #NYCFC goalkeeper just shut all those doubters up, while also proving why he should be the No. 1 over Matt Turner heading into next year's World Cup. @hudsonriverblue.com
— matthewmangam.bsky.social (@matthewmangam.bsky.social) June 29, 2025 at 9:30 PM
Matt Freese had three saves in the penalty shootout for #NYCFC in an upset of #FCincy in the #MLS playoffs last year. This performance for #USMNT against #CostaRica is not a surprise.
— Glenn Crooks (@glenncrooks.bsky.social) June 29, 2025 at 9:14 PM
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— BLUE BALLS NYCFC (@blueballspod.bsky.social) June 29, 2025 at 10:34 PM
You don't get to see New York City FC players turn into wider cult heroes like this often, so it's okay to bask in the ice-cold glory of the USMNT and Matt Freese's shootout victory – at least until their next game, Wednesday night in the Concacaf Gold Cup Semifinals against Guatemala.
