The U.S. Under-20 men’s national team will have plenty of talent to call on at the 2023 FIFA U-20 World Cup in Argentina, but one key attacker’s presence will be sorely missed.
Paxten Aaronson was not included in Mikey Varas’ 21-player final roster on Wednesday after the midfielder was not released by his club Eintracht Frankfurt. Aaronson has continued to earn first team minutes in the German Bundesliga this season, earning early trust from manager Oliver Glasner during a busy part of the league campaign.
With Eintracht Frankfurt still fighting for a top-six finish and set to face RB Leipzig in the German Cup Final this June, Aaronson was retained by the German club ahead of an important string of final matches.
“We had ongoing discussions with Frankfurt, but not only with them, but with every club both in MLS and internationally,” Varas said. “We tried to find the best solutions to cooperate, unfortunately for us and for Paxten it wasn’t able to be. But at the same time, we’re really proud that Paxten has become an important part of Frankfurt’s team that they don’t feel like they can release him.”
Aaronson was influential in the USMNT U-20’s clinching their berth to the World Cup, scoring seven goals en route to winning the Concacaf U-20 Championship’s Golden Boot and Ball awards respectively. The former Philadelphia Union homegrown has brought key versatility to the USMNT U-20 squad, featuring as an attacking midfielder, winger, and even as a false No. 9 at times on international duty.
His absence in the squad will certainly force others to step up in Argentina, especially if the Americans want to advance out of Group B. Rokas Pukstas and Kevin Paredes have enjoyed positive European seasons in Croatia and Germany respectively, but they will not join up with the squad until after the group stage due to their growing roles at club level.
Quinn Sullivan and Cade Cowell are two likely candidates to replace Aaronson’s productivity in the squad while 18-year-old Darren Yapi was also included in the final roster despite only making his U-20 debut in March.
The USMNT U-20’s will need to be ready to hit the ground running, especially with a tough Matchday 1 showdown against Ecuador vastly approaching.
“What separates this group is the culture, the people that we have in the room, who they are in terms of being good people, have growth mindsets, and loving to compete under pressure is something that we’re going to galvanize around,” Varas said. “I would say the biggest challenge is clearly how the group handles the pressure of playing a World Cup. It’s natural that there’s going to be nerves and how we handle that as a group collectively will be really important.”