3 reasons Matt Freese’s World Cup start changes the USMNT opener

32 years is how long the United States waited to open another World Cup on home soil, and Mauricio Pochettino began that night with a major call in goal. Matt Freese, the New York City FC goalkeeper who made his U.S. debut on June 7, 2025, was picked to start against Paraguay at Los Angeles Stadium. The decision turned a goalkeeper battle into one of the first defining stories of the Americans’ Group D campaign.

The Bottom Line

• Matt Freese started in goal for the U.S. men’s national team against Paraguay, beating out 2022 World Cup starter Matt Turner.
• The match was played at Los Angeles Stadium in Inglewood, California, with kickoff listed at 9 p.m. ET by Yahoo Sports and CBS Sports.
• Chris Richards returned from an ankle injury to start in defense alongside captain Tim Ream.
• The U.S. entered Group D with Paraguay, Turkiye and Australia, and CBS Sports reported the Americans were favored to win the group.
• Early live updates said Damián Bobadilla’s own goal gave the U.S. a 1-0 lead after Weston McKennie helped create the chance.

Breaking It Down

Freese’s start was not a routine lineup note. FOX Sports reported that he had officially beaten out Matt Turner, who started all four U.S. matches at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. Turner was still waiting in reserve, but Pochettino’s choice gave Freese his first World Cup appearance in the biggest U.S. men’s match staged at home in a generation.

The call also fit the wider reset around this roster. Yahoo Sports listed Freese, Turner and Chris Brady as the goalkeeping group, noting that Freese won the job before the Gold Cup last summer and started almost every match the rest of the year. Turner had pushed back into the conversation with stronger MLS form this spring, which made the final decision feel less automatic than it might have looked months earlier.

In front of him, the U.S. got an important boost. Richards, who had been out since mid-May with an ankle injury, started after only returning to full team training on Monday. The rest of the lineup mixed experience with first-timers: Tim Ream, Sergiño Dest, Antonee Robinson, Tyler Adams, Weston McKennie and Christian Pulisic were holdover starters from four years ago, while Alex Freeman, Malik Tillman and Folarin Balogun were starting their first World Cup games.

The early game script favored the Americans. Yahoo’s live updates described Paraguay’s Diego Gómez getting an early look, then Balogun forcing a save from Orlando Gill. The breakthrough came when Damián Bobadilla redirected a ball from McKennie into his own net, giving the U.S. a 1-0 lead after a move Yahoo said had built from the back and ended with McKennie’s chance.

Why This Matters

This opener carried more than three points. The Associated Press described it as the United States’ first home World Cup in 32 years, and that timing places unusual pressure on a squad led by Christian Pulisic. Tyler Adams framed that pressure in personal terms:

“I can’t even imagine the weight that’s on his shoulders,”

Pulisic, now 27, entered the tournament as the most accomplished and best-known player on the team. AP reported that his 18-month goal drought in a U.S. shirt ended May 31, which matters because the 2022 team scored only three goals in four World Cup games before exiting in the knockout round. Pochettino’s challenge is to make the attack less dependent on one player while still getting enough from Pulisic to lift the ceiling.

The stakes were visible in the market, too. Sports Business Journal reported that about 350 tickets remained in FIFA’s primary inventory and about 2,500 were on the secondary market the day before the match, with the get-in price around $900 over the prior 30 days. By Friday morning, that figure had jumped to $1,129, a sign of how much demand surrounded the opener in Inglewood.

What Comes Next

The U.S. is trying to convert a home-field moment into a practical tournament path. CBS Sports listed Group D as the United States, Paraguay, Turkiye and Australia, with the Americans favored to win the group and Paraguay seen as a team with a strong chance to reach the knockout round.

The immediate question is whether Pochettino’s first-choice calls hold through the group stage. Freese has the gloves, Richards is back in the back line, and Pulisic remains the attacking reference point. If the U.S. protects its early momentum, the home opener can become more than a ceremonial beginning.