The Only Jewish Player in the World Cup

Earlier this month, as the U.S. men’s national soccer team was gearing up for its World Cup debut match against Paraguay at Los Angeles Stadium (otherwise known as SoFi Stadium), there was great anticipation among Jewish sports fans from Malibu to Caribou that goaltender Matt Turner would get the starting nod for the Stars and Stripes.

Turner, a product of St. Joseph’s Regional High School in Montvale, N.J., who has excelled for the New England Revolution in Major League Soccer (MLS), even acknowledged that there was “not a ton of clarity” as to whether he or Matt Freese, a talented netminder for New York City FC but a relative newcomer to international soccer, would receive the career-defining honor in representing one of the World Cup’s host nations.

But, as widely expected, U.S. head coach Mauricio Pochettino went with Freese as his starter against Paraguay. A week after the United States’ 4-1 win in its World Cup opener, Freese was back in net as the U.S. blanked Australia, 2-0.

With the States having secured the top spot in Group D and a place in the knockout round, Pochettino turned to his reserve players, including Turner, in last Thursday evening’s 3-2 loss to Turkey. Turner, who became the fifth USMNT goalie to start in multiple World Cups, did get blitzed for the three goals in the Group D finale and will likely be headed back to the bench for the elimination games.

By all accounts, Turner, who starred for the U.S. during the 2022 World Cup in Qatar — he started all four matches and recorded clean sheets against England and Iran — is the sole Jewish player in this year’s field of competition. Israel, which hasn’t qualified for the World Cup since 1970, is once again not participating — this is partially due to geopolitics that nudged its soccer federation to compete in the talented European body, rather than in Asia—and Jewish MLS players DeAndre Yedlin (Real Salt Lake) and Daniel Edelman (St. Louis City), both of whom previously played for the U.S. national squad, weren’t able to crack Pochettino’s roster this time.

But with Freeze, the son of a prominent neurosurgeon and a healthcare executive who as a teen passed on Manchester United in favor of Harvard, presumably the starter going forward, Turner may not return to the pitch this summer. Though Turner, who burst onto the amateur soccer scene as a dominant netminder for Fairfield University last decade, has taken the high road by lauding his teammate, the scarcity of World Cup game action has to be a letdown.

“There’s a million different pictures that go on in my head. I think about it a lot,” Turner told reporters attending Team USA’s pre-tournament camp in Fayetteville, Georgia, in early June as his team was preparing for the opening match against Paraguay. “I’ll probably cry when the national anthem goes. It’s just such a huge honor—overwhelming honor—to be granted that responsibility to be on this team to do our best in those roles and ultimately, change soccer here forever.”

Notably, Turner has not just embraced his American identity, but also his Jewish one. One of the hottest goalies in the MLS has recently opened up about his Jewish roots, explaining how he uncovered his Judaic heritage by locating his paternal great-grandmother’s emigration papers that had allowed her to escape Lithuania during World War II.

“Once I found the documents, I was certainly very, very excited,” Turner shared with the Jewish Telegraphic Agency three years ago. “America, in general, it’s a melting pot, and everybody has those roots elsewhere. So to understand your story, your history, a little bit is really nice.

“The more my father and I dug, the more we learned, the more connected I felt to my Jewish side, the Jewish culture of my family. It really changed a lot of me.”

Turner has really found himself for the Revs, an MLS club whose principal owner, Robert Kraft, is a prominent member of the Greater Boston Jewish community. After going undrafted in the 2016 MLS SuperDraft following a standout collegiate career, the now-31-year-old native of Park Ridge, New Jersey, agreed to a contract with the Revolution through a preseason trial and was tabbed the starting goaltender in 2018. During his 2021 breakout season he was named MLS Goalkeeper of the Year and debuted for the U.S. national team, propelling the States to a CONCACAF Gold Cup title while taking home Best Goalkeeper honors.

Since then, Turner, who rejoined the Revs last year on loan from French club Olympique Lyonnais, has floundered at times on the global stage, allowing a combined nine goals in a pair of matches against Switzerland and Belgium over the past year. While those subpar performances may have contributed to his demotion on the current US national squad, his sterling MLS career — he’s actually posted superior numbers to Freese this season — suggests he remains a viable alternative should the current goaltending situation go sideways.

“I think playing consistent minutes at the level that I’ve been playing at this year has helped me tremendously with that, with staying ready,” said Turner, who’s also served as a backup goalie for Arsenal of the English Premier League. “Unlike in the past where I was kind of scrapping for minutes at the club level and then when you show up to the national team, you’re not as sharp when your number is called, so it’s obviously been really great to be playing consistently, be an important player for my team as well. Of course, it just helps me with my preparation on a weekly basis, daily basis and if my number is called, everybody knows I’ll be ready.”

Should the Americans keep rolling into the knockout round and make a stunning run against the greatest teams in the world, they would play in the July 19 championship match at New York New Jersey Stadium (MetLife Stadium)—less than a half-hour drive from where Turner first learned how to play soccer at the beginning of the century.