EXCLUSIVE: GOAL sat down with the 20-year-old fullback to discuss his career trajectory and World Cup ambitions
Alex Freeman can acknowledge it: there have been plenty of occastions throughout the last seven months in which he's felt like a young player. His first MLS start in the spring? Scary as can be, especially knowing his parents happened to be in attendance.
His U.S. men's national team debut against a loaded Turkey squad? Butterflies before, during and after. His appearance with the MLS All-Stars? All he could do was look around and wonder what he did to belong on that field with those players.
The thing is, though, that despite his relative youth and inexperience, Freeman routinely proved that he did, in fact, belong. It's why those moments kept happening. And it's why, in a culmination of everything that has happened prior, he was recognized for them this week.
On Thursday, Freeman was named MLS Young Player of the Year, beating out Diego Luna and Obed Vargas for this year's award. The voting was largely one-sided, with Freeman winning the players, coaches and media blocks as well as, the overall vote.
American soccer had seen what they needed to see from the Orlando City fullback to determine that, this season, he was the young player to watch. That isn't lost on Freeman. Despite all he's accomplished this year, this all still feels surreal. He can remember the nerves that came with the big moments and now, reflecting on them alongside this award, it's easy to acknowledge just how much the last few months have changed him for the better.
"It's just been such a crazy seven months for me," Freeman told GOAL. "Obviously, in March, having my first start to now being able to win this award, it just shows the kind of year I've had. I'm grateful for winning this award, but also just to be able to continue playing. I feel like this award isn't going to stop me from trying to improve every day.
"But I think just looking at where I was in March to now in October, it's something that shows why it was such a memorable season for me."
Freeman is able to reflect, but he's also able to project forward, too, as he builds on his latest moment in the spotlight.
Getty Images'The summer was a lot for me'
The exact point at which Freeman actually realized his life was changing is unclear. But it happened over the summer, when everything sped up. After emerging as one of the top stars in MLS throughout the spring, Freeman was named to Mauricio Pochettino's USMNT squad ahead of this summer's Gold Cup.
Prior to the tournament, he started against Turkey, facing off with rising stars like Kenan Yildiz and Arda Guler. Then, as the summer wore on, Freeman remained the team's first-choice right-back right on through the final loss to Mexico.
"It's amazing, and it's priceless for us," Pochettino said of Freeman this summer. "He's a player who can work and play for us. In his debut, it was important to provide a very specific and simple concept for him to play, to grow and evolve in the direction we expect. We are so happy, and the most important thing is that he feels comfortable and, from there, he can start to grow."
Freeman has grown. Against Australia earlier this month, he was given more license to roam than he had previously. The attacking skillset he has so often shown on the club level, where he provided six goals and three assists from the right-back position, has begun to translate to the international level.
"I think the summer was a lot for me," Freeman says. "I had to adjust to Mauricio's system. I had a lot of times where I was staying back and there were times when I did go forward, too. For me, it was just about being able to get into these camps again and again with him, and learn what he wants from me and what I can do well for him. I feel like, as a coach, he expresses a lot to the players. He tells us what he wants, what he needs. And, as a player, it's very good to understand that.
"It just gives me confidence as well, knowing that you have a coach like that in the national team and here in Orlando [Oscar Pareja] who trusts you so much. I feel like that gives me confidence to be able to go up and down, like I have been trying to do all season."
Off the field, Freeman has grown, too. He's developed close bonds with his USMNT teammates throughout his 11 caps and, with a World Cup on the horizon, he's feeling more comfortable as part of the national squad.
"The U.S. group is incredible," he says. "We're all so together. There are no egos. There are no people who think they're above anyone else. We're all so together, and I think people can see that in games with how we stick up for each other. I think, as people, everyone is amazing.
"Everyone treated me so good when I first came in. We go to dinners, do activities, work hard, and I feel like, as a group, it makes us better on the field. The players are phenomenal and every time I go in there, I'm just so excited to be with the guys."
AdvertisementGetty Images Sport'Oh God, I'm actually here'
Shortly after his Gold Cup run, Freeman was recognized with another honor. He was named an MLS All-Star. It seemed almost unfathomable ahead of his first start just a few months prior.
On July 23, he took the field in Austin alongside some of the league's very best. He made sure to soak up the moment, participating in the Skills Challenge. The Orlando City star ended up coming off the bench, playing 29 minutes in a 3-1 MLS win over the Liga MX All-Stars. For Freeman, though, everything leading up that appearance seemed unreal.
"It's gone so quickly, but it's hard not to think about all of the stuff going on, even as it is happening," he says. "You're gonna have days where you finish training and you're just like, 'Oh my God, I'm actually here.' I feel like one experience, for me, that was surreal was the All-Star Game. Just meeting all of the guys and being able to be recognized as one of the best in MLS, doing that in such a short amount of time, was a dream come true.
"I couldn't imagine doing that and I was just so grateful and so happy to even meet the other guys who had been named All-Stars. The whole thing, the skills challenge, the games, the media, everything, it all felt surreal. Knowing that MLS, my coaches, my teammates, everyone had gotten me to that spot, it was such an honor and a moment that I look back on and say, 'Wow, that really happened'."
Getty'Going to make me grow up quicker'
When you win Young Player of the Year, you effectively cease being a young player. You have accomplished all you can under that label. Now, you're held to a different standard. Freeman, to a degree, sees it that way. With a full MLS season under his belt and double-digit USMNT caps to his name, he is now graded on the same curve as everyone else.
Any future accolades or achievements will come because he's earned them, not just because he's young. Of course, he recognizes that he's not a finished product. This award is just a step, in many ways, albeit one that will force him to take another and another.
"I think here in Orlando, the guys make me feel like the young guy, and it's good to have that feeling around the national team as well," he says. "I'm one of the youngest guys there, so it's good to feel like that with the guys. But I also feel that this award is going to make me mature as a person and as a player. It's going to make me grow up quicker, and that's what I need to do.
"Maybe I do feel a little older now. Maybe I will feel more experienced in certain types of ways."
Now, following Orlando City's play-in loss to the Chicago Fire, Freeman is staring down some time off the field and a long MLS offseason.
Getty'A person people can rely on'
The USMNT's November camp is coming, and they will face two big tests. Up first is Paraguay, and then Uruguay, the team that effectively knocked them out of the Copa America in 2024. Freeman is hoping to be involved in that camp but nothing is guaranteed.
Whether he plays in those games or not, though, he's facing at least three-and-a-half months off before MLS resumes.
"I'm going to be training here in Orlando and hoping to make that November camp that's coming up," he says. "I want to be fit for that. After that, I think everyone knows I probably need a reset, and maybe not even a reset, but a rest. I want to see family, maybe travel a little. Maybe even go visit my national team teammates in different countries.
"For me, it's going to be a reset. I'm going to train and be fit as well. But it's been a long year for me, and I want to share this time with he people that have been supporting me."
The work continues this offseason, though. A World Cup is around the corner. This summer, transfer speculation began to swirl, and will almost certainly return. And Freeman will be eager to seal more awards and accolades – and appreciate it all.
"My goal is to be a better person and a better player," he says. "I'm trying to improve every day to be both. I want to help people around me who maybe aren't as fortunate. I want to link up with people I haven't seen in a while to help my community in a better way. I feel like that's the type of person I want to be. I just want to be a good person.
"When people talk about me, I want them to talk about me in a positive way. I want them to be like, 'Oh, he's a good guy. He's a good player, but he's a better guy.' I just want to show everyone that I'm a player and a person that people can rely on."