"Soccer was the clear choice by far." That's Alex Freeman, 21 years old, coming off an assist in a 4-1 World Cup opening win over Paraguay, reflecting on the decade-long decision that quietly shaped his life. Growing up the son of Antonio Freeman — Super Bowl winner, Green Bay Packers wide receiver — the expectation was obvious. The pressure was real. The path he actually took was anything but.
Freeman kept his love for soccer hidden for years, unsure his father would get it. It was his stepfather Jake Hinkle who introduced him to the sport and coached him early on. His mother pushed him forward. His biological father eventually came around — and then some. Antonio Freeman recently told his son that playing in a World Cup beats winning a Super Bowl. Alex didn't hesitate to agree.
From MLS Next Pro to World Cup starter in 13 months
The speed of this rise is genuinely hard to process. During the last World Cup, Freeman was on Orlando City's reserve team in MLS Next Pro. He wasn't in Mauricio Pochettino's plans for this tournament either — not until the coach called him in for a trial last year that Freeman himself described as "a big surprise."
He earned his first senior start within three weeks. Then played all but three minutes across the U.S.'s entire six-game Gold Cup run. Since breaking into the squad, he's appeared in 17 consecutive matches and is now the ninth-youngest American to start a World Cup game.
Pochettino picked him despite Freeman barely featuring for Villarreal, the Spanish club he joined in January after just 32 MLS appearances. That's an unconventional call by any standard. The coach's explanation: he was selecting the "right 26" for the World Cup, not the best 26. Freeman's ability to slot into both a back three and back four without losing a step is exactly the tactical flexibility Pochettino's dynamic setup demands.
A U.S. squad young enough to matter now — and later
Freeman is the youngest player on a roster that averages 26.8 years, making the U.S. the fifth-youngest team at this World Cup. Remove captain Tim Ream (38) from the equation and only Ivory Coast and Ecuador are younger. This isn't a rebuild. It's already working.
Against Paraguay, Folarin Balogun scored twice — the first American to do that in a World Cup match in 96 years. Chris Richards completed all 83 of his passes, the most without a miss by any World Cup player since 1966. Gio Reyna, 23, is on his second World Cup squad. Freeman set up Reyna for the fourth goal. The pieces are connecting.
Hugo Lloris, who played under Pochettino at Tottenham, put it plainly: "I can see a lot of coaches protecting themselves and try to not take that risk with the young players. But he's not this kind of coach. If the young player deserve, he will be on the field."
The U.S. faces Australia on Friday in Seattle, with the winner taking the inside track to advancing as group champions. Freeman will almost certainly start. A year ago he was watching the World Cup from the outside. Now he's one of the most important players in the American squad — and his father, the Super Bowl winner, is the one sitting in the hotel giving him pre-match speeches.
"He's just telling me to be myself," Freeman said. "I think he knows that being myself has gotten me to this point. So why change that, right?"
