The United States men's national team played their final preparatory friendly before the World Cup, falling 2-1 to Germany on Saturday, June 6 at a sold-out Soldier Field in Chicago, Illinois, packed out with 63,636 fans.
The result wasn't what the United States would have liked, but the performance was largely solid, with the United States grabbing control of the match after falling behind early, only to concede not long into the second half without a response to match the Germans.
One thing was clear from this final friendly, though: USMNT coach Mauricio Pochettino has a first-choice Starting XI in mind, and we got to see most of it, with the exception of one questionable yet vitally important player, for a long stretch of the narrow loss.
Question marks do still linger in critical spots for the USMNT heading into their World Cup opener on Friday, June 12, in Los Angeles against Paraguay. Certain position decisions, though, look much clearer than they did before the Germany match.
Matt Freese: Poch's starter in goal
Pochettino has not done what Canada national team Jesse Marsch recently did with Maxime Crepeau.
The USMNT coach didn't outright name his starting goalkeeper, but the way he handled the position in the friendlies against Senegal and Germany make it clear: New York City FC's Matt Freese looks nailed on to be the starter, at least as the World Cup begins.
Freese went all 90 minutes against Germany after he was an unused substitute in the previous friendly against Senegal. Even in that Senegal friendly, Freese's two backups, Matt Turner of New England Revolution and Chris Brady of Chicago Fire FC, split the 90 minutes, so it wasn't a case of Turner getting one game to make his case, then Freese getting the other.
Andrew Leigh
Turner and Brady instead got 45 minutes each to stay sharp while featuring in a heavily experimental friendly that saw the United States mix and match lineups mixed with likely starters and likely subs. Freese, conversely, played alongside what you'd consider the USMNT's best collection of outfield players and was out there for the entirety of the team's final match pre-World Cup.
Did Freese play well enough to erase any and all questions at the goalkeeper position heading into the World Cup? The questions and critiques of Freese and the goalkeeper position seem set to linger, with high-profile talking heads in the USMNT space like Taylor Twellman, Bruce Arena, and Matt Doyle all saying that Turner should be the starter.
Twellman thought Freese didn't make the right decision on the opening goal for Germany, posting on Twitter that the NYCFC goalkeeper should have come off his line to try to intervene with Joshua Kimmich's cross before it was tucked home by Kai Havertz. Bruce Arena, who coached Matt Turner in New England, similarly thinks Freese is too consistently hesitant to come off his line, while Matt Doyle tipped Turner to be the starter because he had "played so well for the Revs, and then was lights-out vs. Senegal. That might've won it," he wrote in his TacticsFreeZone newsletter.
While there will likely continue to be doubts around Freese until he delivers a few big moments in the actual World Cup, there shouldn't be much doubt left as to who starts in goal against Paraguay.
Chris Richards: Desperately needed
While the goalkeeper position got clarified against Germany, there are lots of doubts around the USMNT's center-back spot heading into the opener. While Paraguay has huge problems of its own given the injury to Julio Enciso that put their top attacker's World Cup in jeopardy, the United States will be holding the collective breath around Chris Richards, especially after seeing wobbly moments from each of his potential replacements, Mark McKenzie against Senegal and then Miles Robinson against Germany.
Richards was integral for a Crystal Palace FC squad that finished 15th in the English Premier League and marched to a UEFA Conference League trophy, but he's been hampered by an ankle injury suffered against Brentford FC on May 17, and his World Cup status remains very much in doubt after not playing in either friendly and not yet resuming full training with the rest of the 25-man group.
While Richards remains on the 26-player roster for the tournament, Mauricio Pochettino still isn't sure he'll be ready to compete, and sounded frustrated about Richards's injury status in his pre-match press conference before the Germany friendly. Poch expected the center-back to be closer to full fitness by now, but instead there are major questions over if he'll be able to help the USMNT at the World Cup or not.
Neither McKenzie nor Miles Robinson did enough in their pre-Cup friendly appearances to assuage fears over this spot in the lineup. Auston Trusty of Celtic FC would seem to be the next center-back up if not Robinson or McKenzie, but he only played 27 minutes against Germany and 45 minutes against Senegal before that.
Tim Ream is serving as USMNT captain and seems guaranteed to start at one of the center-back spots, but who pairs with him is now the biggest unknown heading into the World Cup.
Miles Robinson lost his mark on the German set-piece routine that got them their early goal at Soldier Field and looked generally shaky back there, all while not being in good form even at club level with FC Cincinnati in MLS, a team that has conceded 2.47 goals per game through 14 played so far this season.
Kai Havertz gets Germany on the board after just two minutes ⚡️ pic.twitter.com/1qGyD2UUfa
— B/R Football (@brfootball) June 6, 2026
The Cincinnati defender got a chance to make his case against Germany, but did not make a convincing one. McKenzie for his part didn't stand out as a positive in the win over Senegal, with his decision-making questioned on Sadio Mané's first goal in that game, in which he only played the first 45 minutes.
Richards was arguably the USMNT's best player during their last stretch of competitive games, the 2025 Concacaf Gold Cup, and has looked consistently excellent while featuring for the national team under Pochettino and for his club Crystal Palace. If he can't get healthy by Friday, Matt Freese might have even more work to do in that United States goal.
Antonee Robinson: Rollercoaster experience
United States left-back Antonee Robinson has been plagued by injuries for a long while, missing a big chunk of Fulham FC's 2025/26 Premier League season while dealing with knee issues. He'd not featured much for the United States, either, playing in the Concacaf Nations League quarterfinals in November 2024 but not returning to the USMNT fold again until the March 28, 2026, friendly against Belgium in Atlanta, Georgia.
Robinson's return to the lineup is a huge boost for the United States heading into this World Cup, with no further proof of that needed than watching the volley he scored to draw the USMNT level with Germany in the 37th minute.
Robinson won't score many goals better than that. That he's capable of that while also finding the balance between when to push up and join in attacking build-up, and when to drop and push the USMNT into a true back-four defensive line, has helped solidify the defensive approach Pochettino looks set to use at the World Cup.
It's a back-four that becomes a back-three, as well-explained by Backheeled's Ben Wright, and the system looked pretty solid while the USMNT had more possession and more of the good chances after Germany's early opener. Robinson's presence and two-way play make this approach work better than when it was someone like Max Arfsten, who struggles mightily defensively, asked to play on the left of the defense in Robinson's place.
The question with Antonee will always be his health. He looked hobbled at the end of his time out there against Germany and, in a somewhat promising turn after the match, Pochettino and Robinson both downplayed the concern over his status while saying he went off with muscle cramps.
This will be a particularly hot and humid World Cup, with the risk for issues like this increased. Antonee Robinson looks like the exact type of player the United States won't want to lose from their lineup, but every time you watch him, you ride the wave of his quality, and his penchant for an injury.
Cramps should clear in time for the Paraguay match, which is what's next for the United States: No more friendlies, no more hypotheticals, it's time for the World Cup, with kickoff scheduled for 9:00 pm ET on Friday night.
