Tag: Union Berlin

Amid club uncertainty, Brenden Aaronson ‘not thinking about anything’ beyond USMNT

Aaronson may have a lot on his plate this summer, but he says he’s fully focused on the USMNT

It will be a busy summer for the U.S. men’s national team, but few players have more on their plate than Brenden Aaronson.

The U.S. men’s national team midfielder had at one point lost his place in Gregg Berhalter’s roster, but is back with the group assembled for friendlies against Colombia (June 8 in Landover, Md.) and Brazil (June 12 in Orlando).

With the Copa América rapidly approaching, it’s a big moment for Aaronson to make sure he seals a place on the USMNT’s final 26-player roster.

However, the New Jersey native has a potentially complicated summer ahead of him in terms of his club situation. Aaronson spent the season on loan with Union Berlin, experiencing the highs and lows of a campaign that ended with a narrow final-day escape from the threat of relegation.

That survival does not appear to mean that Aaronson will be returning to the German capital. The 23-year-old is under contract with Leeds, who missed out on a return to the Premier League after falling to Southampton in the Championship’s promotion playoff final.

With the caliber of league and financial concerns involved, it figures to be a convoluted offseason for Aaronson, with Union confirming that he will return to England.

Beyond that, clarity will have to wait. For his part, Aaronson said on Friday that the USMNT will get his full focus in the meantime.

“I’m just kind of focused on the national team and having my full responsibility here. I’m not thinking about anything else, and that’s where my headspace is,” Aaronson told reporters. “I really enjoyed the end part of the season with Union, even though it was a bit of a relegation battle towards the end, but I got to play the last 10 games, that was really great for my development and for me.”

Aaronson: End of Union Berlin season ‘crazy’

Aaronson may not be sure where his next step is at the club level, but he did reiterate that that the late-season pressure-cooker with Union Berlin — while stressful — was a boost for his career.

It was also, in his own words, “crazy.” A last-gasp Janik Haberer goal following a saved penalty kick gave Union a 2-1 win over SC Freiburg on the final day of the Bundesliga season. The three points pulled Die Eisernen level with VfL Bochum, with the latter ending up in the playoff thanks to Union’s superior goal difference.

“I’m sure a lot of people were paying attention to the table,” said Aaronson, giving his first-hand account of a wild sequence of events. “My parents were telling me that the live updates [had] every team just like, going up and down in moments. It was crazy.”

Aaronson got the assist on Union’s opener on the day, and was substituted in the 80th minute. The USMNT man admitted he let his hopes start to build, only for late drama to see both teams exchange goals.

“When I came off, it was 1-0. And so it was like, I thought it was pretty comfortable in that moment. But then of course, it’s never comfortable,” explained Aaronson with a laugh. “[Freiburg] come down, they score and a lot of emotions came out of me. I don’t know what I was probably saying to the ref.

“But yeah, after that we scored the crazy — you know, [Noah Atubolu] saves the PK, comes right to [Janik Haberer] on top of the box and we score. It was a crazy way to end the season, but it was an amazing way, and it felt really good. It felt like, yeah, just the whole weight off your shoulders.”

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Brenden Aaronson won’t return to Union Berlin after loan ends

The 23-year-old will return to Leeds facing an uncertain future

Brenden Aaronson’s time with Union Berlin has come to an end.

The German side announced on Monday that Aaronson is returning to Leeds, following the conclusion of his season-long loan.

Aaronson’s final appearance for Union Berlin came on Saturday, as he notched a vital assist in a 2-1 win over Freiburg that confirmed the club’s Bundesliga status on the season’s final day.

The U.S. national team attacker had a difficult spell with Die Eisernen, particularly in the first half of the season when he didn’t record a single goal contribution.

Aaronson was improved in the back end of the campaign, starting more frequently down the stretch and ending the season with two goals and two assists.

In a club statement, Union Berlin said Aaronson won “the hearts of Union fans with his dashing style of play, his speed and, not to forget, his decisive goal against Hoffenheim.

“After 38 appearances, two goals and two assists, his time in Berlin has come to an end and he is returning to England.”

The 23-year-old said last month that he would be open to a permanent move to Union Berlin, but that was always going to be a difficult financial commitment for the German club to make.

