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AUSTIN, Texas - Alex Freeman's story is one that many think they know. The son of a Pro Bowl and Super Bowl-winning NFL wide receiver, Freeman is blessed with athleticism and a famous last name. It's convenient to bundle that aspect of his life and just roll with it:"Son of Antonio Freeman becomes professional soccer player."Easy.<script type="application/json" data-placement="fcplayer-semantic">{"type":"fcplayer-semantic","data":{"embedCode":"//cdn.fcp.codes/embed-code-template/embed-code-template.js#SEMANTIC_5704afb8-c10b-4ba5-9cb4-d7fb6098ef90"}}</script>That isn't the half of it, of course, and it undersells much of what makes Freeman's journey unique. Freeman is new to all of this, yes, so his own achievements are often simply paired with that of his famous father. His rise, though, hasn't been rapid - and it isn't the result of his dad catching touchdown passes from Brett Favre all those years ago.If that wasn't understood before, maybe it will be after this summer. Freeman is in the midst of a breakout.Perhaps people will learn about his road to MLS, and how much it took out of him. They'll see him as a hell of a fullback, not just the son of an athlete. And they'll see more than a "rapid rise" to the U.S. men's national team, and realize all that challenges he overcame to get there."I feel like I've seen a lot of that with fans lately," Freeman tells GOAL. "Lately, it's been so much 'Where did he come from?' Man, I've been here. It's just that no one has seen the work. Whenever I talk to people, it's always about my dad or where I come from - and that's fine. But no one really talks about my life. They don't ask about me moving at 16. They don't ask about how tough all of this was."Freeman is writing a chapter: that of USMNT player. He earned his first cap in a pre-Gold Cup friendly against Turkey, staring Kenan Yildiz down and making the Juventus star blink more than a few times. Freeman walked off the field more confident than ever.He then featured against Trinidad and Tobago to open the Gold Cup, establishing himself as the go-to right-back for Mauricio Pochettino's team this summer. Dating back to 1993, every Gold Cup has produced at least one USMNT newcomer who made a World Cup roster the next year. Could it be Freeman's turn?Just six months ago, Freeman wasn't even an MLS player. Now, he's something more. The story is being written and rewritten on the fly, and it has him wondering: what next?"You've just got to take your opportunities," he says. "You don't know what life's going to give you or when, so you just have to be able to take what you can and make the best of it. If I would have thought about it last year, where I am now? Yeah, no way. Now I'm here and I'm grateful, but you can't be too comfortable."It's just something that I can't describe. It's just something that, when you look back at six months ago, you can look back and say, 'Yeah, that really happened.' "

'Man, I've been here' - How Alex Freeman used skill, instinct and persistence to make his name with USMNT, and become more than just the son of Super Bowl-winning NFL star

Major League Soccer

St. Louis City

Orlando City

CONCACAF Gold Cup

Costa Rica

Orlando City head coach Oscar Pareja remembers the first time he saw Freeman play. He knew almost immediately that there was something special. Underneath a thick layer of raw talent, there was a hell of a soccer player. Pareja believed he could be the one to unlock it."We knew about his background," Pareja told GOAL. "We knew that, just naturally, he would be a strong player, for sure. But could we convert all of those muscles and those physical qualities that he had into a really good footballer? He had so many things that came very natural with him, including his combinations and interpretation of the game. I've seen plenty of tall, physical, strong players. Not all cases were like him."The thing that Pareja might not have known was that Freeman was struggling. After failing to catch on with Inter Miami in a 2020 tryout, he was faced with a choice: stay at home, go to school and try to play college soccer, or pack his bags - and at just 16 - go to Orlando and try to be a pro. He chose the latter. It was the hardest decision he ever had to make. He arrived in Orlando and felt the weight of it all, immediately."I remember my 16th birthday, it was the first birthday I ever spent without my family," Freeman says. "It was the day after I moved to Orlando. I've never really talked about this, but, at first, it really took a toll on me. At 16, you really just want your family around for those important moments, and I felt like I was balancing so much without my family being there with me. I did so much of this in Orlando without my family. It's hard for people to comprehend that."Especially as an athlete, that's something that no one really knows how to handle. At 18 or 19, yeah, people in college are in dorms with roommates, but 16? It was something that needed to happen though. Sometimes you need that different scenery or that different place to grow up."The 21-year-old is quick to credit his host family, with whom he still talks daily. They are as much a part of his journey as anyone. His parents, though, were and remain his rock. He credits them for getting him to that level in the first place, and for also having being brave enough to let him spread his wings at 16.Antonio Freeman had a successful&nbsp;10-season NFL career, primarily with the Green Bay Packers, where he was a Pro Bowl wide receiver. He had three consecutive 1,000-yard receiving seasons was part of the Packers team that beat the New England Patriots in Super Bowl XXXI.A year prior to his move to Orlando, Freeman committed to soccer. He grew up playing basketball and football like his dad, but as he grew older, he found himself leaning towards soccer. He realized that, when given the choice of any of the sports he played, he always opted for the same one.It was a decision his father understood, having made a similar one all those years ago."He was a basketball and football guy, but he's caught the bug now," Freeman says with a laugh. "He's watching Champions League, Premier League, my MLS games. He's texting me about the standings. He's always trying to learn more, and it's so great having parents that support you and try to understand the game you play. He's someone I can talk to about all of this because he really is locked in now."So, too, is Freeman. Pareja's vision for him is coming true, and it's evolving each and every week.

