{"id":13383,"date":"2025-06-29T23:49:20","date_gmt":"2025-06-30T03:49:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alofokedeportes.com\/en\/sin-categoria\/freese-usmnt-hero-stopped-3-penalties-and-advances-in-the-gold-cup\/"},"modified":"2025-06-29T23:49:20","modified_gmt":"2025-06-30T03:49:20","slug":"freese-usmnt-hero-stopped-3-penalties-and-advances-in-the-gold-cup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alofokedeportes.com\/en\/soccer\/freese-usmnt-hero-stopped-3-penalties-and-advances-in-the-gold-cup\/","title":{"rendered":"Freese, USMNT hero: Stopped 3 penalties and advances in the Gold Cup"},"content":{"rendered":"

Freese, the penalty shootout hero who propels the United States to the Gold Cup semi-finals<\/h2>\n\nAmerican goalkeeper Matt Freese showed his composure under pressure, stopping three penalties in the dramatic 4-3 victory over Costa Rica in the Gold Cup quarter-finals.\n\n\n
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“Penalties are my thing,” Freese declared after the match, which was decided in the penalty shootout after a 2-2 draw in regulation time.<\/p>\n\nMatt Freese<\/cite>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\nFreese revealed that he prepared conscientiously, thoroughly studying the possible penalty takers. “I studied the penalties during the plane trip to Minnesota. I have been studying them all week and I was ready for when it was necessary,” he added.\n\nThe match at U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis was a constant exchange of blows. Costa Rica took the lead with a goal by Francisco Calvo in the 12th minute. The United States responded with goals from Diego Luna and Max Arfsten, but Costa Rica tied the game at the end with a goal by Alonso Mart\u00ednez, taking the match to a penalty shootout.\n\n\n

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“I am very happy for them. They showed great character, I think it’s good for this group of players to have this kind of experience,” commented the United States coach, Mauricio Pochettino.<\/p>\n\nMauricio Pochettino<\/cite>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\nPochettino also praised the team’s reaction, which not only overcame Costa Rica’s opening goal, but also faced Malik Tillman’s missed penalty in the 37th minute. “We missed a penalty, but the team kept going and believed in their game,” added the coach.\n\nFreese, in his fifth international appearance, became the hero by stopping three penalties, securing the pass to the semifinals thanks to Damian Downs’ decisive goal.\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\nAmerican goalkeeper Matt Freese celebrates after stopping three penalties in the victory against Costa Rica in the Gold Cup.<\/em>\n\nDespite Freese’s outstanding performance, Pochettino hinted that the competition for the starting goalkeeper position remains open, mentioning Matt Turner, who was the starting goalkeeper in the 2022 World Cup.\n\n\n
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\u201cI think we have many good players and good goalkeepers. Matt Turner has experience because he played in the 2022 World Cup. He is a great goalkeeper, but the only problem in this tournament is that Matt didn’t play the whole season, and for different reasons, we wanted to see another goalkeeper,” explained Pochettino.<\/p>\n\nMauricio Pochettino<\/cite>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\nPochettino’s comments make it clear that the goalkeeper position for the 2026 World Cup is open. “I think perhaps one of the few or the only player who showed he could deal with this type of responsibility and stress was Matt playing in a different competition at the World Cup,” he added.\n\nWith this victory, the United States reaches its seventeenth appearance in the Gold Cup semi-finals, and the thirteenth in a row. The next challenge for Pochettino and his team will be the semi-final against Guatemala on July 2 at Energizer Park in St. Louis, Missouri.","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Freese, the penalty shootout hero who propels the United States to the Gold Cup semi-finals American goalkeeper Matt Freese showed his composure under pressure, stopping three penalties in the dramatic 4-3 victory over Costa Rica in the Gold Cup quarter-finals. “Penalties are my thing,” Freese declared after the match, which was decided in the penalty […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13384,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[2419,5020,614,2075],"class_list":{"0":"post-13383","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-penalties","11":"tag-usmnt"},"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alofokedeportes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13383","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=13383"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alofokedeportes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13383\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alofokedeportes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13384"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alofokedeportes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13383"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alofokedeportes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13383"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alofokedeportes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13383"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}