Union

Four Philadelphia Union Academy Products on USA World Cup Roster

By Kevin Kinkead

Published: May 27th, 2026 · 11:05 AM EDT

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The U.S. World Cup roster was leaked last week and made official on Tuesday:

Here to chase legacy on home soil.

Mauricio Pochettino has selected the 26 players to represent the United States this summer. pic.twitter.com/S8sF7l0PMi

— U.S. Soccer Men's National Team (@USMNT) May 26, 2026

There are four Philadelphia Union academy products on the team.

They are:

• Matt Freese: A Wayne native. He debuted for the Union in 2019 and was later traded to New York City FC because he was stuck behind Andre Blake and didn’t have a path to serious playing time.
• Auston Trusty: Born in Media, Delco. He played for the Union’s first team between 2017 and 2019 and was traded to the Colorado Rapids in 2019. Arsenal acquired him in 2022 and he’s spent the last four years in the UK with Birmingham, Sheffield, and now Celtic.
• Brenden Aaronson: The Medford Messi. He was a key part of the Union’s 2020 Supporters’ Shield team and sold to Red Bull Salzburg in 2021. Aaronson joined Leeds United in 2022 and spent the 2023-2024 season on loan with Union Berlin in the Bundesliga.
• Mark McKenzie: Born in New York but grew up in Bear, Delaware and played 48 games for the U between 2018 and 2020. He transferred to Belgian side Genk in 2021 and now plays for Toulouse in the French first division.

There’s Hershey native Christian Pulisic as well, who played his youth soccer with PA Classics and then entered the Borussia Dortmund academy. So if you count Pulisic, that’s five players from the Pennsylvania/New Jersey/Delaware region on the World Cup roster. There are a handful of New York guys as well, so the East Coast is well represented.

One does have to point out the irony, of course, of the Philadelphia Union currently being dead last in Major League Soccer while four of their alumni make the World Cup roster. “Selling team!” “Feeder club!” Yeah, sure, it’s true, but they won the Shield just last year, so it’s not like they’ve been bad since transferring these guys. In fact, they went to MLS Cup just a few seasons after these players were sold or traded and they’ve been on their best run in franchise history going back to the final McKenzie and Aaronson seasons.

Those two guys were always going to outgrow MLS and go play in Europe, but Trusty and Freese ended up being traded within the league. Freese was a logjam situation, and Trusty somewhat as well with Jack Elliott growing into a great player himself, though Trusty alluded to some larger issues after getting to Colorado. Regardless, he’s really improved in recent seasons, as most players do when they reach their athletic prime and are no longer kids.