{"id":30694,"date":"2026-07-28T19:29:19","date_gmt":"2026-07-28T19:29:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/30694\/"},"modified":"2026-07-28T19:29:19","modified_gmt":"2026-07-28T19:29:19","slug":"us-goalkeeper-matt-freese-says-hell-never-get-over-loss-to-belgium-in-world-cup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/30694\/","title":{"rendered":"US goalkeeper Matt Freese says he’ll never get over loss to Belgium in World Cup"},"content":{"rendered":"

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) \u2014 Goalkeeper Matt Freese admits he\u2019s not quite gotten over the United States\u2019 abrupt exit from the 2026 World Cup following a 4-1 loss to Belgium<\/a> in the round of 16.<\/p>\n

And quite frankly, he\u2019s not sure he ever will.<\/p>\n

\u201cBig losses in tough moments are things you never really get over because they stay with you for the rest of your career,\u201d Freese told The Associated Press ahead of the Major League Soccer<\/a> All-Star Game coming up Wednesday in Charlotte. \u201cThey continue to motivate you for the rest of your career.\u201d<\/p>\n

Freese made a costly mistake in the loss when he rushed well out of his box to clear a long ball, then hesitated under pressure to kick it away.<\/p>\n

Belgium quickly converted the miscue into a goal to take a 3-1 lead in the 57th minute, all but sealing the Americans\u2019 fate.<\/p>\n

American soccer fans haven\u2019t let Freese forget about it.<\/p>\n

In his first MLS match since the World Cup last week, the New York City FC goalkeeper was reportedly booed by fans every time he touched the ball during the game in Columbus, Ohio.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s important to not let bad things define you, but I think it\u2019s also important not to let good things define you either,\u201d Freese said. \u201cIt\u2019s important to be a consistent presence with consistent energy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Freese is one of four U.S. national team players selected to the MLS All-Star Game.<\/p>\n

Another, veteran defender Tim Ream, openly acknowledges he doesn\u2019t have a secret formula<\/a> for what it\u2019ll take for the Americans to one day reach the World Cup quarterfinals. <\/p>\n

He can only point to the one thing he knows that lends itself to success: hard work.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou put your head down and do as much as you possibly can,\u201d Ream said. \u201cAnd, at some point you will break through that barrier. It just takes work, more work and more work. … Before you know it, you\u2019re past that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ream said he believes better days are ahead despite the loss.<\/p>\n

Wing-back Max Arfsten thinks the increased fan attention on the World Cup \u2014 with the majority of games played in the United States \u2014 will only serve to inspire more athletes in the country to take up the sport.<\/p>\n

That, he said, is a good thing.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe next step for us is to keep growing the sport,\u201d Arfsten said. \u201cThe more people that are playing, the better players there will be. The more competitiveness, the more players playing in the top leagues in Europe is important as well. I feel like all of those combined is going to lead to success.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ream added that when it comes to the World Cup, two things can be true: Players can be disappointed over the way they played and \u201ccrashed out\u201d against Belgium, but also excited about what they accomplished in the earlier games.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can be proud of how much it galvanized the country, the people around it and the sport \u2014 and just how much fun it was,\u201d Ream said. <\/p>\n

Freese agrees.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s important for us to be aware of the positive outcomes that happened in the tournament as well as use that to inspire new generations to continue to get better \u2014 to get past that round of 16, to get past the quarterfinals and make it to the semis and the finals,\u201d Freese said.<\/p>\n

Messi won\u2019t play in the All-Star Game<\/p>\n

Charlotte is hosting the MLS All-Star Game for the first time at Charlotte FC owner Dave Tepper\u2019s Bank of America Stadium, but the league will again be without its biggest star for the showcase event.<\/p>\n

Messi, who helped Argentina reach the finals of the World Cup before losing to Spain, is taking advantage of some allotted time off before returning to soccer and Inter Miami CF.<\/p>\n

He has been replaced on the roster.<\/p>\n

Messi has 12 goals and eight assists this season in MLS play.<\/p>\n

Getting a boost from the World Cup<\/p>\n

Several players, including Ream, said they have noticed a big boost in fan interest in MLS games and soccer in general since the World Cup.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe could see it while we were playing in the World Cup, but now it\u2019s like I can\u2019t leave my house,\u201d Ream said.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s not complaining.<\/p>\n

\u201cBeing able to inspire more people to play is obviously secondary to what our job is, which is compete and win games, but it\u2019s such a rewarding feeling knowing that so many more people are paying attention to our sport,\u201d Ream said.<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

AP soccer: https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/soccer<\/a> and AP World Cup coverage<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) \u2014 Goalkeeper Matt Freese admits he\u2019s not quite gotten over the United States\u2019 abrupt exit…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":30695,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[4],"tags":[7,4988,4845,16740,16746,4534,4982,16742,16744,4843,16745,3934,1176,4539],"class_list":["post-30694","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-belgium","tag-belgium","tag-belgium-national-soccer-team","tag-charlotte-fc","tag-dave-tepper","tag-inter-miami-cf","tag-matt-freese","tag-max-arfsten","tag-mls-soccer","tag-nc-state-wire","tag-new-york-city-fc","tag-north-carolina","tag-soccer","tag-sports","tag-tim-ream"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@be\/116999262367487051","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30694","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30694"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30694\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30695"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30694"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30694"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30694"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}