CHICAGO — United States men’s national team coach Mauricio Pochettino said midfielder Brenden Aaronson’s wedding during the team’s pre-World Cup training camp has given a boost to the whole squad, even if it’s not something that would have been well received by some past coaches.
Aaronson’s wedding to longtime girlfriend Milana D’Ambra had long been scheduled for May 30 in New Jersey, in part because he had originally been told that World Cup training camp wouldn’t begin until June 1.
When it ended up getting scheduled to start earlier, Aaronson found himself in a bind. But when the 25-year-old Leeds United player approached Pochettino, offering to change his wedding date if possible, Pochettino instead told him to go through with it as planned. He also named Aaronson to the World Cup team as expected.
“It’s a question that, [as] human beings it’s always important to us, and I completely understand that players need to plan their life and their family,” Pochettino said on Friday. “I know the type of player that he is, professional. and [it is] a good thing, something to celebrate [with] the teammate. […] It’s a thing that gives energy and provides energy to the team.”
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Pochettino acknowledged that this request probably wasn’t something that would go over well with a previous generation of coaches.
“Maybe in the past, when I was a player it was impossible,” he said. “And from my coaches impossible. Impossible! ‘I don’t care, I don’t care about you, I don’t care about your kids.’ It’s true. I can tell many stories. But [society has] evolved.”
To Pochettino, who was married in 1994 at age 22, that evolution means that the player is the focus.
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“I think the only thing you can get is the best for him: more commitment, more enthusiasm, more energy, more of everything.
“Today, being a leader is not like it was in the past,” he continued. “Now it’s about evolution of the human. The leader needs to [seem] more human than in the past. I think we were happy, he was happy, [his] family was happy. He right now is happy. I think we need to live with that.”
Aaronson has also praised Pochettino’s response to his request.
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“Being able to have a conversation with the coach, being able to go into his office, it’s open,” Aaronson said earlier in the week. “He’s very good at those kinds of conversations. He’s humane, too. He knows that it’s not easy being a footballer. It was an easy conversation to have with them.”
Added Pochettino: “We are evolving in all the rules of football and we also have to evolve in the way we treat and manage people.:”
Aaronson rejoined the team soon after his wedding in South Jersey and will suit up in Chicago on Saturday as the Americans play their final pre-World Cup tuneup against Germany.
