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

FAYETTEVILLE, Ga. — U.S. national team midfielder Brenden Aaronson was absent from training on Friday, but fear not, he is not injured. Quite the opposite.

Aaronson is getting married to his fiancée, Milana D’Ambra, on Friday night. The 25-year-old Leeds United midfielder was excused from training by head coach Mauricio Pochettino to fly home for his wedding. He will rejoin the team for training on Saturday.

D’Ambra is the daughter of former indoor soccer team Philadelphia KiXX star and current Saint Joseph University men’s soccer coach Don D’Ambra.

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.

Aaronson’s day-and-a-half-long trip away is somewhat reminiscent of Pulisic dashing from camp ahead of the 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.”

The United States kicked off World Cup preparation this week, with the roster officially unveiled on Tuesday in New York City and the first training session Wednesday outside of Atlanta at the federation’s brand new National Training Center. The group will face Senegal in Charlotte on Sunday, the first of two pre-World Cup friendlies.