Brenden Aaronson and Mark McKenzie sat shoulder-to-shoulder for the media conference Wednesday afternoon, and you could almost see the social media post where the photos dissolve into shots of them in the same ZIP code when they were 13 years old.
Both players have come a long way to get to the same place, and they’re not alone this week in U.S. men’s national team training camp in Chester.
Put one way, Mauricio Pochettino’s camp contains 26 contestants for spots at next summer’s World Cup, training ahead of a friendly Saturday afternoon against Paraguay at Subaru Park, then against Uruguay on Tuesday in Tampa Bay.
Put another, the week is a chance for Union Homegrowns 5, 8, 9 and 10 to fight their way onto what many may have once posited as the ultimate soccer achievement: Representing their country at a World Cup.
“You sit in the locker room as young teenagers and you have goals and aspirations to play at the highest level,” McKenzie said Wednesday. “I think when you’re in the academy, it’s like, I just want to get to the first team. But you also see how each of us have different journeys. … Now you flash forward almost a decade and you’ve got four guys who are professionals at some of the highest levels of the game. But those dreams became reality not from simply dreaming about it.”
Dreams are becoming reality for the quartet of one-time Union Homegrowns, which include Auston Trusty and Matt Freese. And while that sounds like marketing materials for the Union’s developmental pipeline, this week is providing concrete proof.
All four have come a long way to get back to Chester.
Trusty, a Media native, was the fifth Homegrown in club history, really the second in the YSC era, behind Derrick Jones, if you excluded the Union’s abortive early attempts at player development that included three Homegrowns in name only. He signed in 2016 with Bethlehem Steel, then 2017 with the first team.
He was traded to Colorado after the 2019 season, and in 2022 transferred to English giants Arsenal, where he never played.
He found a home in Birmingham City on loan in 2022-23, made it to the English Premier League the next year with a historically bad Sheffield United team and is now playing in the Champions League with Scottish champion Celtic, earning four caps along the way.
McKenzie was the eighth Homegrown in club history, signed to start 2018 after spending that fall at Wake Forest. He was a crucial part of the Union’s Supporters’ Shield win in 2020. He made a big money move to Belgian club Genk and now plies his trade with French club Toulouse. He has 24 caps.
Aaronson was similarly central to that Shield win. He jumped first to Europe weeks ahead of McKenzie in the fall of 2020, leaping to a club with strong developmental bona fides in Red Bull Salzburg. He went from there to Leeds United, which struggled mightily in its pressure-ridden return to the Premier League, got loaned to German club Union Berlin, returned to Leeds to help it gain promotion back to the Premier League and is now a fixture there.
“I think I’ve learned a ton since the last time I was in the Premier League, because I guess I wouldn’t say I was naive, but when you come into a giant club like Leeds, and it’s a lot of pressure and you’re not winning games, you can get down to yourself,” Aaronson said. “I think that the confidence that I have now and the sustainability of it, I think, is at a really good level. I’m happy with my mental space, and I think that’s the biggest thing in football.”
Aaronson has 54 caps, second most of anyone in this camp. His nine goals in a U.S. shirt trail only Ricardo Pepi.
Freese, Homegrown No. 10, stayed closer to home, dealt after the 2022 season to New York City FC. He’s become the U.S. No. 1, starting 11 of the last 12 matches and finishing runner-up in MLS Goalie of the Year voting.
There’s precious little opportunity for that group to reflect this week, but there is a chance to feel the passage of time. Whether it’s Aaronson running into his old Union Juniors coach, visits paid to their alma mater YSC Academy’s new digs in Chester or them collectively struggling to pronounce “WSFS Sports Complex,” the growth in each of their games is mirrored by the brick-and-mortar development of the training facility where they’re practicing on adjacent fields to guys who were once teammates.
“Being back home is, of course, amazing,” Aaronson said. “We’re both really lucky that this is the first time that the national team has been in Philly since we’ve been on the team. So it’s amazing to be here. And then on top of that, to see the facility … It’s an amazing facility.”
“I think it’s come a long way,” McKenzie said. “But it’s a testament of the belief from Richie Graham, from the owners of the Union, and everybody who’s put even the smallest amount of effort into helping us succeed.”
The development is more than stamps on a passport or ticks on their Transfermarkt pages. Aaronson is engaged. Trusty is a married father. The change isn’t just from youth players to pros but from boys to men.
What unites them is the crucible in which their careers formed and the unique sensibilities that that environment imprinted.
“I think the best thing about the Philly development is we have the mentality from a young age, this winning mentality,” Aaronson said. “I think from when we both went to the school, there was always Champions League on the TV, football all the time. And that was the beauty of it. And I think you’re kind of just surrounded by all these guys that wanted to be the best player they can be.
It’s not cutthroat, but it is competitive. So I think everybody wanted to reach the highest level. And that’s what the beauty was.”
Source: Berkshire mont