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USMNT’s Brenden Aaronson Reacts to Win Over Iran, Pulisic Injury

The young midfielder spoke about Pulisic’s historic goal and unfortunate injury, and his mindset in replacing the star against Iran.

Dan Lyons

Brenden Aaronson is one of myriad United States men’s national team stars making their World Cup debuts in Qatar, and the young squad is off to quite the start at the tournament. 

Aaronson, a 22-year-old midfielder who plays professionally for Premier League side Leeds United, subbed in for the injured Christian Pulisic in the second half of Tuesday’s match against Iran. Pulisic took a painful-looking blow to the midsection as he scored the match’s lone goal, which proved enough to send the USMNT through to the knockout round, where they will face the Netherlands on Saturday.

“I remember he scored and we all went nuts,” Aaronson said of the goal in an interview with Sports Illustrated‘s Robin Lundberg. “And then you see him on the ground, and you’re like, ‘Oh my God, what’s this?’ Like everybody, you had that big ‘oof,’ like, what’s happening, you know? Because you couldn’t see the angle from where we were from.

“… When he got up, it looked like something was wrong, you could kinda tell, but he got on with the half so it didn’t really seem like anything was up. For me it was a crazy, crazy goal and what a goal for our history.”

Aaronson said the team, including Pulisic, was “so happy and almost in shock” when they arrived back at the hotel following the 1–0 victory.

“It’s a dream come true for all of us. I think it’s everybody’s, almost, first World Cup,” he said. “To go out there and do what we did in the group stage and then beat Iran in a final-type game, we treated it like a final, it’s an amazing feeling and just goes to show you how strong our group is.”

Aaronson told SI that Pulisic is “doing great” and is considered day-to-day ahead of the Netherlands match. Aaronson is ready to play a big role for the team if necessary, once again.

“For me, it’s focused on the team most of all. If my name’s called and I have to go out on the field, I’m going to do the very best I can,” he said. “At the game, I remember getting my name called on at halftime. You’re mindset isn’t really there because you think Christian was fine, he played the rest of the half, and then you get called in all of a sudden, and so many emotions come over you and you’re like, ‘Oh my God. I got to get ready to go.’ This is the last 45 minutes, we have to defend this lead or get another goal, so a lot of emotion came over me. But whatever it is, whatever role I have to play next game, I’m ready to go.”

The USMNT advanced to the knockout round after a pair of draws with Wales and England and the win over Iran. Now, the Americans face a talented Netherlands squad that advanced with seven points out of Group A, winning two matches along with one draw.

The two squads will kick off the round of 16 on Saturday at 10 a.m. ET.

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Dan Lyons
DAN LYONS

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