{"id":226602,"date":"2026-05-10T22:07:16","date_gmt":"2026-05-10T22:07:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/226602\/"},"modified":"2026-05-10T22:07:16","modified_gmt":"2026-05-10T22:07:16","slug":"tim-howard-tips-matt-freese-to-be-starting-goalkeeper-for-usmnt-world-cup-campaign","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/226602\/","title":{"rendered":"Tim Howard tips Matt Freese to be starting goalkeeper for USMNT World Cup campaign"},"content":{"rendered":"

US goalkeeping legend Tim Howard has tipped New York City FC<\/a> (NYCFC) \u2018keeper Matt Freese<\/a> to start in goals for the United States at the World Cup this summer.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Freese, who made his debut for the US Men\u2019s National Team last year, started all six games at the 2025 Gold Cup as Mauricio Pochettino\u2019s side lost 2-1 to Mexico in the final in Houston last summer.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Matt Turner, Freese\u2019s main competition for the No.1 jersey, conceded five goals in his only international appearance this year as the US went down to a 5-2 defeat against Belgium.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

Speaking at the launch of the MLS\u2019s new global headquarters at 2 Penn Plaza on Wednesday evening, Howard said he \u201clikes Turner a lot\u201d but said he would go with the NYCFC shotstopper for the USA\u2019s opening game against Paraguay next month.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s a late bloomer, which means he\u2019s very mature,\u201d Howard said. \u201cHe doesn\u2019t seem to get rattled by the big moment.\u201d\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

Howard added that most starting US goalkeepers have produced a standout performance in a previous tournament, inspiring confidence in the back line in front of him. However, he added that Freese has not had a chance to have a \u201cshining moment\u201d because he is \u201cso young in his international career.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cAll of our goalkeepers\u2026 have produced a performance when the team needed them. They stood on their head, and you basically then had the narrative, \u2018if we need this guy to save us, he can,’\u201d Howard said. \u201cBecause Matt is so young in his international career, he hasn\u2019t had that opportunity. If he\u2019s going to have a shining moment, it\u2019s going to have to be in the World Cup.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Howard set a World Cup record by making 16 saves in the USA\u2019s 2-1 round-of-16 defeat to Belgium at the 2014 World Cup, but the former Manchester United and Everton \u2018keeper hopes that Freese can break that record in front of a home crowd this summer.\u00a0<\/p>\n

He believes that playing a World Cup on home soil will be a \u201cspecial\u201d moment for American players, adding that he expects the USMNT to feed off the energy of playing in a home World Cup.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Howard added that players are generally \u201cscared to death\u201d before the start of international games but said US players will face an altogether different challenge in their opener against Paraguay next month.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re almost having to not get ahead of yourself because you\u2019re so excited,\u201d Howard said.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

Howard, who represented the US at three different World Cups between 2006 and 2014, said a quarter-final appearance would represent a \u201chuge success,\u201d adding that Christian Pulisic can cement himself as one of the greatest players in US history if he can \u201crise to the occasion\u201d this summer.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cLast World Cup, he was young,\u201d Howard said. \u201cThis time, he\u2019s much more mature, much more of a leader.\u201d\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

For more on Matt Freese and NYCFC, visit AMNY.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"US goalkeeping legend Tim Howard has tipped New York City FC (NYCFC) \u2018keeper Matt Freese to start in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":226603,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[82267,33304,6583,9,24,55,54,56,88982,9030,88983,14771],"class_list":["post-226602","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york-city","tag-matt-turner","tag-matt-freese","tag-mls","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-new-york-city-headlines","tag-new-york-city-news","tag-ny","tag-tim-howard","tag-usmnt","tag-usmnt-goalkeeper","tag-world-cup"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/226602","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=226602"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/226602\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/226603"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=226602"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=226602"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=226602"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}