Matt Freese shined in his shootout moment, and the Americans are moving onto the Gold Cup semifinals

MINNEAPOLIS — After losing a second-half lead to Costa Rica, this young U.S. side was forced into a shootout with the daunting task of facing goalkeeper Keylor Navas.

Matt Freese studied for this. Literally.

The late-blooming national team rookie, who made a costly mistake in the previous match, actually conducted an in-depth research project in college at Harvard about penalty kicks.

Freese spent the flight to Minneapolis reviewing his findings and examining Costa Rica's tendencies, time well spent that fueled his steely performance in the CONCACAF Gold Cup quarterfinal victory on Sunday night.

''To be able to rely on that type of thing and deal with a lot of statistics and read the game and read their hips, things like that, is massive,'' Freese said after making three saves in the six-round shootout won 4-3 by the Americans after a 2-2 tie in regulation.

The Americans play Guatemala in the semifinals on Wednesday in St. Louis. If the U.S. can rely on Freese like this moving forward, that too would be an enormous boost.

The 26-year-old native of Pennsylvania, who has displaced for now 2022 World Cup and 2023 Gold Cup starter Matt Turner, knocked away shootout attempts by Juan Pablo Vargas, Francisco Calvo and Andy Rojas. Calvo scored on Freese in the 12th minute on a penalty kick.

Freese, a little-used backup for Major League Soccer's Philadelphia Union before a trade to New York City FC in 2023 jump-started his career, has had little time with the national team for training. His path was only cleared this spring by injuries to Patrick Schulte and Zack Steffen.

But new coach Mauricio Pochettino has been determined to push his young players into the deep end during this biennial championship for North America, Central America and the Caribbean, with Freese at the forefront of the experiment.

''I've just got to be ready for whatever game I get, for whatever moment is there for me,'' said Freese, who gave up one goal in three group stage matches. ''He's shown a lot of faith in me. That's something I'm really grateful for, and it's my job to repay him and help the team win.''

The goal Freese gave up during the group stage was quite a gaffe, a misfired clearing attempt against Haiti that set up the tying goal in a game the U.S. won 2-1. But Pochettino and his staff had no problem sending Freese back to the net for the knockout rounds.

''It's an opportunity to show you can bounce back, an opportunity to learn and quickly move on to the next,'' Freese said.

Turner played only three club matches in the recently ended season for Crystal Palace, all in the FA Cup and none since March 1. The critical position is wide open for Freese — or anyone — to seize it with the North American World Cup looming next summer.

''I think it's good for Matt, for the rest of the keepers, to see that they can have the possibility and deal with the pressure,'' Pochettino said. ''Because you never know what's going to happen in one year. Now is the moment to test or to give the possibility to show that they can deal with that stress and perform.''

Pochettino didn't directly answer a question about whether Freese has passed Turner on the depth chart. But the native of Argentina, who began his playing career with the same club that Navas stars for and briefly managed him with Paris Saint-Germain, was clearly pleased by the way his keeper stepped up with one of the best in the world during the dramatic shootout.

After each save, Freese told himself he wanted another one. After the third diving stop, he became especially demonstrative — nodding his head and sticking out his tongue toward his cheering teammates at midfield.

''He's done extremely well. He's worked extremely hard," said Diego Luna, who scored his first international goal for the U.S. in the first half. ''These are the type of moments that we live for.''

___

AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer