FAYETTEVILLE, Ga. – On Saturday, Brenden Aaronson introduced a new pre-training ritual to his routine as he wrapped tape around his wedding band. Athletes are creatures of habit by trade, and many of his colleagues on the U.S. men's national team's World Cup squad had already made it known they would stick to their well-established patterns for this summer's tournament. Aaronson had a good reason for the change, though – it was his first full day as a married man.
Towards the end of a hectic week and change, Aaronson married his childhood sweetheart, Milana D'Ambra, in unique circumstances. The nuptials took place exactly a week after players were notified of their selection to Mauricio Pochettino's World Cup roster through the creation of a WhatsApp group chat, a busy stretch kicking off from there.
"On that day where you're waiting for the text message – we didn't know what we were getting at that time, but the email and text message," he recalled on Monday. "That was probably the most nervous I've ever been in my life, so to finally get that text and then the first thing you think about is, 'Okay, now I got to fly in.' You're trying to do it all in your brain, what's going to happen, this, that, so you're a little bit nervous about all those things and all the logistics of it all but, like I said, I think the first thing I came to my mind was just how proud I was to be on this roster and then, I think as time goes on, the next two, three days went on, then I was able to focus on the wedding a little bit more and think about how amazing that day is going to be."
The attacker then played 88 minutes in Leeds United's Premier League finale at West Ham United on May 24, the stress of avoiding relegation already behind them, and traveled to New York the following day for the roster reveal event on May 26.
"We drove back from London that day," Aaronson said of his plans after Leeds' final game of the season. "So that was a four-and-a-half hour drive getting back that night. Waking up the next morning, going to Manchester, like two-and-a-half hours' worth of traffic. I can go on and on about the travel and how long it was."
The USMNT, Aaronson included, traveled to Atlanta shortly after the event in New York and opened their pre-World Cup training camp at the U.S. Soccer National Training Center in the city's suburbs the following day. He took part in two days of training before making the 800-plus mile journey to the Jersey shore for his wedding at a venue on Long Beach Island.
"I think I got to the rehearsal dinner at 7.30 [p.m.] – which, I was an hour and a half late – and then I woke up the next day, had my wedding day," he noted. "Then I got up at 2.30 in the morning to then go to Philly because then I wanted to get back for training, you know what I mean? I got up really early that day, probably three hours of sleep but then came in and did a little training."
The newlyweds did not exactly envision their big day as one event squished in the middle of many. They picked the date and venue nearly two years ago when Gregg Berhalter was still the USMNT coach – and when the start of the team's pre-World Cup camp was scheduled for June 1, three days after the wedding.
"It's funny because my brother actually did a speech at our wedding, of course, because he was my best man and he was so funny," Aaronson said while referencing Paxten, a soccer player for MLS' Colorado Rapids. "He was there when they changed the schedule to having a game on the 31st [against Senegal]. I think it was around December time, like probably around Christmas time when we got those friendly schedules and when she learned we were gonna be reporting at that time; I mean, we saw her reaction. Her face flushed. My face flushed. We were kind of like freaking out, you know what I mean? Because you put so much time and effort into having – she put so much time and effort, let's be honest. She was doing the wedding and it was just really scary."
The good news for Aaronson and D'Ambra, whose father Don is the men's soccer coach at Saint Joseph's University in Philadelphia, is that the national team was more than accommodating. Aaronson received permission to skip Friday's training session for the wedding, giving Pochettino and his staff plenty of notice.
"Being able to have a conversation with the coach, being able to go to his office," he recalled about his conversation with Pochettino in March, "it's open and he's very good at these kinds of conversations. He's a human being, too, so he kind of knows that it's not easy being a footballer and I just think it was really an easy conversation to have with him. It was just really nice…I told him I'm completely okay with moving my wedding. I can move it. I'll do whatever I can to be on this roster and I think me and my fiancée were on the same wavelength."
His teammates, meanwhile, were overjoyed. There was a buzz around the training facility on Friday, sheer excitement evident when the other members of the U.S.' World Cup team were asked about Aaronson's wedding.
"We don't know if it's a no-phones wedding. We're trying to get clarity on that," midfielder Cristian Roldan said on Friday, hours before the ceremony. "Gio [Reyna]'s wife will be FaceTiming in and we'll all be able to watch kind of like a live stream if it is a phone wedding."
Christian Pulisic later revealed that the team instead watched videos as they came in, though the group did not hesitate to offer their congratulations as they saw Aaronson on Saturday morning. It comes as little surprise that the vibes were celebratory – the group was still riding the high of being named to the World Cup team, while many members of the squad go way back with Aaronson. Roughly half of the squad is made up of players who have played together since they were in their teens, representing the U.S. at youth levels and would have likely attended the wedding under different circumstances.
"I got congratulated from everybody," Aaronson recalled. "They were very, very happy. I think they know me and Milana's story. They know we've been together since we were 16 years old, so for us to have our day and for them to support it like they always have, it's really special and I think the guys are – it's a great bunch. They've known Milana for so long now; it's the craziest thing, so I think to be able to spend it in the way but I think also mentally for myself, it was a great couple of days and I still think about it when I'm off the pitch but I'm ready to get back on it and and work and get ready for the World Cup."
Aaronson did not play in Sunday's 3-2 win over Senegal, likely the result of a busy week balancing the commitments of a World Cup and a wedding, but trained on Tuesday and is expected to be available for selection in the final friendly before the tournament against Germany on Saturday. A less frantic week awaits but he looks back fondly on his unique start to a World Cup on home soil – and is still in a honeymoon phase of sorts.
"Milana gets a lot of credit," he said. "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 and for her to be as cool as she is, it's amazing."
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