Feb 7, 2026; Frisco, Texas, USA; New York Red Bulls goalkeeper Ethan Horvath (34) faces the FC Dallas attack during the second half at Toyota Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-Imagn Images
Red Bull New York goalkeeper Ethan Horvath has the unique experience to empathize with his rival, NYCFC keeper Matt Freese, whose gaffe in the second half of Team USA’s 4-1 loss to Belgium in the Round of 16 at the 2026 World Cup ultimately sealed the co-hosts’ fate.
Trailing 2-1 in the 57th minute, Freese was timid on a Belgian long ball that landed in no-man’s land between him and the US back line. Still, he got to the ball before Belgium’s Charles De Ketelaere, taking a touch off the chest. But rather than clearing it down the pitch, his left foot got caught on the turf, resulting in him losing the ball and Belgium’s Hans Vakanen to finish into an open net from 35 yards out.
“I don’t really know what to say about it,” Horvath, who has represented the US national team 10 times and was the back-up to Matt Turner at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, told amNewYork. “All of us keepers have been in a moment like that, you know? I can’t tell you what he was feeling or seeing in that moment that made him pull out whatever decision he wanted to make or whatnot. Only he will be able to tell us what his view was and what he was seeing.”
Speaking with ESPN, Freese was disappointed by the backlash he and his American teammates have received since their elimination from the World Cup, which is being hosted by the US for the first time since 1994 and seen as a golden opportunity to further grow the game here.
Freese had allowed just one goal in his first three matches at the World Cup, and the USMNT’s 2-0 Round-of-32 win over Bosnia & Herzegovina was the first time it had won a knockout-stage game at this tournament in 24 years. But a Belgium team ranked No. 8 in the world, coupled with the outside noise surrounding the controversial decision to lift Folarin Balogun’s red card suspension, proved far too much for the Americans to handle.
“It’s just so difficult for me to hear that because if people were to see this group on a day-to-day basis and spend time with these guys more personally, they would see how badly we wanted it,” Freese said. “They would see how bad I wanted it… The desire and will to maximize our performance was so strong it hurts my heart to see that people don’t know that because it is true. I wish I could talk to every person personally and individually and explain this to them and tell them this.”
For more on Matt Freese, Ethan Horvath, and the World Cup, visit AMNY.com