The beginnings

Freeman's breakout season hasn't come out of nowhere. It's been a steady build, one that Pareja can admit has maybe been a bit too steady."I didn't have any doubt that Alex would be in the first team at some point," he says. "Last year was probably the year where he could have had a few more games, but we decided to just polish a few things."Pareja will be glad they did. After three years with Orlando City B in MLS Next Pro, Freeman had just four appearances for the first team heading into the 2025 preseason. Then he got his chance. "I went into preseason with confidence, but I was still heading into the season feeling like the backup," he recalls. "That first game, I get brought in and I created some chances, but I didn't think anything of it. Next week, I find out I'm starting. I hadn't started since I'd been here. I was scared, man. I was so nervous."My parents, of course coincidentally, were coming, and I wanted to surprise them so I didn't tell them. I just told them to try and make sure they got there early. I didn't want them to miss it."Over the course of just 17 games, Freeman has already established himself as one of the best fullbacks in MLS. Denzel Dumfries and Trent Alexander-Arnold are his two role models, he says. It's easy to see their games in his. He has four goals, fourth-most on the team. His ability to get forward and create havoc has made him an elite attacking fullback in his first half-season as an MLS player.The underlying numbers are outrageous. According to FBRef, Freeman is in the 99th percentile in goals, expected goals + expected assists and touches in the penalty area, compared to fullbacks across 14 similar leagues. So much of it, Freeman says, is down to the work he did with Orlando City B, who provided him with a slow and steady path to the top."No one likes to do the dirty work, but it has to be done, and I feel like that's something that Oscar has talked about with me since I got to Orlando," Freeman says. "I'm an attacking fullback, so I'm always going, but you have to have that ability and that desire to want to go backwards and defend. That's something I've been working on with the second team for the last three years. When it clicked, I felt I was ready and, this year, I feel like I've done very good defensively."And the wait? Worth it. "I think about it now and I'm glad Oscar made me wait so long because it made me realize how much I still had to learn," he says. "It's hard to think like that when you play right away. You need to learn a little bit sometimes before you get to that level."Truth is, there's only so much Pareja can teach. The defensive side still needs refining, yes, and the 21-year-old defender continues to learn on the fly. The other stuff? Pareja sits back and watches it unfold."The instinct that he has inside the box - I jokingly talk about it with our coaches more than with Alex - but he's involved in so many of our offensive actions," Pareja says. "It's not just the ones on his right side, but also the ones on the left. He has this instinct to connect that is so natural, but the curious thing or the rare thing that I see is just how easily and often he can connect with players offensively."That's just something that I have not seen much around the world. It's an instinct, I have no doubt. It's not coaching. It's just something that he has within him: a sensitivity for the attacking side of the game."That instinct sparked this opportunity with USMNT, and Pareja isn't the only coach impressed.

'Something he has within him'

