USMNT hero: Matt Freese stuns Costa Rica in Gold Cup shootout | OneFootball

By Charles Boehm

As time ticked down on the US men’s national team’s Gold Cup quarterfinal vs. Costa Rica with the score deadlocked at 2-2, the stressful specter of a penalty-kick shootout looming at US Bank Stadium in Minneapolis, there was a distinct sense that the advantage was shifting in Los Ticos’ direction.

The underdogs from Central America had ridden waves of US pressure after Max Arfsten’s go-ahead goal just after halftime, then struck back with a timely equalizer from New York City FC marksman Alonso Martínez. And when it comes to kicks from the spot, who’d want to bet against legendary Tico Keylor Navas, a three-time UEFA Champions League winner with Real Madrid, among myriad other honors across a glittering 20-year career?

Matt Freese, for one.

Shining moment

Rather than Navas, it was NYCFC’s goalkeeper who played the hero in the shootout, saving three of Costa Rica’s six attempts to push the Yanks into the semifinals, avoiding the sort of upset trap that ensnared their counterparts from Canada and Panama earlier in the weekend.

Then again, it might not have been so surprising for those who watched the Pigeons knock off FC Cincinnati in last year’s Audi MLS Cup Playoffs on the strength of Freese’s superb saves, including three stops in the series-deciding shootout.

“Penalties are my thing,” Freese told FOX’s Jenny Taft postgame. “The plane ride over here to Minnesota, I was studying the penalties, and so I've been studying them all week, and I was ready for it if we needed it.”

First Freese denied Juan Pablo Vargas in the second round of PKs, nudging the USMNT a nose ahead. Three rounds later, he held his ground to punch away a bid from Francisco Calvo, the ex-Minnesota United, Chicago Fire and San Jose Earthquakes defender who’d beaten him from the spot to open the scoring in the first half after an Arfsten foul in the box.

Asked about that save by Taft, Freese deflected the credit.

“The one that I didn't move on – a suggestion from my goalkeeper coach, Toni Jiménez,” he said. “He was the reason that save is made.”

Pressure-filled moments

The Philadelphia Union academy product wasn’t done, however. With Navas having parried away John Tolkin’s would-be winner after Calvo’s miss, the shootout went into sudden death, and this time it was Andy Rojas who saw his shot stopped by Freese.

That opened the door for Damion Downs to slot home the decisive pen and spark celebrations among the USMNT, who might have saved themselves all that angst if they’d converted the PK they earned in regulation time, where the otherwise sterling Malik Tillman clanged his take off the base of the left post.

“It's always [stressful] when you go to the penalties, no? Anything can happen,” coach Mauricio Pochettino told reporters in his press conference afterwards.

“They showed great character today. I think it's good for this group of players to have this type of experience,” he said of his squad, who had never trailed in their three group-stage matches. “It's priceless, because that is the reality when you go in a big tournament, that thing can happen, and it's important that they start to build the experience together.”

On one level, surviving this test was merely holding serve for the Yanks, considering they’ve now reached the semifinals in 13 consecutive Gold Cups. Given the current roster’s relative inexperience, however, and the long shadow cast by the program’s extensive struggles over the past year or so, this was an important milestone.

“Full team effort,” said Freese. “I think it really shows the energy and the mentality of the group to come back from 1-0, go up 2-1, and then they get an equalizer, and then we hold on, we're pushing for a goal at the end. And then everyone steps up for PKs and does a great job.”

Bigger role?

The evening’s events seemed to vindicate Pochettino’s decision to bench veteran starter Matt Turner before the tournament in order to give Freese some experience under pressure, based in no small part on his sustained quality for NYCFC.

“The decision is always difficult,” said ‘Poch’ in Spanish. “I explained from the beginning that we wanted to give [Freese] the opportunity due to the circumstances of [Turner] not having played for a year in his team [Crystal Palace], to also give us the opportunity to get to know another goalkeeper and … give confidence to a player who also deserved it, because he was having a good season in his team.

“We have very good quality goalkeepers, it's just a matter of growing in experience. I'm happy for [Freese], but happy for all the goalkeepers because he's like part of them. And also to the goalkeeping coaches because they have done and are doing a great job.”

Thanks to Guatemala’s head-turning upset of Canada in the first half of the doubleheader in Minneapolis, the Yanks will now meet Los Chapines in the semifinals on Wednesday at Energizer Park, home of St. Louis CITY SC (7 pm ET | FS1, Univision, TUDN). Even as he praised his team’s “spirit,” Pochettino warned that more of the same resilience and commitment will be mandatory to overcome the plucky upstarts.

“We are seeing,” he said, “with so many teams like Panama or Canada that have been left out of this competition, that nowadays the first thing you have to have is that collective feeling of a fighting team.

“The will is not negotiable; then the talent will appear.”