USMNT star on “disbelief” of World Cup elimination

The USA losing to Belgium wasn’t a shock for anyone with a vague idea of the talent squashed into the 11 million population of the European nation, but for goalkeeper Matt Freese, being on the pitch as the final whistle went came with a sense of “disbelief” at the end of a dream.

Freese played in four of the USA’s five World Cup games, missing out only the dead-rubber loss to Türkiye in what was a heavily rotated side from Pochettino. Making it out of the group and into the Round of 16 was something the team “wanted badly,” he described, adding that they were “literally dreaming of this, and feeling the honour and the responsibility that comes with it” for two years.

“We wanted it so badly, more than anything else we’ve ever wanted, to capitalise on that and reward that support with something special. During the World Cup and the months leading into the World Cup, there was literally nothing else that crossed my mind.”

“I would describe [elimination] as being in disbelief"

“I would describe [losing the game] as being in disbelief that the tournament was over for us,” Freese revealed to ESPN. “Not wanting that experience together and not wanting the memory of ‘Country Roads, Take Me Home’ to be over or not be happening again at home. Not be able to feel that and feel that again with our fans and feel that together as teammates and as a family on the field. It was devastating."

But don’t worry, this is not the end of the journey, says Freese: “It’s become about trying to find a way to turn this elimination into motivation,” he said, spinning the elimination into a positive. “I think all of us have the motivation to do something even greater, even better, and to come back better. It’s been about finding a way to turn the elimination into fuel for the fire, if that makes sense. It is easy [to turn it into motivation], but it doesn’t take away from the sting of the pain of what elimination leads to.”

Pochettino created a US team capable of getting out of an expanded World Cup group with ease; while they qualified as top seed due to their role as co-host, the football was impressive at times and brought in a lot of new fans. However, the question remains as to whether or not he will remain in charge after his contract expired upon the USMNT’s exit from the tournament.

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