Aaronson returns to Leeds facing an uncertain future. The club is in the Championship playoff final this weekend but regardless of the outcome, the USMNT attacker may not be in the team’s plans.

Football Insider reported last week that Leeds has decided to sell Aaronson in the summer, and will look to recoup £12 million of its initial £25m investment in the New Jersey native.

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USMNT attacker Aaronson open to permanent Union Berlin stay

The 23-year-old’s loan from Leeds expires at the end of the season

Brenden Aaronson has said he could see himself staying at Union Berlin for the long term.

The U.S. national team attacker is currently on a season-long loan from Leeds, with his future at the end of the season unclear.

Aaronson played just one season at Leeds before moving to Germany on loan, following the club’s relegation from the Premier League at the end of last season.

The 23-year-old has struggled to find minutes for much of the season at Union, but has recently started to find his footing. Aaronson has started three straight matches and has scored two goals in the past seven, following a period of a year and a half without a club goal.

As his loan winds down to its final two months, Aaronson told Get German Football News that he is open staying at Union.

“I can see myself remaining here,” Aaronson said.

“The club is amazing. it’s not up to me at the end of the day but I have so much respect for Union, the way it has been built, the staff, it’s an amazing family club and they’ve done an amazing job.

“For me, it’s (about) making the right decision in the summer, evaluating the year and going from there. Staying is an option but I can’t say much more.”

Aaronson said he’s also been keeping a close eye on his parent club, which is in third place in the Championship as it eyes an immediate promotion back to the Premier League.

“I’ve been paying close attention to Leeds, I know a lot of the guys, I get on with a lot of them, they are good guys,” he added.

“I’ve been paying attention because they’ve been having a fantastic season so it’s been great to watch.

“They just need to keep pushing because they’ve got good things coming their way at the end of the season.”

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Brenden Aaronson: It’s been the toughest year of my life

Aaronson was reflective after a man-of-the-match performance for Union Berlin

Brenden Aaronson turned in a man-of-the-match display for Union Berlin on Saturday but after the game, his mood was more reflective than ecstatic.

Aaronson was hugely influential in his side’s 2-1 win over Werder Bremen, playing a big role in Yorbe Vertessen’s opener before scoring himself just two minutes later.

The 23-year-old’s performance came on the heels of a major blow. Just days earlier, Gregg Berhalter omitted Aaronson from the U.S. men’s national team roster for this month’s Nations League finals. On Sunday, Berhalter would end up recalling the Union Berlin man after injuries to Luca de la Torre and Josh Sargent.

Aaronson has struggled to assert himself at the club level for some time. After a hot start with Leeds last season, his form fell off in the second half of the campaign. The attacker was loaned out to Union for the 2023-24 season after Leeds was relegated, but has found life in the Bundesliga difficult as well.

Saturday’s goal was just the second of the season for Aaronson, who has started only eight of his 30 total appearances for Union. After one of his best performances in some time, the New Jersey native admitted that things haven’t been easy for him of late.

“It’s been the toughest year of my life,” Aaronson told reporters. “Going from Leeds and then not playing much here, it’s mentally a battle all the time, staying confident.”

Even amid a downturn in form at the club level, Aaronson had been consistently called into the USMNT before last week’s roster was released. Berhalter said he called the attacker after leaving him out of the squad, offering some words of encouragement.

“The message for him was, ‘I know this hurts. I know it’s a setback, but use it,” the coach said. “Use it to make you stronger, and to keep going and to keep fighting your way through through the obstacles that you have to overcome right now.’ It was a good conversation.”

Aaronson has now scored two goals in his last five games, as he continues to find more freedom under coach Nenad Bjelica.

“The opponent put a lot of pressure on our sixes with their sixes,” Bjelica said after the game on Saturday. “This left Brenden free in some situations. With Brenden and Yorbe, we wanted to field players who could do something in the smallest of spaces.”

Aaronson added: “I felt very comfortable in this position between the lines. It was about finding the free spaces. It just felt really good to me.”

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USMNT players in UEFA Champions League 2023-24

11 U.S. players are in the world’s biggest club competition

There was once a time where a U.S. men’s national team player being on a Champions League squad list — even if they might have no shot at playing in any actual games — was a very big deal.

