{"id":2063,"date":"2025-11-24T16:28:27","date_gmt":"2025-11-24T16:28:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/?p=2063"},"modified":"2025-11-24T16:28:27","modified_gmt":"2025-11-24T16:28:27","slug":"usas-matt-freese-helps-nycfc-set-up-mls-east-final-showdown-with-messi-miami","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/?p=2063","title":{"rendered":"USA&#039;s Matt Freese Helps NYCFC Set Up MLS East Final Showdown with Messi, Miami"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"subnav-title ff-ffc bold fs-23 lh-25 uc pd-b-10\">\n            POPULAR SEARCHES\n          <\/p>\n<p class=\"subnav-title ff-ffc bold fs-23 lh-25 uc pd-b-10\">\n            BROWSE BY\n          <\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-160ccf97>NYCFC goalkeeper Matt Freese had five saves to help beat the No. 1 seed Philadelphia Union 1-0 on Sunday night to win the Eastern Conference semifinals.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-160ccf97>Thanks to Freese&#8217;s efforts, NYCFC will now take on Lionel Messi and Inter Miami in the East final for a chance to clinch a spot in the MLS Cup final on Dec. 6. Freese continues to have a breakout year as he has solidified his spot as the U.S. men&#8217;s starting goalkeeper ahead of the 2026 World Cup.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-160ccf97>Maxi Moralez opened the scoring in the 27th minute and New York City FC\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-160ccf97>Philadelphia, which won the 2025 Supporters Shield, lost at Subaru Park for just the second time this season.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-160ccf97>On the counter-attack, Moralez perfectly timed his run onto a ball played ahead by Nicolas Fernandez and beat goalkeeper Andre Blake with a rolling shot from the center of the area the slipped inside the left post.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-160ccf97>Blake had two saves, which included a diving stop of a shot by Fern\u00e1ndez from beyond midfield in the 55th minute. Blake appeared to have injured his hamsting on the play and was replaced by Andrew Rick \u2014 finished with a save \u2014 in the 60th.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-160ccf97>The Union outshot NYCFC 9-3 in the first half and 20-6 overall.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-160ccf97><i>Reporting by The Associated Press.\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-160ccf97><i>Want great stories delivered right to your inbox?\u00a0<\/i><i><u>Create or log in to your FOX Sports account<\/u><\/i><i> and follow leagues, teams and players to receive a personalized newsletter daily!<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>POPULAR SEARCHES BROWSE BY NYCFC goalkeeper Matt Freese had five saves to help beat the No. 1 seed Philadelphia Union 1-0 on Sunday night to win the Eastern Conference semifinals.\u00a0 Thanks to Freese&#8217;s efforts, NYCFC will now take on Lionel Messi and Inter Miami in the East final for a chance to clinch a spot [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":2062,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2063","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-soccer"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2063","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2063"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2063\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2062"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2063"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2063"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2063"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}