{"id":13375,"date":"2025-06-29T22:31:48","date_gmt":"2025-06-30T02:31:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alofokedeportes.com\/en\/sin-categoria\/freese-us-hero-in-the-gold-cup-penalties-and-passage-to-the-semifinals\/"},"modified":"2025-06-29T22:31:48","modified_gmt":"2025-06-30T02:31:48","slug":"freese-us-hero-in-the-gold-cup-penalties-and-passage-to-the-semifinals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alofokedeportes.com\/en\/soccer\/freese-us-hero-in-the-gold-cup-penalties-and-passage-to-the-semifinals\/","title":{"rendered":"Freese, US hero in the Gold Cup: Penalties and passage to the semifinals"},"content":{"rendered":"In an exciting penalty shootout, the United States achieved a crucial victory against Costa Rica in the quarterfinals of the Gold Cup, thanks to the outstanding saves of goalkeeper Matt Freese. The match, which culminated in a 2-2 draw in regulation time, was decided from the penalty spot, where Freese became the hero of the match.\n\n\n

Freese: The Hero Under the Three Sticks<\/h2>\n\n\nThe match, played at U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis, Minnesota, began with a setback for the American team. Francisco Calvo of Costa Rica scored from the penalty spot in the 12th minute, following a foul by Max Arfsten. Despite this adverse start, the team led by Mauricio Pochettino fought to equalize the score, but a missed penalty by Malik Tillman in the 37th minute maintained the Costa Rican advantage.\n\nDiego Luna managed to tie the game before halftime with a deflected shot, and Arfsten, in the second half, put the United States ahead on the scoreboard. However, Costa Rica equalized the match in the 71st minute with a goal by Alonso Mart\u00ednez, which led the match to a penalty shootout.\n\nIn the penalty shootout, Matt Freese shone by stopping three key shots, allowing Damion Downs to score the winning goal and secure a place in the semifinals with a score of 4-3. Freese’s performance not only secured the victory, but also solidified his position as the team’s starting goalkeeper.\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\nThe victory places the United States in the Gold Cup semi-finals, where they will face Guatemala. This triumph highlights the team’s ability to adapt and competitive mentality, despite the challenges and adversities.","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In an exciting penalty shootout, the United States achieved a crucial victory against Costa Rica in the quarterfinals of the Gold Cup, thanks to the outstanding saves of goalkeeper Matt Freese. The match, which culminated in a 2-2 draw in regulation time, was decided from the penalty spot, where Freese became the hero of the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13376,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[2419,5020,5021,2075],"class_list":{"0":"post-13375","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-soccer","8":"tag-gold-cup","9":"tag-matt-freese","10":"tag-penalty-shootout","11":"tag-usmnt"},"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alofokedeportes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13375","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alofokedeportes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alofokedeportes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alofokedeportes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alofokedeportes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13375"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alofokedeportes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13375\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alofokedeportes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13376"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alofokedeportes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13375"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alofokedeportes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13375"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alofokedeportes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13375"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}