Matt Freese played in front of multiple assistant coaches from the United States men's national team in New York City FC's 2-1 home loss to Minnesota United FC.
Goalkeeper coach Toni Jimenez and assistant Jesus Perez from Mauricio Pochettino's USMNT coaching staff were at Yankee Stadium to watch Freese, and it's a sign Freese remains of national-team interest following his first senior call-up in January.
The visit to see Freese comes as the USMNT licks its wounds and tries to once again fix itself following an embarrassing fourth-place finish in the Concacaf Nations League tournament played in March, in which the United States lost to Panama and Canada in back-to-back games played on home soil.
🇺🇸 USMNT GK coach Toni Jimenez was in attendance at Yankee Stadium yesterday to watch NYCFC standout GK Matt Freese Freese was one of MLS's best GKs last year & is continuing that form in 2025 Received first senior call-up in January. USMNT assistant Jesus Perez was at game too
— Tom Bogert (@tombogert.bsky.social) April 7, 2025 at 8:02 AM
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In the wake of Nations League, Pochettino and his staff now have to come up with rosters for a pair of friendlies in June (vs. Turkey and Switzerland) along with the roster for the 2025 Concacaf Gold Cup. Could Matt Freese return to the squad after missing out on the USMNT roster for Nations League?
The goalkeeper position looks unsettled and clouded with some level of uncertainty following usual starter Matt Turner's performance in the Nations League plus his continued lack of minutes at the club level, this latest time with Crystal Palace in England's Premier League.
The Gold Cup will feature the USMNT playing their last competitive and meaningful matches before the 2026 FIFA World Cup, so the summer tournament could carry big significance for any domestic players hoping to impress Pochettino enough to push their way into his World Cup plans.
Enter an opportunity for Matt Freese, who was one of the best three goalkeepers in MLS one season ago and remains busy as one of the league's leading shot-stoppers early in 2025. What kind of USMNT competition is Freese currently facing, and how has his performance so far in 2025 helped or hurt the case he's making for a bigger USMNT role this summer and beyond? Let's get into all that.
Did the Minnesota game help?
Freese and his team lost in front of USMNT coaches Jimenez and Perez, but the goalkeeper was one of the few bright spots for New York City on the afternoon.
The 26-year-old American made seven saves in the game, though he wasn't able to orchestrate true heroics to keep Minnesota from building a two-goal lead – a lead they held from the game's first minute.
Hard to fault Freese on either Loons goal, though the NYCFC goalkeeper did get a leg on the free-kick shot by Minnesota's Wil Trapp that ended up in the back of Freese's net – but that also came after an unexpected deflection.
This was still a decent showcase for Freese. He made a great save in the 33rd minute to get low enough quickly enough to turn aside a dangerous shot from Minnesota striker Kelvin Yeboah, preventing the Loons from taking a three-goal lead.
His toughest save of the second half also came against Yeboah and also held it to a two-goal deficit, with Freese charging off his line to cut off the shooting angle of Minnesota's striker in the 60th-minute while he charged in alone on goal.
Abe Shire
Freese had to stay sharp and be sharp in this game because his NYCFC team had all the possession, but they also regularly looked vulnerable on the counterattack, which happens to be Minnesota's bread-and-butter. Freese couldn't drop his focus or attention during one of the passages of play in which NYCFC controlled the ball and tried to break down Minnesota, because the Loons seemed a turnover away from creating a dangerous chance all afternoon at Yankee Stadium.
In NYCFC-Minnesota, Jimenez and Perez of the USMNT saw a goalkeeper doing all he possibly could to give his team a chance to make a comeback. Freese's shot-stopping skills were on display, though he wasn't the only MLS player spending this past Matchday auditioning for the USMNT assistants.
The domestic USMNT competition
USMNT assistants Jimenez and Perez watched Freese on Sunday afternoon in New York City one night after making the trip to Columbus, Ohio to watch the Crew beat CF Montréal 2-1 at Lower.com Field.
Columbus goalkeeper Patrick Schulte is one of Freese's biggest competitors for a spot and minutes with the USMNT, though Schulte was far less busy than Freese during his game played in front of the USMNT staff. Schulte only faced one shot on target in the Montréal game, one which he did not save that went for the only goal scored by the visitors.
Schulte, though, has made his senior USMNT debut already and spent the summer of 2024 starting in goal for the United States at the Summer Olympics in Paris, France. He's also highly decorated for his recent work in goal for the Crew, helping Wilfried Nancy's team win MLS Cup in 2023 and make a run to the Concacaf Champions Cup Final in 2024 – Schulte won the honor of Best Goalkeeper and a spot in the tournament Best XI for his play during that 2024 Champions Cup run.
Then there's Zack Steffen of Colorado Rapids. Both he and Schulte were called up alongside Freese for this January's camp under Pochettino, though only Schulte and Steffen played during the January friendlies, and it was only Schulte and Steffen who got subsequent call-ups two months later for the Nations League Finals.
Steffen is off to one of the best starts to a season of his career with Colorado. The former Manchester City FC signing currently ranks as one of the top MLS goalkeepers in statistical categories like save percentage, saves, and goals against per 90 minutes. He had a 12-save performance on Matchday 4 and, reportedly, was going to start the recent Concacaf Nations League Third-Place Game for the USMNT, but fell ill and couldn't play.
Freese's chances
Schulte and Steffen appear to be ahead of Freese on Pochettino's depth chart as things stand. Each played for the newest USMNT manager in January and each got called back up for Nations League, two things Freese can't say.
Steffen is off to a better statistical start to 2025 than Freese, even though Freese had a much better individual season than Steffen in 2024. Schulte and Freese were pretty statistically similar in 2024, though Schulte hasn't been asked to make the saves required of both Freese and Steffen so far this season at club level.
Still, Schulte and Steffen both place inside the league's Top 10 for goals against per 90 minutes, while Freese is 20th – though that might say as much about NYCFC's porous defense as it does about Freese, and likewise, partially points to the strength of the Crew and Rapids defenses.
With Freese, his shot-stopping made him a breakout goalkeeper in 2024, but it hasn't been quite as elite in 2025. Advanced goalkeeper metrics, like post-shot expected goals minus goals allowed (PSxG-GA), favor Zack Steffen this season. So, too, does American Soccer Analysis's g+ model, which puts Steffen at the top of the list of all goalkeepers in MLS this season.
Freese and Steffen have both made 27 saves this year, per FBRef, which puts them into a tie for fourth among MLS goalkeepers. Schulte and Steffen both appear in the leaguewide Top 10 for PSxG-GA per 90 minutes among goalkeepers, while Freerse does not – so this season, we can say that Freese is not making the tougher saves with the same regularity as his two biggest MLS competitors for spots with the USMNT.
That's without getting into potential USMNT options among European-based goalkeepers. Matt Turner has been in club-team limbo but he continues to get called up by the USMNT, so it's no guarantee there will only be MLS goalkeepers in the mix when the United States reconvenes in June for its next training camp.
Freese was a Goalkeeper of the Year contender in 2024, but he might need to recapture that elite level of form in the weeks between now and the finalization of those USMNT rosters for June.
