The US men’s national team have made changes to their pre-Gold Cup training camp roster, adding Walker Zimmerman, Paxten Aaronson, and Nathan Harriel to the squad that is set to play friendlies against Turkiye and Switzerland in the coming international break.
All of the additions are injury replacements. They arrive in place of defender DeJuan Jones (who has what US Soccer called a lower body injury), midfielder Sean Zawadzki (knee injury) and striker Folarin Balogun (ankle injury). All of the replacements appeared for the US at the 2024 Olympics, in which the team made a run to the quarter-finals.
Zimmerman is no stranger to the full USMNT, having earned praise at the 2022 World Cup for his late-game defensive heroics against Iran in the final game of the group stage. The 32-year-old has had a solid season anchoring the Nashville SC backline. He won back-to-back Defender of the Year honors in MLS in 2020 and 2021.
Aaronson, the younger brother of camp invitee Brenden Aaronson, just finished a season on loan with FC Utrecht of the Dutch Eredivisie. The midfielder scored eight goals and added four assists this season with Utrecht, and returns to the national team program having last played in the 2024 Olympics. He made his senior international debut in 2023, which remains his last cap for the US.
Harriel received his first senior national team call-up this past January having previously played for the program at multiple youth levels. A Philadelphia Union homegrown product, the outside back figures to provide depth at the position with Jones out.
The US play Turkiye in East Hartford, Connecticut on 7 June at 3.30pm ET, then follow that up with a trip to Nashville to play Switzerland on 10 June at 8pm ET.
