IRVINE, California. When the youngest player on the U.S. Men’s National Team raced in celebration, his teammates did their best to chase him. Some admitted after the win over Australia that no matter how hard they tried, they knew they couldn’t catch Alex Freeman. Of course he was too fast, but at the same time he was too dazed, too delirious, too caught up in the moment to be slowed down.
Luckily for the remaining 25 USMNT members, the numbers eventually ran out. If this had not happened, Freeman might have continued to work forever.
That’s what the first goal at the World Cup can do to you. When Freeman made it 2-0 against Australia, victory was only part of the story. What followed said the same thing: a young defender, shaken by the biggest moment of his career, running because there was no other way to let it all out.
Freeman has been running and running for the better part of a year, but now he’s gone further than he ever imagined. A goal at the World Cup? A year and a half ago, he was simply hoping to make his MLS debut. Freeman himself could not have foreseen all this, and even if he could, it would never have looked like this.
So, in that moment, under the bright Seattle sun, he was truly overcome with emotion. It was all real and unlike anything he had felt before.
“I think it’s one of those things,” he says. TARGET“It made me kind of come out of my emotional shell. Realizing that I’m not an emotional person, but this is a moment that I will treasure forever and it comes to you once in a lifetime. Knowing that I can actually achieve this, it just makes you a lot more emotionally available than usual.”
“I think it made me realize that I have more to give,” he continues. “For me it’s a question of, ‘How can I go into the next games and be even more successful?’ Is this even possible? I think that’s true for me.”
The sky’s the limit for the 21-year-old defender, whose meteoric rise has become one of the defining stories in college football over the past year. He made his USMNT debut on June 7, 2025. He had spent the night before with nerves that never showed when he took the field. Three hundred and seventy-seven days later he rose highest to head home at close range and Win a historic World Cup victory in one of the most legendary environments in American football.
Not once during those 377 days did Freeman feel completely comfortable. He definitely won’t feel that way no matter how many days are left until the end of the World Cup. However, there is a sense of belonging. Now with a World Cup goal on his resume and a moment to reflect on, Freeman knows he has arrived. He also knows that there is more to come.
“I feel like you come here and you can get an ego or get too comfortable,” he says. “For me, I came here and now I have a job and I feel proud of myself knowing that this is just the beginning. When I was called up, the first games were just the beginning, right? The finish line is a trophy and we all want that. How can we strive to have this moment?
“I’m proud of myself for not only staying humble, but being inspired. I just believe in what I can do and what the team can do in the future.”
Freeman is a key part of that future, and if it wasn’t clear before, it became clear in the last few weeks as his breakout year reached its zenith.