“We didn’t even know we were Lithuanian to begin with,” Turner told Wahl.
The 32-year-old explained that his grandparents “reinvented themselves” when they arrived in the country, including anglicising their surname, which used to be Turnovski.
Turner was keen to explore his Jewish heritage, being both curious about his background and aware of the benefits of having a European passport with regard to his ambition to play in Europe.
He told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency in 2023 that he was “certainly very, very excited” when he found the documents.
“America, in general, it’s a melting pot, and everybody has those roots elsewhere,” he continued. “My initial feeling was, ‘wow, this is cool – I finally have a little piece of me that I can look into and understand a little bit more’.
“I was very intrigued about the history. And 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 because I understood different values.”
Turner said he thought the process of obtaining a Lithuanian passport might take around six months. It took four years, with him ultimately receiving his citizenship in 2020, a month after he signed his first contract with MLS side New England Revolution.
“It was amazing – kind of like this amazing journey to go through with my dad,” he concluded.
Turner celebrates a goal by a teammate while playing for the New England Revolution in April (photo: Jonathan Bachman / Getty Images)Getty Images
Turner grew up in Park Ridge, a small city of around 8,000 people in the woods lining the border of New York and New Jersey.
His mother was Catholic and his father Jewish, but he was never baptised nor barmitzvahed. He told The Athletic in 2021 that he was occasionally teased by classmates at his Catholic school for having a Jewish parent.
In 2022, he married his wife, Ashley, who is Catholic and with whom he has two children – son Easton and daughter Everley. The couple plans to allow their children to decide what type of religious journey, if any, to embark upon.
“The general foundations of both religions are the same, and the values of marriage would be the same,” Turner told JTA. “I think it’s really great to have religion as a guideline because [of] having faith and values and seeing the bigger picture.
“But at the same time, we want our kids to be able to choose for themselves or connect with things for themselves.
“We want to open their eyes to the world and have them experience different religions in different ways and different rites of passage, have a really open mind and find things in the values that they might connect with more.”
Turner’s career thus far has taken him over the pond and back. After six years spent at New England Revolution, including a loan move to Richmond Kickers in the second division of US football, he joined Premier League giants Arsenal in 2022.
He spent one season there, followed by two with Nottingham Forest, one of which was on loan at Crystal Palace, before returning to New England Revolution.
With 27 clean sheets in his 54 caps for the national team, he is arguably the most successful US keeper since their golden era of goalkeeping in the noughties.
His move to Arsenal came off the back of a successful World Cup campaign in 2022, including a spectacular clean sheet against England.
Off the back of an impressive domestic season and with World Cup experience under his belt, Turner can consider himself unlucky that he has been on the bench for both of the US’s group stage fixtures so far in this summer’s competition.
His younger compatriot Matt Freese started in goal as the US team saw off Paraguay with a 4-1 thrashing and dispatched Australia with an easy 2-0 win.
With the US having already guaranteed qualification for the knockout stages for the eighth time in their history, former Spurs manager Mauricio Pochettino may decide to rotate his squad for their final group game.
That is against Turkey, who are already out of the competition having lost twice so far, and Turner will be hoping to feature on Friday in Los Angeles as the US aims to make it a perfect group stage for the first time ever.
