Alexi Lalas’ Best U.S. XI: Why Turner still starts in goal over Freese

Trying to build the best 11-man squad for a full-strength U.S. men’s national team is an interesting little exercise — and one that coach Mauricio Pochettino is hoping he’ll have the opportunity to do in the next international window.

We’re coming off of a Gold Cup where a lot of people were excited, or at least enticed, to be back in the U.S. men’s national team tent, and with that excitement comes curiosity about who will start for the United States at the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

Let’s start in goal.

There’s been so much talk about Matt Freese, who had a viral moment with his penalty saves against Costa Rica in the Gold Cup quarterfinals. But other than that, he didn’t stand on his head in any of the games (though, to be fair, he wasn’t challenged in a lot of the games).

(Photo by John Dorton/ISI Photos/USSF/Getty Images)

In the Mexico game, I don’t think he could have done anything, and he was dependable other than the mistake that he made in the group stage. But you need to more than dependable — you need to have that moment where you establish yourself.

I still think he’ll get called in, but I also think that, maybe, Matt Turner’s sitting on the side like, ‘Yeah, how do you like me now?’ If there was a game tomorrow, I’d go with Matt Turner in goal, as much as it pains me.

But I still think there’s a competition. The wild card is Zack Steffen, who I think, if/ when healthy, will legitimately challenge for that goalkeeper position. For now, it’s still Matt Turner’s to lose.

Here’s my full post-Gold Cup XI for the United States:

Alexi Lalas is a soccer analyst for FOX Sports and host of “Alexi Lalas’ State of the Union Podcast.” He represented the USMNT at the 1994 FIFA World Cup and had a nine-year professional career. In 2006, he became the president of the LA Galaxy and helped bring David Beckham to Major League Soccer.

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