Alex Freeman, a 21-year-old U.S. men’s national team defender and the son of Super Bowl champion Antonio Freeman, is poised to start the Americans’ 2026 World Cup opener on Friday, June 12, at SoFi Stadium against Paraguay after a rapid rise from limited MLS m
IRVINE, Calif. — By the time Alex Freeman steps onto SoFi Stadium’s field on Friday, June 12, it won’t just be a World Cup debut. It will be the moment a meteoric climb turns global.
The 21-year-old defender is likely to start as the U.S. men’s national team opens the 2026 World Cup at home with a match against Paraguay. Just last year, Freeman was barely playing in MLS. Now, he’s on the verge of anchoring a high-stakes opener for a team that will be watching every first touch.
Part of the intrigue comes from his size and presence—Freeman stands 6-foot-2. larger than the typical right back—alongside the way he reads the game and carries the ball. But for many fans. the bigger headline may come first: Freeman is the son of former All-Pro and Super Bowl champion wide receiver Antonio Freeman.
While his father became famous for football. the younger Freeman had shown an attachment to soccer early on. and he never appeared to pivot away from that path. With the family in the Los Angeles area. Freeman is preparing for a tournament that feels. in his own words. too big to ignore—yet not too big to handle.
Antonio Freeman knows the feeling of performing on the biggest stage. Nearly 30 years ago, he was preparing for his first Super Bowl. Then he went out and caught an 81-yard touchdown pass to help the Green Bay Packers win Super Bowl XXXI. The comparison hangs over Alex Freeman’s preparations in a way that can’t be faked.
“He was just giving me those kind of speeches that you hear from a dad,” Freeman said. “He just told me to be myself. He knows that being myself has got me to this point. So why change that?”
That advice lands at the exact moment Freeman’s own football-to-soccer mythos begins to look real on the stat sheet. In the past year and a half, his stock has risen sharply. After making his U.S. men’s national team debut in June 2025, Freeman played in 16 of the team’s next 17 games.
For a player still relatively new to the national team setup, Freeman has also moved quickly into the kind of trust that doesn’t come from talent alone—it comes from fitting in. Christian Pulisic, one of the U.S. team’s most established figures, has noticed it.
“Alex, he’s a beast, man,” Pulisic said. “He’s really impressed me, especially in these first two games here in this camp. I think he’s done such a good job. just his overall presence and what he brings. not even just physicality and athleticism. but he’s made some good forward progression with the ball and played good balls in behind.”.
Pulisic added: “I feel like he seems a lot calmer, and I like what I’ve seen from him.”
Calm isn’t a common label for a player headed into a World Cup for the first time. Yet Freeman’s steadiness may reflect a career built to expect adjustment—and to survive it. He spent time with Villarreal after joining in January from Orlando. and he learned what it means to wait before you’re given the chance.
Playing time was tough to come by early on in Spain. But by the end of his first half season there, Freeman had started three of his team’s last six games, showing that what he does in MLS can travel to the highest levels of Europe.
“I wanted to make the move to make sure that I can be the best person, best player I can to be able to help my team in the World Cup,” Freeman said. “And what better way to do it than going to La Liga, one of the most competitive, technical, and aggressive leagues in the world.”
The picture that emerges from those steps is straightforward: Freeman went from an MLS role that barely existed at the start of last year to Orlando City breakout production. then to a national team run that has carried him into June 2025’s debut and beyond—now landing at a World Cup opener where the starting spot could finally put all that momentum into one moment.
Friday won’t be about potential anymore. It will be about proof—whether the calm Pulisic has seen becomes the same kind of control that can hold up against Paraguay on home soil. and whether the son of a Super Bowl hero can translate that big-stage mindset into a soccer tournament that has never forgiven hesitation.
Alex Freeman Antonio Freeman USMNT Paraguay 2026 World Cup SoFi Stadium Christian Pulisic Villarreal Orlando City La Liga MLS