AUSTIN, Texas - Those on the outside looking in would say that Matt Freese's road to the U.S. men's national team began with his breakout season at NYCFC last season. That's not what the USMNT goalkeeper would say.
For Freese, it began in 2019, and it didn't begin on the field. It began in front of a mirror.
A few months prior, Freese had left Harvard for a spot as an MLS backup, and he'd quickly realized that life as a professional wouldn't be quite be as glamorous as it had appeared. Freese stared himself down in that mirror and asked the question that would define his path over the next six years: who do you want to be?
"I had to take a long look at myself in that mirror, and I wasn't asking myself much about soccer," he recalls in a conversation with GOAL. "It was more asking myself 'What type of person do I want to be?' Who do I want to be proud of me? How can I become proud of myself?'
"That changed a lot for me. For me, it was a time that I matured, on and off the field. It shaped my life in a way that I can now look back and be proud of the work I've put in on the field and to become the type of person I want to be."
Defining the person Freese has become in years since isn't particularly easy, even for the man himself. He describes himself, simply, as a lover of soccer, a player who chose a path because his passion for the game is greater than even he can articulate - despite that Harvard pedigree.
It's because of that academic background that USMNT defender and ex-Philadelphia Union teammate Mark McKenzie playfully calls Freese "a bit of a geek" - and one who knows better than most how to maximize an opportunity. Brenden Aaronson, another teammate, speaks with pride of Freese's ability to take the road less traveled.
Regardless of how you describe him, Freese may soon be described as the USMNT's No. 1 goalkeeper.
That's what he's fighting for this summer. That's the opportunity before him, and it doesn't take a Harvard intellect to understand what that can mean. Six years ago, that pathway seemed so far away. Starting jobs, World Cups, this type of pressure - that wasn't Freese's reality.
But it was the "why."
"There were decisions that had to be made, decisions that saw me commit my life, myself, to this sport," he says. "It was about me committing my entire life trajectory to making it in this sport. Thank God I did, because this is all I care about now. This sport is all I care about, and it's something that I plan to care about for the rest of my life."