Making The Case: Paxten Aaronson For Chipotle U.S. Soccer Young Male Player Of The Year
Aaronson Earns First Nomination After Helping Lead U-20 MYNT to Concacaf U-20 Championship
After helping to lead the charge for the U.S. Under-20 Men’s Youth National Team at the 2022 Concacaf U-20 Championship, midfielder Paxten Aaronson has been named a finalist for 2022 Chipotle U.S. Soccer Young Male Player of the Year.
For the second year in a row, fans will have the opportunity to vote on select Player of the Year Awards, with the fan vote comprising 15% of the total vote. Nominees for all awards are selected by U.S. Soccer’s technical staff. Voting for the awards starts Thursday, Dec. 15 at 11:00 a.m. ET and closes on Dec. 22 at 11:59 p.m. ET. The winners will be announced in the weeks that follow.
- VOTE NOW: Fan Voting for Player of the Year Awards
Let’s take a look at some of Aaronson’s highlights from 2022:
- Awarded the Golden Ball as the best player at this summer’s Concacaf U-20 Championship in Honduras, leading the USA to its third-straight confederation title, its first Olympic berth since 2008 and a ticket to the 2023 FIFA U-20 World Cup.
- Won the Golden Boot at the 2022 Concacaf U-20 Championship with seven goals.
- Came up clutch when it mattered most at CU20, bagging a brace in the World Cup-clinching quarterfinal vs. Costa Rica, netting the opener against Honduras in just the third minute before a raucous capacity crowd and adding another two goals in the final against Dominican Republic.
- One of four U-20 MYNT players to appear in all 11 of the team’s international matches in 2022.
- Led the U-20s in scoring with eight goals, also netting a late equalizer in the USA’s March friendly draw at Argentina.
- Made a career-high 24 appearances for the Philadelphia Union in Major League Soccer as the team finished MLS Cup runner-up.
- Also netted five goals for Union II in the team’s inaugural MLS Next Pro campaign.
- Set to transfer to Eintracht Frankfurt in the Bundesliga for a multi-million dollar fee.