Brenden Aaronson misses USMNT World Cup training for good reason: His wedding

FAYETTEVILLE, Ga. — On Friday night, when the U.S. men’s national team sits down for dinner, the hope is that the players and staff can gather around a laptop to watch a teammate say his wedding vows.

U.S. national team midfielder Brenden Aaronson was absent from training on Friday, but not due to injury — it’s because he’s attending his own wedding.

Aaronson is getting married to his fiancée, Milana D’Ambra, on Friday night. The Leeds United midfielder was excused from training by head coach Mauricio Pochettino to fly home. He will rejoin the team for training on Saturday.

The intention — if it’s not a no-phones wedding — is for Gio Reyna’s wife, Chloe, to FaceTime the team from the nuptials so that they can watch from afar.

“We’re a family, and we want to make sure that everybody gets their moment together,” U.S. midfielder Cristian Roldan said. “So for us, it’s not a distraction at all, and in fact, Brenden had asked way ahead of time, he was a responsible young adult, to be able to do so. So credit to him, and the coaching staff was on board with it. … We’re all trying to be involved and have a good time with it.”

U.S. goalkeeper Matt Turner joked that he “could get some eyes on that wedding,” because the venue is near a house his parents own nearby.

“Maybe they could row a boat up and tell me what’s going on,” Turner joked.

“I’m sure we’ll welcome him back with something special,” he added.

Goalkeeper Chris Brady joked that his advice to Aaronson had been: “Good luck. Don’t f*** it up. Say ‘I do.’”

Aaronson is coming off of a career season for Leeds in the Premier League in which he played in 37 games, starting 30, and scored four goals with five assists. He was named to Pochettino’s squad on Tuesday, making his second straight U.S. World Cup team. The winger played in all four games for the U.S. in Qatar, logging 108 minutes off the bench, including 45 minutes replacing an injured Christian Pulisic at halftime against Iran.

His fiancée is the daughter of former Philadelphia KiXX (indoor soccer) star and current Saint Joseph University men’s soccer coach Don D’Ambra. She was previously a player herself at Temple University.

Aaronson’s day-and-a-half-long trip away is somewhat reminiscent of Pulisic dashing from camp ahead of the 2016 Copa América Centenario under then-coach Jurgen Klinsmann to attend his high school prom.

Pulisic went to prom, then flew back on a private jet and scored his first international goal the next day off the bench against Bolivia in a friendly.

“He didn’t make it a big deal,” former U.S. center back Matt Besler recalled to The Athletic. “He kept it to himself and the coaching staff. He went and did his thing, he was back, played in the game, scored a goal. The story kind of wrote itself. I didn’t know that happened until way later.”

Defender Mark McKenzie spoke about Aaronson’s wedding from experience — in two different senses.

McKenzie has known Aaronson since they were 10 or 11 years old. They eventually became teammates with the Philadelphia Union. “To see him get married now,” McKenzie began, but then, rather than reflect, he cracked a joke: “He still hasn’t grown any facial hair.”

McKenzie also knows what this is like. He got married to his wife, Carley, during a brief break between a pre-Copa América training camp and the tournament itself in 2024. “It’s exciting,” McKenzie recalled. “You have an exciting summer in your career, and then an exciting moment in your life.”

For his wife, though, he admitted, “it was quite stressful — hoping there’s no flight cancellations, no last-minute changes. But yeah, it’s a special moment.”

Aaronson will be back with the team Saturday for training. He’ll then fly with the team to Charlotte, where they play Senegal on Sunday at Bank of America Stadium.

They then return to Fayetteville, outside Atlanta, for another half-week of training at U.S. Soccer’s brand new National Training Center. They’ll then travel to Chicago for their final friendly before the World Cup, on June 6 against Germany. The World Cup opener is June 12 at SoFi Stadium near Los Angeles. against Paraguay.

Aaronson’s departure coincided with the arrival of Chris Richards, the Crystal Palace defender who missed Tuesday’s squad reveal event on account of taking part in the UEFA Conference League final. Following Palace’s triumph over Rayo Vallecano on Wednesday, Richards, who is nursing an ankle injury, touched down in Georgia on Friday. The squad will be at full 26-man capacity when Aaronson returns to the group.