AUSTIN — Brenden Aaronson, a likely starter for the U.S. men’s national soccer team Thursday, spoke this week about where he was in his development three years ago.
“I was at the start of my MLS career [with the Philadelphia Union] and all I was trying to do was make the bench,” the 20-year-old forward said, laughing. “It’s been an upward trajectory, just crazy, you know? At that point, no way I thought I would be here.”
Four years ago, when the U.S. squad last attempted to qualify for a World Cup, U.S. defender Miles Robinson was logging minutes playing second-division soccer in Charleston, S.