Brenden Aaronson and Haji Wright added to USMNT roster

United States

Published Mar. 17, 2024 2:08 p.m. ET

Brenden Aaronson and Haji Wright have been added to the United States men’s national team roster for this week’s Concacaf Nations League finals in Texas, U.S. Soccer announced on Sunday. Midfielder Aaronson and striker Wright replace the injured Luca de la Torre and Josh Sargent on the 23-player squad that USMNT coach Gregg Berhalter named last week.

Aaronson and Wright, members of the U.S. team that reached the knockout stage of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, both scored important goals in European club play on Saturday — just three days after Berhalter left them off his original roster for the Nations League, which begins on Thursday with a semifinal against Jamaica at AT&T Stadium in suburban Dallas.

In the German Bundesliga, Aaronson helped set up Union Berlin’s opener before notching the game-winning goal in a 2-0 win over Werder Bremen.

In England’s FA Cup quarterfinals, Wright scored a spectacular stoppage time goal for second tier Coventry to beat Premier League Wolverhampton.

The 25-year-old Wright has seven caps for his country, including two at the last World Cup, where he scored in the Americans’ 3-1 round of 16 loss to the Netherlands. This is his first USMNT call-up since Qatar.

With 38 international appearances since 2020, Aaronson has been a mainstay for the U.S. After announcing his roster last week, Berhalter told FOX Sports that the decision to leave the 23-year-old out had been difficult. So it was little surprise that Aaronson was among the first to be recalled when spots opened up,

“He’s been a valuable member of our team — we’ve got a lot of respect for Brenden,” Berhalter said of Aaronson’s exclusion. “It’s not a permanent situation.”

Sergeant scored his 12th goal this season for English Championship side Norwich on Saturday, but canaries manager (and onetime USMNT midfielder) David Wagner said afterward that the forward had a problem with the ankle he underwent surgery on last September. De la Torre missed Sunday’s match for Celta Vigo in Spain’s La Liga with a thigh injury.

Doug McIntyre is a soccer writer for FOX Sports. Before joining FOX Sports in 2021, he was a staff writer with ESPN and Yahoo Sports and he has covered United States men’s and women’s national teams at multiple FIFA World Cups. Follow him on Twitter @ByDougMcIntyre.