In 2026, the U.S. has the chance to make history on home soil. Mauricio Pochettino took over the team in 2024 and has built a modern, high-pressing squad. With many players from top European leagues, the roster is stronger than ever before. The first game on June 12 at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles against Paraguay will be a national event.

Coach Mauricio Pochettino named three goalkeepers to the USMNT roster: Matt Turner, Matt Freese, and Chris Brady. As co-hosts, the U.S. will face Paraguay, Australia, and Turkey in Group B—all home games in front of their own fans in Los Angeles and Seattle. This trio of goalkeepers exemplifies the evolution of the American goalkeeping position over the past few years: from the 2022 World Cup starter to the Gold Cup hero to the 22-year-old debutant who has yet to play a single senior international match.

Freese, 27, wears jersey number 49 for NYCFC—in memory of his grandfather Jack Geary, an AFL quarterback and Air Force pilot—and has experienced one of the most unlikely rises of any MLS goalkeeper over the past twelve months. For six years, he was a backup for the Philadelphia Union, where he made only 16 starts over six seasons. It wasn’t until his move to New York City FC in 2023 that his breakthrough began: In 2024, he was named the club’s MVP, made 135 saves with a save percentage of 73.4 percent, and led NYCFC to the playoffs. In June 2025, he made his USMNT debut against Turkey—and immediately became the starting goalkeeper. His defining moment: In the Gold Cup semifinal against Costa Rica, he made two consecutive saves in the penalty shootout during extra time, sending the U.S. to the final. Since then, he has started 12 consecutive games for the national team, extended his contract with NYCFC through 2030 in September 2025, and is Pochettino’s clear first choice. His father, an MIT neuroscientist and pioneer in gene therapy research, died of cancer in 2021. Freese carries on his legacy.

Turner is 31 years old and the only goalkeeper in the trio with World Cup experience: In 2022 in Qatar, he started all four of the U.S. team’s matches as the starting goalkeeper. He then moved to Arsenal and Nottingham Forest—before returning in the summer of 2025 to the New England Revolution, his original club, where he had been named MLS Goalkeeper of the Year in 2021. The return was strategic: Turner needed playing time to convince Pochettino. With 53 international appearances, he is by far the most experienced goalkeeper on the roster, and with his Premier League experience and calm demeanor, he is the ideal backup option behind Freese. Whether he finishes the tournament as the second or first choice remains to be seen, according to USMNT goalkeeper coach Brad Friedel.

Brady is 22 years old, from Naperville, Illinois, and is the first Chicago Fire Homegrown Player and Academy graduate ever to be named to a World Cup roster. His entire career has been marked by the red star: he joined the Chicago Fire Academy in 2017, signed a Homegrown contract at age 16 in March 2020, made his MLS debut at 18, and became the starting goalkeeper at 19—the youngest Opening Day goalkeeper in club history. In four full MLS seasons, he has made over 106 starts. On the international stage, he won the Golden Glove as the tournament’s best goalkeeper at the 2022 CONCACAF U-20 Championship after recording four consecutive shutouts and helping the U.S. qualify for the 2024 Olympic Games. He has yet to make a single senior international appearance. The fact that Pochettino nominated him anyway is not an act of goodwill, but a signal: Brady has impressed in training. For the 22-year-old from the suburbs of Chicago, the World Cup on home soil is more than just a career milestone. It’s the beginning of something.