Freeman family scores again in Seattle as USA blanks Australia in World Cup
Without Christian Pulisic, the Americans stayed unbeaten in Group D with a dominant 2-0 win in Seattle.
SEATTLE – There were days when Alex Freeman didn’t want to tell his dad about his love for soccer.
One has to understand: The U.S. Men’s National Team defender is the son of Antonio Freeman, the former Green Bay Packers wide receiver who caught 61 touchdowns in his career — including two here, in Seattle, on the same property where Seattle Stadium now stands.
But a Freeman scored again in Seattle on Friday, with Alex Freeman’s header in the 43rd minute helping seal a 2-0 win for the USA over Australia in Group D play of the men’s World Cup. The Americans dominated possession, asserted themselves with their physicality and, for the second consecutive match to start the tournament, led from the start in front of a roaring crowd of 66,925.
It was a win that booked the Americans a trip to the knockout rounds. It was a win that continued the sport’s ongoing reassessment of a squad that came into the World Cup with massive questions.
It was the type of win that will leave no one bashful about their allegiances to the other type of football.
“For me, I think it’s a full-circle moment,” said Freeman, a 21-year-old who plays for Villarreal in Spain’s La Liga. “It just shows how great our family tree is. I think that just shows how (my dad) could be great, but I can be great in my own way as well.”
And while it may still be too early in this tournament to call the USA a “great” team, “good” is coming in hot. The Americans have won consecutive matches at the World Cup for the first time since 1930, doing so without Christian Pulisic, who missed the game with a calf injury.
Pulisic is the face of the team, a 27-year-old forward who toyed with Paraguay last week before exiting at halftime with the injured calf. The Americans learned of his status Friday morning, then came into a match against an Australian side keen to let a hampered American attack hold possession while waiting to counter.
The Australians’ plan wasn’t out of line. The Americans’ 4-1 win over Paraguay was explosive, but also an outlier — the four goals were the most the Americans have ever scored in a World Cup match. This is a team that generally has to scratch and claw its way toward advancement, and without Pulisic in the lineup, the Aussies wanted the Americans to run themselves out of gas, then take advantage.
The plan backfired immediately.
The Americans didn’t give the Australians an inch of space. They pressed, kept the ball in Australia’s zone, then broke through in the 11th minute when Folarin Balogun charged down the left wing and forced a pass into the six-yard box that met the foot of Australia’s Cameron Burgess and deflected into the top of the net.
“I just want to be dangerous,” Balogun said. “I want to create opportunities. It might not always be myself that scores, but if I can force an error that gives us the lead, then for me it’s like a goal as well. It was a special start to the game to give us momentum, and then I think we carried it out.”
The U.S. became the first team in World Cup history to benefit from an own goal for a second consecutive match. But any thought of the Americans’ lead — or momentum in this tournament — being a fluke was erased shortly after Freeman directed the ball into the net in the 43rd minute.
The goal — his first in the World Cup and his third overall with the men’s national team — was initially waved offside. When a lengthy video review overturned the decision, Freeman broke out from the sideline in a full sprint to the stadium’s northwest corner with his teammates in hot pursuit.
“We’re family. We’re brothers. When we score, we score for each other,” Balogun said. “I think you saw that today. Freeman had to wait a little bit for the VAR, but once we got the green light, everybody was happy.”
Freeman knew his direct family was, too.
The days of his “secret love for soccer,” as he described it last year, are long behind him. He’s been a pro since 2022, got his first call-up with the USMNT in 2025 and on Friday his goal ensured his summer with his sports family will extend into July. USA finishes up pool play on Thursday in Los Angeles and can win the group outright with a draw.
Pulisic’s status is still up in the air. But the Americans contend they’re deep enough to sustain momentum – aided by an era of U.S. soccer whose athletes aren’t ashamed to choose a pitch over a field.
“I’ve worked my whole life to be able to go to that moment, to see a national anthem in front of a home crowd, and kind of support my nation,” Freeman said. “I’m doing all that, and I couldn’t be more grateful to be able to do that in that situation.”
— Tyson Alger, The I-5 Corridor