USMNT vs. Saudi Arabia: Gold Cup test "about getting the confidence" | OneFootball

By Charles Boehm

At least Luca de la Torre didn’t try to bluff.

The San Diego FC midfielder was sitting next to Alex Freeman in a US men’s national team media availability ahead of Thursday night’s Concacaf Gold Cup match vs. Saudi Arabia in Austin when he was asked about Orlando City’s homegrown wunderkind, one of the breakout performers of the 2025 MLS season thus far (9:15 pm ET | FS1, VIX, TUDN).

“Alex, to be honest, I had no idea who you were before,” said de la Torre to his 20-year-old teammate, sparking laughter from both players.

“But Alex has been really, really good. He was really good against Türkiye, he was really good against Trinidad & Tobago. So, yeah, it's been a pleasure playing with him. And, yeah, he needs to keep going.”

Rapid rise

De la Torre’s lack of familiarity is somewhat understandable. Freeman had played just 10 career MLS minutes before this season, spending the past few years mainly on OCSC's MLS NEXT Pro side, along with a handful of US youth national team call-ups, before bursting into the USMNT picture as an attack-minded fullback prospect via four goals, an assist and 26 chances created in the Lions’ first 17 league matches.

That relatively brief run of first-team action was enough to draw US head coach Mauricio Pochettino’s attention, and Freeman performed well enough in his first two international caps to have an inside track on the starting right back spot in this tournament despite his tender age. By extension, he’s in the mix for a place at next summer’s World Cup far quicker than anyone could’ve imagined just a few months ago.

“What’s happening this year,” said Freeman, “it's a blessing. I got a chance, and I feel like you got to take your chances the best, you got to take your opportunity. I feel like that's something that I’m going to continue to do with Orlando and within camps and, yeah, obviously the World Cup in 2026 is always something that I'm going to work [for] … It's just hard work and dedication that will help me get to that point.”

That mentality applies across this Gold Cup roster. Diego Luna’s rapid rise under Pochettino has been well documented, propelling the Real Salt Lake starlet into an important role at this tournament. New York City FC goalkeeper Matt Freese has the same number of senior caps as Freeman, yet said “it felt very natural” to man the USMNT nets given his experience in MLS and familiarity with several of his teammates from time together in their youth days; he looks likely to continue as the No. 1.

Gaining confidence

So de la Torre’s advice to Freeman can also be applied to the full squad as they prepare for their second game of the tournament, which figures to be significantly more testing than their comfortable 5-0 demolition of T&T at San Jose Earthquakes' PayPal Park over the weekend.

That result was a timely slump-buster after four straight losses dating back to the March international window. Now the Saudis, a guest team invited to the Gold Cup via a Concacaf partnership with the Asian Football Confederation in the wake of their country securing hosting rights for the 2034 World Cup, will bring a great deal more organization and individual quality to the table.

“It's challenging games, right, where you got guys that haven't played together, and you build the confidence, you build the chemistry between guys,” said Luna on Sunday. “Getting the hang of it and really getting the confidence going for the guys is [important] – we have the talent, we have the capability to score goals and to perform.

"So I think it's about getting the confidence and getting everybody in form.”

Key pieces return

Pochettino will have more options for his next lineup. Experienced leader Tyler Adams, his central-midfield counterpart Johnny Cardoso, and German-American newcomer Damian Downs returned to training in Austin after sitting out the T&T match due to a foot injury and bouts of illness, respectively, and look like candidates for minutes.

Yet the Argentine coach got burned when he made sweeping changes to his XI for last week’s brutal 4-0 friendly thumping at the hands of Switzerland, which might lead him to limit such rotation this time out. A win over the Saudis would allow for more widespread platooning in the group-stage finale vs. Haiti on Sunday, a tighter turnaround that may encourage resting tired legs.

Saudi Arabia defeated Haiti, 1-0, in San Diego on Sunday despite Haiti controlling much of the run of play. The general expectation is that Al-Suqour Al-Arabiyyah (the Arabian Falcons) will present a compact, organized block and dare the Yanks to break them down without showing vulnerabilities in transition.

“A lot of these games, we're going to have a lot of the ball; it's just making sure that we're tidy when we need to be,” said Crystal Palace defender and FC Dallas homegrown product Chris Richards. “Of course, it's good to finish attacks, but it helps us out a lot in the back if we don't lose needless balls in the middle and things like that.

"So I think just making sure that we're alert, and even if we do lose the ball, maybe somebody's there to press.”

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