New England Revolution Goalkeeper Matt Turner made the roster for the United States Men’s National Team. He will play in his second World Cup next month.
Turner is battling with NYFC Goalkeeper Matt Freese for the starting goalie spot for the Americans. Turner started all four matches in the 2022 World Cup.
New England Revolution Goalkeeper Coach, Kevin Hitchcock, says Turner has earned the starting role.
“I definitely think he’ll be the starter,” Hitchcock said. “He’s a better goalkeeper. He’s the best goalkeeper in the league by a country mile.”
Boston 25 News Reporter Michael Raimondi interviewed Hitchcock before the Revs final game before the international break. Hitchcock is a well-resected soccer mind from England. He played for Chelsea in the English Premier League for several seasons in the 1990’s.
“I like to think I’m good at my job and I try to cover every aspect of goalkeeping during the week. There’s nothing we can say, oh, we didn’t do that this week. We didn’t do that. We cover everything and they work hard. They work really hard,” Hitchcock said.
Hitchcock says Turner has improved a lot since he returned to the Revolution in 2025. The 31-year-old keeper played in Europe on three different teams in 2023 and 2024. Turner was not seeing as many minutes as he would have liked.
“He’s gained a lot of experience in other leagues, especially in the Premier League. And he found out very quickly that the Premier League is a tough league. A lot tougher than MLS. And he goes there into the Premier League, not as a number one. So he had to bide his time,” Hitchcock said. “He still saw himself as a number one so he goes to another club to play and he doesn’t play in that one and then you lose focus you lose the hunger and the desire from playing week in week out and it’s very hard when you’re not getting game time what you want. You go into this little mode where you’re just relying on training, and it’s not the same as playing games.”
Hitchcock said mistakes and bad habits can creep in when someone used to starting isn’t playing as often.
“Matt had that same problem. He came back to me. We’ve ironed them mistakes out. We’ve ironed them bad habits out, and he’s gone back to where he was,” Hitchcock said.
You can see that Hitchcock is confident in his ability to coach up keepers. Turner agrees.
“My life really changed when Kevin Hitchcok came in 2019 and after one training session looked at me and said, “You can play in the Premier League,” Turner said. “That was the first time someone looked at me and believed in me at that level. Sometimes you just need that one person to really believe in you and then you can really spread your wings and showcase everything you’ve been working on.”
A few years later, that turned out to be true as Turner played overseas. When that didn’t work out as well, he’s turned things around in the year since he returned to New England. He’s one of the top goalies in Major League Soccer, and his big saves in big moments have sealed wins for his club. Turner is a big reason why the Revolution is 4th in the eastern conference.
“Making big saves in big moments is the big thing. It’s probably the biggest thing because it’s all about winning matches. And you need goalkeepers in tight situations where it’s nil-nil, one-one to make big saves at big times,” Hitchcock said. “Matt’s been doing that this year again for us. And we go on to win the game. No one really remembers a save, but they’re turning points at games. That’s going to be the big issue in the World Cup.”
All the hours on the training field in Foxborough has helped Turner regain confidence and form at the right time heading into soccer’s biggest tournament.
“It’s been amazing working with him again. He’s really just peeled back the layers of the onion in terms of my goalkeeping,” Turner said. “Strip things back and rebuild things in a confident way. The support and belief he has in me is tremendous. It’s great to be in an environment where every day you’re being challenged because Kevin knows the level I can play at.”
We will see if Turner gets the start Sunday night in a friendly match between the USMNT and Senegal. If Turner gets the nod, it could be a good sign he is trending towards starting the opening match of the World Cup.
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