{"id":55289,"date":"2025-11-21T09:50:14","date_gmt":"2025-11-21T09:50:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/55289\/"},"modified":"2025-11-21T09:50:14","modified_gmt":"2025-11-21T09:50:14","slug":"alex-freeman-boosts-world-cup-prospects-after-usmnt-orlando-city-breakout","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/55289\/","title":{"rendered":"Alex Freeman boosts World Cup prospects after USMNT, Orlando City breakout"},"content":{"rendered":"

Incredibly, Orlando City<\/a>\u2019s homegrown right back never imagined the heights he\u2019d reach during his breakout campaign.<\/p>\n

\u201cA year ago today, my dreams were to be able to get my first start. You know, just be able to see the field more… It\u2019s crazy how dreams can change,\u201d Freeman told Club & Country<\/a> on Thursday, two days after a star-making, two-goal performance<\/a> in the USMNT\u2019s 5-1 rout<\/a> of Uruguay.<\/p>\n

\u201cBack then, it was definitely just being able to be consistent with playing and just being able to try to break into the first team.”<\/p>\n

\n Rapid rise<\/p>\n

Needless to say, Freeman\u2019s goals are more ambitious these days.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s how much the 21-year-old\u2019s profile has risen after a whirlwind 2025 season saw Freeman go from MLS NEXT Pro<\/a> prospect to the global stage.<\/p>\n

With 6g\/3a in 29 matches, Freeman earned an MLS All-Star<\/a> nod, Young Player of the Year honors, the No. 2 spot in this year’s 22 Under 22<\/a> rankings, and a Best XI<\/a> selection.<\/p>\n

How will he top these achievements next year?<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m gonna need to not only do well. I\u2019m gonna need to impress again,\u201d said Freeman.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel like it\u2019s another chance for me to impress [manager] Oscar [Pareja] and impress the players knowing that not only am I gonna come back good, but better than last season.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n World Cup dreams<\/p>\n

The same goes with the USMNT, especially as the clock ticks towards next summer\u2019s FIFA 2026 World Cup<\/a> on home soil.<\/p>\n

After earning his first senior cap in June, Freeman has continually delivered for head coach Mauricio Pochettino. He started every match during the USMNT\u2019s runner-up finish at the 2025 Concacaf Gold Cup<\/a>, and featured in all six friendlies over the past three international windows.<\/p>\n

The November window was arguably Freeman’s finest. He galvanized the squad during a late-game scuffle with Paraguay\u2019s Gustavo G\u00f3mez in a 2-1 win<\/a> at the Philadelphia Union<\/a>\u2019s Subaru Park, before running rampant<\/a> against another World Cup-bound opponent in Uruguay.<\/p>\n

With each performance, the Lions’ emerging star builds his World Cup case.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor me, obviously it\u2019s making that World Cup roster. I feel like that\u2019s something that I wanna do,\u201d Freeman said when asked what motivates him the most looking ahead to next year.<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2026 That\u2019s the biggest thing in my head right now, it\u2019s the biggest goal I have,\u201d he added. \u201cI think everything I\u2019m gonna do now is definitely towards that goal.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Incredibly, Orlando City\u2019s homegrown right back never imagined the heights he\u2019d reach during his breakout campaign. \u201cA year…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":55290,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[7699,34466,139,4788,141,140,4959,4571],"class_list":["post-55289","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-orlando","tag-alexander-freeman","tag-club-country","tag-orlando","tag-orlando-city-sc","tag-orlando-headlines","tag-orlando-news","tag-sendtonews","tag-united-states"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55289","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=55289"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55289\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/55290"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=55289"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=55289"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=55289"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}