Brenden and Paxten Aaronson celebrate being on the USMNT together for the first time

AUSTIN, Texas — It’s far enough here from Medford, N.J., where Brenden and Paxten Aaronson grew up; and from Berlin and Frankfurt, Germany, the cities they currently call home.

But in the soccer world, you take moments whenever — and wherever — they come. So here they were, a long way from a lot of places but sharing the same table at their first U.S. men’s soccer team camp together.

As soccer’s growth in Philadelphia hits even more milestones, put this down as one of them — and know they feel it as much as everyone back home who’s cheered them on.

Because both brothers are in Germany now, they see each other often enough instead of only being able to talk via video chat. They got to play against each other for the first time earlier this month when Brenden’s Union Berlin hosted Paxten’s Eintracht Frankfurt, both second-half substitutes in Frankfurt’s 3-0 win.

» READ MORE: Brothers Brenden and Paxten Aaronson called up by USMNT together for first time

They’ve played against each other often, in fact, going back to their childhood clattering around the family home’s basement. But they’ve rarely gotten to play with each other. Though both players grew up in the Union’s ranks and played for the club in MLS, now-23-year-old Brenden moved on to Europe just before 20-year-old Paxten reached the first team.

“The first thing that comes to mind is that it’s really cool, it’s amazing — but it’s also sometimes weird really seeing him,” Brenden said, with Paxten across that table and this reporter at the end.

“We trained together in Philly,” he continued, “but now it’s the first time, really, that we’ve been training at the national team [level], and that’s the highest thing.”

A moment later, Paxten amended the record on the old days: “We trained together for, like, a week.”

They’ve so rarely been teammates that Paxten noticed when he and Brenden were on the same side in an intrasquad scrimmage session Tuesday morning.

“I played him through three times,” he said. “Like he said, it’s just weird when I am driving at the back line and I see him on the left, trying to slip him through.”

» READ MORE: Brenden Aaronson talks about life at Union Berlin

It’s also worth reflecting on one notable way where their paths differed. When Brenden turned pro with the Union in 2018, he backed out of a college commitment to the University of Indiana to do it. Everyone knew at the time it was the right move, but it still was a choice.

By the time Paxten turned pro two summers later, there was no question about college. He went straight up from the Union’s academy, no questions asked.

“I think the Union were just ahead of [their] time,” Brenden said. “Now you’re seeing the whole country kind of catching up to the Union and the academy and the way it works. Now you’re seeing so many young players playing in MLS and seeing the thing that I did, that they’re trying to push to go to Europe. And some guys are staying here and making a big name here.”

It would be another sight if they share the field during the United States’ Concacaf Nations League quarterfinal series against Trinidad and Tobago. It starts Thursday at Austin FC’s Q2 Stadium (9 p.m., TNT, Telemundo 62, Universo, Max, Peacock), then finishes Monday with the Soca Warriors’ home game (7 p.m., TNT, Universo, Max, Peacock).

But this is a business trip, since the series doubles as qualifying for next summer’s big Copa América tournament that the U.S. is guest-hosting. So results come first, then style.

» READ MORE: Brenden Aaronson on playing against Paxten in Germany

Brenden could have a big role in the series since star wingers Christian Pulisic and Tim Weah are out injured. His ability to play on either wing or centrally means he’s a natural pick to fill in for one of the absentees.

Paxten’s role might not be big because he’s down the depth chart. His ticket for next summer is likely to be the Olympics with the under-23 squad, a group that could include former Union teammates Jack McGlynn and Nathan Harriel.

He admitted he was “a little bit surprised” to be called up to the big squad, but he’s going to try to make the most of it before going back to the under-23s.

“Hopefully, I can make the Olympic team at the end of the day,” Paxten said. “I think it’d be really cool to go to the Olympics.”

The rest of the U.S. team knows how special this moment is, as the Aaronsons are just the ninth set of brothers to play for the senior U.S. men’s team. Veteran centerback Chris Richards relayed that striker Folarin Balogun didn’t know they were related, which led to a polite roasting.

“He just thought they had the same last name,” Richards said. “I was like, ‘Bro, they look exactly the same, sound the same, play the exact same.’”

» READ MORE: Jack McGlynn has hit the heights he and the Union hoped for, and now can rise even higher

To a veteran eye, they don’t look exactly the same anymore. (For one thing, Brenden got a haircut recently.) But Richards, an Alabama native, certainly got the rest right.

The brothers haven’t been back to Medford since last summer, though their wait will end next month when the Bundesliga takes its winter break. They’ve seen their family some along the way, including father Rusty last month when he watched Brenden play for the senior U.S. men vs. Germany in Connecticut, then flew to Arizona watch Paxten play for the under-23s vs. Japan.

It’s a family business now, literally and figuratively. Rusty runs soccer facilities in and around Medford, and his youngest child, daughter Jaden, is a junior at Shawnee High who has orally committed to Villanova.

Rusty and his wife, Janell, will be in the stands at Thursday’s game, along with Brenden and Paxten’s girlfriends. Jaden, unfortunately, has to miss out for school.

» READ MORE: Brenden Aaronson's girlfriend, Milana D'Ambra, is Kixx legend Don D'Ambra's daughter and a former player at Temple

The brothers know they play not just for themselves and their family, but for the city they call theirs — and that has embraced them in turn. They’ll be back home soon enough, and not just to visit the Shore and bang the Union’s pregame drum at Subaru Park. Someday, they’ll get the biggest homecoming of all, a U.S. game at Lincoln Financial Field.

“I think it’s really unique, especially when I was back in the summer and I got to go to the Union game, just seeing all the fans embrace [his return] and just seeing how cool it is that they still follow the journey,” Paxten said of his turn on the drum this past June. Brenden’s turn came the June before. (The Union’s record in those games: 2-0.)

“I think humbling is the first thing that comes to mind for the both of us,” Paxten added. “Just being two kids that grew up in New Jersey, but had the opportunity to go play for Philadelphia in the academy, and just worked our way up through everything — through Bethlehem Steel [the Union’s former reserve team], through Union II, then through the first team. The club and the city kind of guided us and helped us with everything.”

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