‘The Evolution is Massive’: Alex Freeman’s Meteoric Rise Key for USMNT | OneFootball

Four years ago, while the U.S. Men’s National Team was in Qatar at the 2022 FIFA World Cup, a 17-year-old Alex Freeman was cutting his teeth in third-division MLS NEXT Pro with Orlando City B and just starting to break into the U.S. Under-19 Men’s National Team.

Just a few years later, Freeman is not only playing at the highest levels in La Liga with Villarreal CF, but he’s starting—and scoring—for the USMNT in the FIFA World Cup just a year removed from his USMNT debut.

“It's hard for me to take it all in, but it's good also to go through these challenges at such a fast pace at a young age,” Freeman said after scoring against Australia on Friday. “I feel like it's going to make me an even better player to be able to adjust to different atmospheres and adjust to different circumstances. Now that I'm here, it's just [about] how can I give 100% and do it for my country, and how can I make everyone proud?”

After three productive seasons in MLS NEXT Pro with Orlando’s reserve team, Freeman took full advantage of his opportunity with the first team in 2025. The defender made 38 appearances for Orlando City SC across all competitions—Major League Soccer (MLS), Leagues Cup, the U.S. Open Cup and the MLS Cup Playoffs—netting six goals and providing a trio of assists. The rising talent was subsequently voted to represent MLS at the 2025 MLS All-Star Game in Austin, Texas, and by the end of the season was named the 2025 MLS Young Player of the Year and earned a 2025 MLS Best XI nod.

Freeman carried the momentum he built in Orlando to the USMNT, catching the eye of head coach Mauricio Pochettino and earning his first call-up ahead of the 2025 Concacaf Gold Cup. A member of thatheavily rotated Gold Cup roster, Freeman played all but two minutes of the United States’ run to the Final. Since then, the defender’s meteoric rise with Pochettino’s National Team has continued, as the youngster earned playing time in all 10 pre-World Cup tune-ups before being named to the final 26-player FIFA World Cup 2026 squad.

"Well, it's difficult to explain the evolution of him,” Pochettino gushed. In addition to crediting former Orlando City SC head coach Oscar Pareja and his staff for developing Freeman into the player he is today, Pochettino continued to praise the goalscorer.

“Of course, the player, because the player is doing a fantastic job. The evolution is massive. He's such a humble guy, he has an amazing profile, he wants to learn, he always listens. He's a player that you really enjoy being with, not only coaching. He's a lovely guy, and he's an amazing player. For me, he has the potential to be one of the best players in his position in the world."

Freeman, born in Baltimore, Md. and raised in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., is the son of Super Bowl XXXI champion and former All-Pro and Pro Bowl wide receiver Antonio Freeman. Thirty years since the Green Bay Packers Hall of Famer caught a pair of touchdowns at the old Kingdome against the Seattle Seahawks, his son scored a goal at the cavernous Seattle Stadium, built on the site of the former stadium.

“For me, it’s a full-circle family moment,” Freeman, who turned down football and basketball in favor of soccer, said. “It shows how great the family tree is, and that just shows how [Antonio Freeman] can be great, but I can be great in my own way as well. That just shows how amazing it is to have a dad who's successful and can mentor me to be able to be ready for moments like these.”

Freeman’s goal in the USMNT’s 2-0 knockout stage-clinching victory against Australia was just the third of his nascent National Team career. In his second World Cup appearance, the 21-year-old became the sixth-youngest American goalscorer at a World Cup. While initially disallowed for offside, a subsequent VAR review determined Freeman’s headed finish was onside, sending the sold-out Seattle Stadium into sheer, seismic pandemonium.

“I thought it was offside, and then VAR took a really long time, I was very anxious to see whether it was a goal or not,” Freeman explained. “Then when it was a goal, I looked back and I saw my teammates running at me, I was like, ‘Oh, Lord,’ and I had to run, and then I ended up running and started with them. It made me very emotional in the moment.”

The celebrations echoed throughout the stadium, the city and the country, as Freeman’s goal helped confirm the United States’ spot in the knockout stage, and later sealed the Stars and Stripes’ spot atop the Group D table. After the match, several key USMNT veterans lauded Freeman’s performance.

"We’re a family, we’re brothers and everyone's so happy when we score for each other, and I think you saw that today,” forward Folarin Balogun said. “I think Freeman had to wait a little bit just for the VAR, but once we got the green light, everybody was so happy for him.

"I think he's got a fantastic future. He's a very humble kid, very down to earth, and I think as long as he continues to develop, and he's able to show he's doing it on the biggest stage, he's going to have a bright future."

Longtime USMNT defender Antonee Robinson echoed that sentiment, adding, “We’re still buzzing, obviously, for him, a young lad coming into the team and playing his first World Cup and getting a goal today. It's an amazing feeling, you can see how happy we all are for him. That's going to give him even more confidence, because he's been playing so well recently, and it's not easy, so hopefully that keeps him going, and he'll be looking to get another one as well."

A monumental moment for the young defender, the often soft-spoken Freeman has done his best to remain level-headed after his career day at Seattle Stadium, enjoying the moment while remaining focused on the USMNT’s upcoming matches.

“I think that just showed how I've made it in my way,” Freeman said of his performance. “I've worked my whole life to get to that moment and to be able to hear a national anthem in front of a home crowd and support my nation, I'm very grateful to do that in that situation.

“We felt something before the World Cup even started, we knew our bond, this bond is like a family here in the [USMNT], and now that we've won two games and been consistently winning and playing well, our confidence is through the roof. Now it's about how can we give more and more and more. The game's done so now we work until the next game, be ready, be 100%, and give it all again.”