It’s safe to say those days are gone, with no fewer than 11 U.S. players on the books for clubs that qualified for this year’s competition.

Sure, in some cases the player in question is probably a major longshot to even dress on gameday, but between Christian Pulisic’s sublime start to life at AC Milan and a USMNT trio at PSV, USMNT fans are likely going to be watching games on multiple screens just to keep up.

Here is the complete list of U.S. men’s players to make it to this year’s Champions League proper:

Aaronson joins Union Berlin on season-long loan from Leeds

The 22-year-old will go from the Championship to the Champions League

Brenden Aaronson has joined Union Berlin on loan from Leeds until the end of the 2023-24 season.

Sky Germany reported that the deal does not include a purchase option.

Aaronson departs one year after joining Leeds from Red Bull Salzburg in a $30 million transfer. He was heavily involved in his first Premier League season, appearing in 36 of the club’s 38 league games while starting 28 times.

The 22-year-old started the season strong but struggled as the campaign wore on, finishing with just one goal and three assists as Leeds was ultimately relegated from the Premier League.

He will now get a fresh start in the Bundesliga with Union, which surprisingly finished fourth last season to qualify for the Champions League.

“Union’s path and the success of the last few years did not go unnoticed in either the USA, Austria or England,” Aaronson told the club’s website.

“Somehow, you always heard something about them. A year ago, I wouldn’t have believed that I would be here and able to play in the Champions League with Union. I’m looking forward to the year ahead with joy and confidence and want to help us have another successful season.”

Aaronson will join his sometimes USMNT teammate Jordan Pefok at Union, and will also reunite in the Bundesliga with his younger brother Paxten, who plays for Eintracht Frankfurt.

“Brenden’s commitment has made us very happy, he is a type of player we don’t have who will be good for our attacking game. Despite his young age, he already has a lot of international experience and will complement our squad at a high level,” said Oliver Ruhnert, Union’s managing director of men’s professional football.

Aaronson has 32 caps for the USMNT, appearing in all four of the team’s 2022 World Cup matches off the bench.

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Even Jordan Pefok’s mom didn’t think he deserved to make World Cup roster

She’s tough but fair!

When Gregg Berhalter released his World Cup roster last fall, many observers — including this very website — counted Jordan Pefok among the biggest snubs.

The Union Berlin striker was off to a hot start in the Bundesliga, tallying four goals and three assists by the time the roster was released.

Though many were quick to suggest Berhalter had made a mistake, one person thought the coach was totally justified: Pefok’s own mother.

Though he says his mom “knows nothing about football,” Pefok adds that she knew enough to look at his U.S. national team stats and conclude he hadn’t done enough to warrant inclusion.

“[Berhalter] called me and told me that he was not going to call me up for the World Cup. The first two days, it was tough,” Pefok told ESPN. “Then I spoke to my mum. She knows nothing about football. She asked me: ‘Are you sick?’ No. ‘Are your brothers and sisters sick?’ No. ‘Am I sick?’ No. ‘Do you have money issues?’ No. ‘So what’s the issue then?’ It put everything in context and perspective then.

“I sat down, I was still cross, but she was right. She added: ‘I know nothing about football but I know that you went with the national team and you only scored one goal. Even if I was the national team head coach, I would not have called you up! A goal scorer has to score goals, that’s all.’ She was brutal. The disappointment went away and I started working hard again to make sure that I play at the 2026 World Cup at home. I will prepare well and do everything I can with Union to make sure that I am there in 2026.”

Pefok, who was most recently called up in March 2022, has scored one USMNT goal in nine appearances. For a women who doesn’t know anything about the game, Pefok’s mom does know a subpar strike rate when she sees one.

Hopefully Pefok at least reminded his mom that of his nine caps, only two of them were starts.

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No need to worry, Jordan Pefok’s thigh injury is just a ‘horse kiss’

Union Berlin’s head coach used a delightful German compound word to provide an injury update

Jordan Pefok limped out of Union Berlin’s win over Borussia Dortmund on Sunday, sparking concerns that the American striker could be set for a spell on the sidelines.