"Man, I'm loving playing under these South American coaches!" Freeman says with a laugh. "I've gotten used to Oscar's vibe, and now I get here and Mauricio has that same sort of vibe. They both have that same competitiveness. I'm loving it."Just two games into Freeman's international career, Pochettino is loving Freeman, too. So much so that he was willing to test him in his first cap. That Turkey team has hundreds of millions of dollars with of transfer value in the attack. Freeman was just getting started with the USMNT. By putting Freeman in the XI, Pochettino sent a clear message to his new fullback: the time is now.On the eve of that game, Freeman recalled the journey that got him there, the parts the world does and doesn't know. Freeman did what any sane person in the world would do: he stared at his ceiling, wondering when his nerves would go away. They did once he realized the opportunity presented to him."What's really cool is that I was just grateful to be on the preliminary roster," Freeman says. "I wasn't expecting this at all. Now, I'm out there and I just felt I had to be very cautions. [Yildiz] is a fast, skilled winger. I just had to see which way he was going, his instincts, what he likes to do." I knew him and [Arda] Guler wre gonna play and I knew that was going to be a hard game for my first start, but I feel like I did decent! It's good to have that type of stuff come at me while I'm still young."Freeman had a respectable debut. He won the ball off Yildiz twice and won six of his 12 duels. There were some moments either way. Those that made him feel on top of the world, and others that reminded him how far the fall can be if you aren't paying attention."There was one time where [Yildiz] went in behind," Freeman recalls. "I swear, he went to go check one second, I took one step and then boom, he's gone and I was just like 'Oh my God!' You take one step, one body feint and these guys are gone. It's just experience, man. They're so quick and, if they get you to bite, they're gone. There were a couple of times I got the ball away from him, though. Every time I got it, it built my confidence. Every time you do that, you get just a little bit taller."His performance against Trinidad and Tobago will help even more. Despite all of the USMNT's attacking opportunities in the 5-0 win, it was Freeman's defensive ability that shined. He had more tackles, three, than anyone else in the game. He also won the most duels with nine, while completing 95 percent of his passes and coming so close to scoring his first international goal.Over the course of two games, Freeman has already made an impression on Pochettino, who says the player he's seen with Orlando has translated seamlessly into this USMNT environment."We have to give credit to the coaching staff in Orlando because they provide the right assessment of the player," Pochettino said. "It's amazing, and it's priceless for us. He's a player that can work and play for us. In his debut, it was important to provide a very specific and simply concept for him to play, to grow and evolve in the direction we expect. We are so happy, and the most important thing is that he feels comfortable and, from there, he can start to grow."

Impressing Pochettino

Freeman's USMNT teammates are still getting to know him. He'd met a few during various youth camps. Most, though, are players he's connecting with for the very first time.“Alex, to be honest," Luca de la Torre said, looking at Freeman in a news conference, "I had no idea who you were before you got called up.”Few outside of Orlando City's most hardcore fans knew who Freeman was just six months ago - and most cared predominantly because of his father. He has just 16 MLS starts and two USMNT starts under his belt, but, in just 18 games, those that have seen him now have plenty of reason to remember who he is.Having made it to MLS and having made it to USMNT, Freeman's goals have changed. With Sergino Dest and Joe Scally out of the USMNT squad, he's gotten this chance at right-back. Can he make the most of it? Can he then turn this summer into an even bigger leap with the <a href="https://www.goal.com/en-us/lists/starting-to-see-the-light-bulb-go-off-the-2026-world-cup-is-exactly-one-year-away-and-america-is-ready-to-flip-the-switch-on-a-global-soccer-spectacle/blta03aaea60467ecd2" target="_blank">2026 World Cup less than a year away</a>?"It's one of those things where everything's going good for you," he says, "but there's so much more that you can do, you know? There's so much more to push for. It's not even about being humble, but it's about not overreacting to stuff like this. Obviously, when you do well, all of this stuff is going to happen, but I feel like it's about being able to continue to want more when you're in these types of moments."There are targets in sight. MLS? Check. USMNT? Check. MLS All-Star? World Cup roster? Possible."For me, it's about proving myself in Orlando," he said. "It's about doing more and more and more with the national team. It's about hopefully making the World Cup, hopefully making an MLS All-Star team, hopefully being one of the faces of Orlando soccer. That's the stuff that you have to keep working for if you want more. You can't stop. Things can go downhill quickly, especially for soccer players."That, in the end, is one of the things he's leaning on his dad. His family has been traveling to watch him this summer and, during one of the quiet moments in the hotel, Freeman and his dad spoke about life, about pressure, about sustaining success. Just as importantly, they spoke about the journey, and the next steps."We talked about it recently," Freeman says, referencing the fact many people still identify him as Antonio Freeman's son. "And he told me that, when they say that, it's because I'm being successful, too. It doesn't bother me really, because he was great. That's something I want - to be great. The fact that anyone is talking about me at all is something that I take as a responsibility."So yeah, I'm the son of Antonio Freeman doing this, yes. But they're talking about me. They're talking about me creating my own path. Maybe some day I'll have a son, and he'll be the son of Alex Freeman."American soccer is learning his name. Alex Freeman has arrived. And there is much more to come.

Forging your own path

'Man, I've been here' - How Alex Freeman used skill, instinct and persistence to make his name with USMNT, and become more than just the son of Super Bowl-winning NFL star | Goal.com

GOAL sat down with the Orlando City and USMNT rising star to discuss his journey, his name and the lofty goals in his sights

&apos;Man, I&apos;ve been here&apos; - How Alex Freeman used skill, instinct and persistence to make his name with USMNT, and become more than just the son of Super Bowl-winning NFL star

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