Mauricio Pochettino believes his decision to allow USA winger Brenden Aaronson to leave camp for his wedding – just days before the World Cup – can help the USA’s chances this summer, with the head coach insisting he is no ‘dictator.’
Aaronson and his wife, Milana D’Ambra, tied the knot last Friday – midway through the USA’s preparations for a World Cup on home soil.
The Leeds star enjoyed a ‘whirlwind’ trip from Georgia to New Jersey, where he was 90 minutes late for his own rehearsal dinner and then left at 2:30am on his wedding night.
Aaronson and D’Ambra had picked the date more than two years ago – before Pochettino took over and before FIFA changed its rules, allowing teams to play World Cup warm-up matches in May.
Until then, US training camp was expected to begin on June 1. Instead, Aaronson returned to camp ahead of last weekend’s win over Senegal – less than two weeks before the USMNT kicks off its World Cup campaign against Paraguay on June 12.
Ahead of Saturday’s final warm-up game against Germany on Saturday, Pochettino admitted it would have been ‘impossible’ for a player to leave camp for a wedding when he was a player. ‘From my coaches? Impossible,’ the USA head coach said. ‘[They would say] “I don’t care, I don’t care about you, I don’t care about your kids.”‘
Brenden Aaronson and Milana D’Ambra, tied the knot last Friday – days out from the World Cup
Mauricio Pochettino allowed the winger to leave training camp to attend his wedding
The Leeds star and D’Ambra picked the date for their wedding more than two years ago
‘It gives energy and provides energy to the team,’ Pochettino said about the wedding
But Pochettino believes Aaronson’s trip could in fact help the USMNT’s World Cup preparations. ‘The human being is always in front to us, and I completely understand that sometimes players need to plan their life,’ he said.
‘I know the type of player that he is – professional – and I think is a good thing. It’s a thing to celebrate. [His] teammates were very, very happy – they sent videos and it also helped to create better atmosphere and to create more commitment. It’s a thing that gives energy and provides energy to the team.’
Aaronson recently admitted he was ‘freaking out’ when he realized his wedding would clash with World Cup plans. The winger went to see Pochettino in March and offered to change the date. But Pochettino agreed to let him leave and come back.
The head coach has come under fire in recent weeks after it emerged that he had held talks with AC Milan and that players who missed out on his World Cup roster were informed by email.
On Friday, he pushed back at suggestions that he runs a dictatorship, adding: ‘Today, society has evolved and… only what you can get is the best from him – more commitment, more enthusiasm, more energy, more everything.
‘Today, being a leader is not like was in the past, now it’s about the evolution of the human. All leaders need to think in this way – more human than in the past. I think we were happy, he was happy, the family of him was happy, his wife now is happy.
‘We need to be able to adapt… we need to evolve. We are evolving in all the rules in football. We need to evolve also in the way that we deal and we manage people.’