But Union Berlin head coach Urs Fischer calmed fears over Pefok on Tuesday by using one of those delightful German compound words: Pferdekuss, or “horse kiss.”

Fischer said Pefok would miss out on Wednesday’s DFB-Pokal match against FC Heidenheim, but would hopefully be back in time for Sunday’s Bundesliga game against Bochum.

“Jordan will not be available to us [against Heidenheim],” Fischer said at a press conference on Tuesday. “The injury isn’t bad. He got a strong horse kiss, but I’m confident that it should be fine by Sunday.”

According to Wiktionary, Pferdekuss comes from the idiomatic expression vom Pferd geküsst werden (literally “to get kissed by a horse”) which, in practical terms, means “thigh knock” or “charley horse.”

Pefok has been vital to Union Berlin’s surprising lead atop the Bundesliga table, starting all but one of the club’s 10 league games while contributing three goals and three assists.

That form wasn’t enough to see him called into the USMNT’s September camp, however. Though his recent injury will heal with plenty of time to spare before the World Cup, it still looks unlikely that Pefok will be in Qatar.

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Jordan Pefok is doing his best to make Gregg Berhalter re-think his plans

The recent USMNT snub just keeps on scoring goals in Germany

Jordan Pefok is clearly determined to make Gregg Berhalter’s job as hard as possible.

Just days after USMNT head coach Berhalter omitted Pefok from his latest roster, the Union Berlin forward continued his fantastic start to life in the Bundesliga with a goal against Wolfsburg.

The 26-year-old opened the scoring on Sunday with a glancing header, his third Bundesliga goal of the season and his fourth in all competitions.

Union Berlin would go on to win the match 2-0, in the process reclaiming first place in the Bundesliga. It was enough to give the team’s social media admin some justifiable fuel for a cheeky nod at the forward’s recent USMNT snub.

Berhalter has been adamant that the door isn’t closed on players who didn’t make his roster for September’s friendlies against Japan and Saudi Arabia, the final squad he will name before his 26-man World Cup roster.

Asked about Pefok specifically, the USMNT coach said: “We’re pretty confident we know Jordan’s profile, we know what he can do. And we didn’t feel like we needed to see him in this camp to determine whether he can be on the [World Cup] roster or not.”

Berhalter also made an appearance at halftime of ESPN’s broadcast of the Portland Timbers vs. Columbus Crew on Sunday, and was asked again about Pefok following his goal against Wolfsburg.

The USMNT coach didn’t sound like someone ready to reconsider the striker, instead saying his only path to a World Cup spot would likely be through injury to another player.

“When guys get in camp, there will probably be five players that were expected to be on the roster that couldn’t take part because of injury,” Berhalter said.

“So what I would say is that there probably will be an opportunity for guys that aren’t in this camp just because of attrition. And that’s something we’re expecting to happen. We hope it doesn’t, but it’s likely based on what’s happened in the past.”

Watch Pefok’s goal vs. Wolfsburg

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Jordon Pefok keeps rolling, scores again for Union Berlin

Good USMNT news: Pefok is on fire for Union Berlin

Jordan Pefok’s start at Union Berlin is everything U.S. men’s national team fans hoped it would be.

After scoring on his competitive debut in the DFB Pokal, and then scoring in his Bundesliga debut against city rivals Hertha Berlin, the USMNT striker did it again, producing a tidy run and finish to give Union a 35th minute opener against RB Leipzig on Saturday.

Despite countering with just three men against five from Leipzig, Union sliced through the visitors. Janik Haberer passed from the left for Sheraldo Becker, and Pefok maintained his run, waiting for the final Leipzig defender to turn towards the ball. Once he committed, Becker slipped Pefok in, and before any retreating defender could interfere, the USMNT striker took two touches, got Janis Blaswich to lean to his left, and fired into the opposite corner to give his side a 1-0 lead.

Pefok then turned provider for Becker, who scored six minutes later to give Union a surprise 2-0 lead.

Pefok’s excellent start to the season comes after stepping up a level, having moved to Berlin from Young Boys in Switzerland. At the moment at least, he has to be among Gregg Berhalter’s top options for the final World Cup warm-up matches for the USMNT, which are against Japan and Saudi Arabia next month.

Watch Pefok’s latest Union Berlin goal

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