Brenden and Paxten Aaronson play on better soccer fields these days than the New Jersey basement known as “The Dungeon” where they used to practice penalties and free kicks.

“We had to put in special lights so they wouldn’t kick the light bulbs and break them,” mom Janell Aaronson recalled. “We had to do some padding on some of the poles that are in the basement so they didn’t get hurt. We made it as safe as we could.”

On June 10, she was in the stands at GEODIS Park in Nashville, Tennessee, watching them become just the fourth pair of brothers to start the same match together for the U.S. national team, the first since George and Louis Nanchoff against the Soviet Union in 1979.

“I played with this guy since, I don’t know, 5 — he was probably actually 2 at that time,” Brenden said.

Brenden, 24, already is a World Cup veteran, appearing as a substitute in all four U.S. matches at Qatar three years ago, Paxten, who turns 22 in August, hopes to make the World Cup roster for the first time when the U.S. co-hosts next year’s tournament.

“Completely different players. Both in different ways can perform,” U.S. coach Mauricio Pochettino said.

Both are on the roster for the CONCACAF Gold Cup, where the Americans play Guatemala tonight and hope to advance to a final against Mexico or Honduras on Sunday.

Both are midfielders and wingers who made their way up through the Philadelphia Union academy system and moved to Europe after two seasons in MLS, Paxten at age 19 and Brenden at 20.

At the start of their national team camp together, they reflected on learning the sport in their backyard and the downstairs room given its nickname by their dad, Rusty.

“We always played in the basement, right before or after dinner,” Paxten said. “We had a basement with kind of like a mini-pitch that we built off of carpet and goals that we taped on the wall and stuff like that. We broke a lot of lights.”

And learned competition.

Brenden scored in his MLS debut with Philadelphia in March 2019 and has played for Salzburg (2021-22), Leeds (2022-25) and Union Berlin (2023-24). He made his U.S. debut in 2020 and has nine goals in 51 international appearances.

Paxten debuted in MLS with the Union in May 2021 and has played for Eintracht Frankfurt (2023-24), Vitesse (2024) and Utrecht (2024-25). He made his first U.S. appearance in 2023 and scored against New Zealand at last year’s Olympics.

Before the match against Switzerland, they hadn’t played on the same team together since the youth academy. They faced each other briefly on Nov. 4, 2023, when Brenden entered in the 83rd minute for Eintracht Frankfurt and Paxten in the 85th for host Union Berlin.

“There’s been some fights throughout the years,” Brenden said, with Paxten sitting adjacent and laughing.

After the Gold Cup and brief time off, Brenden will return to England to prepare for the Premier League season with newly promoted Leeds. Paxten will report to Eintracht Frankfurt unless he’s loaned again.

Fifa Club World Cup

Breakout star Gonzalo García scored his third goal of the Club World Cup to power Real Madrid past Juventus 1-0 and into the quarterfinals at Miami Gardens, Fla.

García has started all four of Real Madrid’s matches because of a gastrointestinal illness to star striker Kylian Mbappé. The 21-year-old broke a second-half tie with a header in the 54th minute, giving him a goal contribution in every match of the tournament.

García subbed out in the 68th as Mbappé checked in, making his Club World Cup debut.

Real Madrid will face Borussia Dortmund in the semifinals on Saturday in New Jersey.

Borussia Dortmund 2, Monterrey 1: Serhou Guirassy scored a pair of first-half goals, both assisted by Karim Adeyemi, and the German side held on in Atlanta.

Less than three minutes into second half, Germán Berterame’s header made for an interesting conclusion, cutting the deficit to 2-1.

Dortmund will face Real Madrid on Saturday in the semifinals.