Brenden Aaronson is excited for the USMNT’s big game vs. Germany, and to play his brother soon

EAST HARTFORD, Conn. — The last time Brenden Aaronson graced the pages of The Inquirer, it was just under two months ago. The Medford native was on the verge of starting a new season in a new home, Union Berlin of Germany’s Bundesliga.

Back then, this reporter was down in Australia, connected via video call a long way across the world. This time, everyone involved is closer to home.

On Saturday, a week before his 21st birthday, Aaronson and the U.S. men’s national team will play Germany at the University of Connecticut’s Rentschler Field. Though it’s just a friendly, it’s the program’s biggest game since last fall’s World Cup.

“This is a really highly-anticipated game,” Aaronson told The Inquirer in an interview Friday. “Germany’s an amazing, amazing nation and they play amazing football, so it’s definitely going to be a tough game. I think it’s a really great test for us.”

» READ MORE: Medford’s Brenden Aaronson is enjoying his new home with Union Berlin

It’s also the first time in four years that the American men are playing in the northeast part of the country, and some of Aaronson’s family will be in attendance. It’s not a true homecoming for him yet, but at least he was in the same time zone to watch his beloved Phillies clinch the National League Divisional Series.

“That was pretty awesome,” he said, his South Jersey accent still as clear as ever in his third year in Europe. “It’s crazy to watch — they hit the ball so well.”

It will be Aaronson’s turn to hit some balls on Saturday, in his case, however, with his feet. Saturday starts a major run of contests this fall. Up next is a friendly vs. Ghana on Tuesday in Nashville, then a home-and-away Concacaf Nations League series next month that doubles as Copa América qualifying.

At the club level, while Union Berlin is reveling in its UEFA Champions League debut, the scoreboard hasn’t been as upbeat. Berlin has lost seven straight games in all competitions since the start of September.

“Football is always ups and downs, and I think that back at [the] club, I think it’s been a little bit of a down because we’ve been losing a little bit,” Aaronson said. “It’s hard to juggle a lot of these things, and it’s a lot of games, and it’s tough. But it’s ups and downs, and I’m sure that at some point, we’re going to get up of a few wins, and we’ll go from there.”

» READ MORE: Gio Reyna returns to the USMNT for big October games vs. Germany and Ghana

Some of the losses have been close, such as a 1-0 defeat at superpower Real Madrid. It was scoreless until the 94th minute. The list of Americans who’ve taken the field at the legendary Estadio Santiago Bernabéu is short, and the list of Philadelphians is even shorter.

“Oh, it’s amazing,” Aaronson said. “I think it lives up to what it actually is — it’s like a theater, it’s unbelievable. My girlfriend ended up being able to go too, so she got this experience.”

Germany’s squad includes two of his Union Berlin teammates, left-back Robin Gosens and forward Kevin Behrens. Though they’ve only shared a locker room for a few months, Aaronson said he’s gotten to know them well.

“It feels like you’re living and dying with these guys that you play with, because you spend every second, you sacrifice so much with them,” he said, “You go through a lot of things emotionally with them — the wins, the losses. So you feel really connected to them already.”

» READ MORE: Expect the 2026 World Cup schedule to be announced by the end of the year, FIFA says

There wasn’t much of a scouting report to offer, though, because Germany and the U.S. and Union Berlin all have their own tactics. Aaronson’s versatility with the national team is a perfect example of that since he can play in central midfield or as a winger.

“Everybody knows that I play a lot of positions for the national team, and I think that’s something that is just a part of my game,” he said. “It doesn’t really matter to me. I just want to help the team the best I can at whatever position I can be in, and I can play both positions.”

When Aaronson returns to Berlin, he’ll be back to work quickly, with a Bundesliga home game vs. second-place Stuttgart and a Champions League home game against Italian power Napoli.

A few weeks later is game American fans have circled in ink: Aaronson’s Union vs. his brother Paxten’s Eintracht Frankfurt on Nov. 4. Paxten is one of the few close family members who won’t be at the U.S. game Saturday because he’s with the U.S. under-23 team at an Olympics preparation camp in Phoenix.

» READ MORE: Union’s Jack McGlynn and Nathan Harriel invited to U.S. Olympic team training camp

“We think about it, we talk about it sometimes, but like, when me and my brother FaceTime or play video games together, we’re not really like saying, ‘Like, whoa,’’” Brenden said. “It’s an amazing feeling [to be] going to see him on the other side, but I haven’t really been thinking about it. Because in football, you really have to think [of] the game day, the next game, you’re always thinking for that — you’re never thinking three or four or five weeks ahead.”

But he knows lots of other people are.

“Of course, I know,” he said. “Everybody said it.”

The biggest story around the U.S. team right now is the return of Gio Reyna for the first time since Gregg Berhalter regained the manager’s job. The scandal involving those two men and their families still clouds the program nearly a year since it kicked off at the World Cup in Qatar.

With plenty else for the team to focus on, it’s not just Berhalter who’d like to put an end to the noise.

» READ MORE: A timeline of the Reyna-Berhalter scandal that rocked U.S. soccer

“I know that’s going to be on people’s minds,” he said in answering the first of many questions about Reyna in a news conference Friday.

“What I’d say is that we’re moving forward,” Berhalter continued. “I’m not really want[ing] to talk too much about the past, I think it’s about talking about the future. And Gio has done a great job this week in training. He looks really sharp, really strong, you can see his quality.”

Christian Pulisic, the U.S. men’s team’s biggest star of all, had a similar opinion.

“That’s old news,” the Hershey native said. “I haven’t even thought of it, to be honest. Everything’s going smooth, Gio’s a great player, and he’s right back where he left off.”

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