What thoughts and feelings does Thanksgiving conjure? For many Americans, family and football are right up there. That’s also the case for Green Bay Packers legend Antonio Freeman, who has now added the other kind of fútbol to his list.
That’s because his son, Alex Freeman, is now a breakout defender for the U.S. men’s national team. And his recent performances for the USMNT have put the 21-year-old in the mix for a roster spot in next year’s World Cup.
Last week, Antonio witnessed his son’s latest accomplishment while watching the USMNT take on Uruguay in both teams’ final match of 2025. In that game in Tampa, Florida, the younger Freeman had a highlight moment when he skated past Ronald Araujo — one of the best defenders in global soccer — and scored his second goal of the night in the 5-1 rout.
The elder Freeman, a Super Bowl XXXI champion and Packers Hall of Famer, celebrated alongside other parents and a few of his former teammates from a suite at Raymond James Stadium, home of the NFL’s Buccaneers. But his mind went back three days earlier, near the end of the Americans’ previous win against Paraguay, when the 6-foot-3 Alex rag-dolled three Paraguayan players during a late-game scuffle.
“I’d never heard Alex ever talk about him being in a fight,” the elder Freeman told me in a phone interview. “Now here I am, seeing him in the middle of a flat-out brawl.”
The incident ignited something in Alex, his father said, that manifested itself against Uruguay. Whatever the reason, it was a fitting capstone to 2025 for the youngster. Having just made a handful of appearances for Orlando City prior to this season, he earned the starting right back job under coach Oscar Pareja and performed so well that he then earned a callup to Mauricio Pochettino’s U.S. squad for last summer’s Concacaf Gold Cup.
A breakout turn in that tournament put Freeman on course to be one of Pochettino’s choices for next summer’s all-important World Cup, which will be both co-hosted by the U.S. and feature an unprecedented 48 teams – the largest field than any other edition in the 96-year history of the competition.
Alex Freeman’s play for the U.S. this fall now has him on course to occupy a major role at the biggest event in sports. But hardly anybody foresaw Freeman’s rise from MLS prospect to the highest level in the sport in less than a year. Pareja is one of the few.
“It does not really surprise me,” Pareja said of Freeman’s breakneck ascent. “Alex has shown a lot of consistency since we got him here in the academy.”
Alex Freeman has taken full advantage of his time with the USMNT. (Photo by Eston Parker/ISI Photos/ISI Photos via Getty Images)
Still, Pareja saw something special in Freeman almost immediately. The former Colombian international and FC Dallas academy boss has a well-earned reputation for identifying young talent. While at FCD, he helped develop eventual World Cup participants Weston McKennie, Kellyn Acosta and Jesus Ferreira. So when Jesus Perez, Pochettino’s top assistant, visited Pareja at the Lions training facility last spring, he suggested the USMNT take a close look at the kid with the famous dad.
They did. Freeman caught a break when starting right back and 2022 World Cup alum Sergiño Dest, who had recently returned from ACL surgery, was given the summer off to further rehab his knee. Pochettino turned to Freeman. He has rewarded them handsomely.
“Our job and our duty is to see the projection of the player. And for that, we need to give them a chance and to see how they perform,” Pochettino told reporters after the historic win over Uruguay, the first time the Americans scored five goals versus a South American foe.
“We created a platform for him to show the quality, but the credit goes to him.”
Alex Freeman has certainly impressed USMNT coach Mauricio Pochettino. (Photo by Stephen Nadler/ISI Photos/USSF/Getty Images)
Perez credits Orlando and its staff, too. Pareja, in turn, praised Freeman’s academy coaches and those with Orlando’s development team. And then there are the younger Freeman’s all-world genetics.
Antonio said his son was a late bloomer and that his growth spurt did come until he was 15 or 16. Alex now stands an inch taller than his 6-foot-2 father.
That physique had his high school’s football coaches salivating. They were disappointed to learn that Alex’s mom forbade him from playing the gridiron version early on. But his world-class athleticism has translated onto the soccer pitch – which was on full display against Araujo, a veteran of the Spanish titans Barcelona.
“He’s was always telling me and his mom that he wanted to dribble on guys,” Antonio said. “Being a right fullback, he rarely gets an opportunity to get that isolation. Watching him just ease through the defense — it was just an amazing display of athletic ability, the way he dropped his hips, and was able to change directions. I was really, really impressed. And found out that he did it against one of the best defenders in the world? That was like icing on the cake.”
And Alex is still only getting started.
A potentially life-changing 2026 will arrive fast. European teams figure to be lining up for his services as soon as the next transfer window opens in January. Yet for the next seven months, the World Cup is his first, second and third priority. That could mean staying put in MLS until after the star-making tournament, even if Orlando’s nearly $20 million valuation is met by potential suitors this winter.
“I need to be in the best form for the World Cup,” Alex told me last week on the eve of his breakout night in Tampa. “I’m comfortable in Orlando. I know I’ll be able to play my game there, know the culture, staff, know everything I have to do. It depends on what I want to do and what I feel is best for me. If something happens, maybe I move. But the World Cup is coming. I need to be ready for the most important time in my life.”
Although father and son won’t be able to spend this Thanksgiving together in person, both will be parked in front of a TV, watching their beloved Packers try to beat their division rivals Detroit Lions for the second time this season. And if all goes to plan, father will be following Alex and the USMNT across the country next summer at the World Cup, as the Americans attempt to make a deep run on home soil.
Beating Paraguay and Uruguay “hopefully woke up our U.S. fans,” Antonio added. “They like that kind of feisty, that toughness, that grit on the field. We got some young guys and some older guys, a collaboration of great talent, and we’re going to put our best out there at the World Cup and try to win it.”
Doug McIntyre is a soccer reporter for FOX Sports who has covered United States men’s and women’s national teams at FIFA World Cups on five continents. Follow him @ByDougMcIntyre.
