The U.S. men’s national team didn’t have everybody on the pitch for one of their final training sessions at the new Arthur M. Blank U.S. Soccer National Training Center in Atlanta, before departing for the first of two pre-World Cup friendlies against Senegal in Charlotte.
On Friday, only 24 of the 26 rostered players hit the pitch. Chris Richards, who celebrated a Europa Conference League title with Crystal Palace earlier in the week, arrived at the ground, but it was Brenden Aaronson’s absence that was more notable—he was getting married.
The Leeds United midfielder was seen as a fringe option for the World Cup squad for most of the season, meaning the World Cup dates didn’t factor heavily in the planning of nuptials. Instead, he needed to gain manager Mauricio Pochettino’s permission to leave camp to make his vows.
The 25-year-old left on Thursday, got married on Friday and made his way back on Saturday in time for the 3–2 victory over Senegal. None of the other players attended the wedding, but the plan was for Gio Reyna’s wife, Chloe, to FaceTime the rest of the national team as he tied the knot with his fiancée, Milana D’Ambra, his partner since their teenage years.
“For me it was a whirlwind couple of days, but also a really amazing whirlwind of days that I’m never gonna ever forget,” Aaronson said on Tuesday. “It was really special.”
While leaving camp for a wedding is rare, leaving the USMNT for a major life event isn’t a first. Ten years ago, in the lead-up to the 2016 Copa América, hosted in the U.S., a young Christian Pulisic skipped a training session to attend his high school prom. Two years ago, center back Mark McKenzie tied the knot in the lead-up to the 2024 Copa América.
Why Aaronson Was ‘Freaking Out’
Aaronson’s wedding date, set more than two years ago, was not originally supposed to overlap with the USMNT’s World Cup training camp, instead, situated right between the end of his Premier League season and the start of camp. The U.S. moved the training camp up by a week, though, last December, leaving Aaronson scrambling to figure out the best plan.
“We were kind of freaking out,” Aaronson said. “Because you put so much time and effort into it. I mean, [Milana] put so much time in, let’s be honest, she put so much into doing the wedding, and it was just really scary.”
“I told [manager Mauricio Pochettino] I’m completely O.K. with moving my wedding,” he added. “I can move it, I’ll do whatever I can to be on this roster. Me and my fiancée were on the same wavelength. Milana gets a lot of credit for that. It’s not easy to be leaving on a wedding night. But she’s been with me since the beginning, she knows how many days that we’ve been through doing all the football stuff. For her to be as cool as she is, it’s amazing.”
Pochettino, instead, allowed Aaronson to keep his original wedding date, clearly in approval of the plan given he still selected the midfielder to his official 26-man roster last week.
“I’m very lucky that I got to go and spend that day,” Aaronson said. “And I’m really grateful to the coaching staff for that. It was an amazing day for myself, but I’m really ready to get back to work and get ready for the World Cup.”
Aaronson was one of only three healthy players not to see the pitch on Sunday, but is expected to receive minutes in the final friendly against Germany on Saturday.
USMNT Growing Up Together
The stark difference between missing training camp for a prom and a wedding is what sums up this version of the USMNT. For many of them, the national team programs have been a journey made over a decade, from rising prospects to World Cup mainstays.
“It’s not the easiest thing, but you make it happen,“ McKenzie told FOX Sports of Aaronson. “I’m really happy for him. I’ve known B since we were 10, 11 years old, so to see him get married now ... he still hasn’t grown any facial hair.“
With more experience under their belts, weathered from years with the national team and as professionals, there’s hope that the USMNT can do something special on home soil this summer, starting June 12 against Paraguay in Los Angeles.
