It doesn’t appear that American soccer fans are ready to forgive Matt Freese just yet, at least those in Columbus.
The U.S. men’s national team goalkeeper was booed every time he touched the ball Wednesday in New York City FC’s first match back following the World Cup break.
NYCFC captured a 2-1 win over the Columbus Crew, but the fans in the Buckeye state jeered Freese for much of the night at ScottsMiracle-Gro Field.
Some fans appeared to still be holding a grudge over Freese’s performance in the USMNT’s loss to Belgium in the Round of 16 in the World Cup, which included the goalkeeper making a costly mistake that led to Belgium’s third goal of the match.
The booing started right from Freese’s first touch of the ball in the third minute of the match and Columbus fans appeared to chant “SHAME!” moments later at the NYCFC goalkeeper. The boos reached even louder levels in the sixth minute when Thiago Martins passed the ball back to him.
Later in the first half, the Apple TV broadcast zoomed in on one Columbus fan who was giving him a thumbs-down.
The reception didn’t appear to bother Freese much on the pitch, as the New York City FC goalkeeper made three saves against Columbus to help his club win its sixth game of the season.
NYCFC head coach Pascal Jansen said that Freese’s performance “speaks for itself” when asked by The Post about the goalkeeper’s reception Wednesday night.
“He’s not worried about these things. He has to go through it,” Jansen said. “Everybody is apparently still very disappointed either with the performance from the national team as one, and maybe in particular Matty’s performance, given the last game that he played, and what happened in that game.
“But that is something that Matty has to deal with, and he’ll get through that with the support of everybody around him, but especially the locker room. We’re not worried one bit.”
Freese was not made available to the media following the win in Columbus, but he had spoken to The Post last week in a lengthy phone interview in which he expressed a desire to not let the World Cup mistake “define my career.”
The 27-year-old had said that he had received plenty of support from American soccer fans during his trip back to New York, with young fans and their parents approaching him at the airport to tell him how they had fallen in love with soccer.
Jansen believed that Freese’s performance Wednesday night showed how well he can handle the challenges.
“If you look at how he played today, even though they were booing him, because it wasn’t just a little bit, it was almost the whole stadium that was booing him,” the coach explained. “Trying to get him off his game. But if you look back at how he handled himself, you can only give him a massive compliment for how he presented himself today.”
