Back with the USMNT, Brenden Aaronson is ready to help the team return to winning

CHICAGO — Brenden Aaronson was at his home in Leeds, England, when the U.S. men’s soccer team flunked the Concacaf Nations League final four in March.

The failure didn’t happen just because he was 5,300 miles away instead of on the field. But in the days afterward, a lot of people wondered if things might have been different had he been involved.

Aaronson didn’t hear the chatter, but he didn’t have to. He felt the same way. And now that he’s back with the squad for this summer, he’s ready to make his case.

“For me, I feel like it’s something that’s just part of the player that I am,” he told The Inquirer. “The intangibles, the aggression, the wanting to win, the doing whatever you can to win.”

Aaronson, 24, is coming off a successful season with Leeds United, where he helped one of England’s most famous teams earn promotion back to the Premier League. He played the third-highest total of minutes on the team, in part because manager Daniel Farke valued those intangibles just as Jim Curtin did with the Union back in the day.

But success was hard to earn, and not just because the second-tier championship is a 48-game marathon.

When Aaronson returned to Leeds from a one-year loan at Germany’s Union Berlin, he wasn’t popular around the stands. That loan, for the first season after Leeds had been relegated, led fans to accuse him of disloyalty to the club.

» READ MORE: U.S. manager Mauricio Pochettino wants his team to play with more intensity. Can Brenden Aaronson help bring it?

The easiest way to fix that is to win games, along with scoring goals. Aaronson did the first, helping Leeds to a 29-4-13 record and first place with 100 points. But there were mixed reviews on whether he did the second. Nine goals are good, but not great; and two assists for an attacking midfielder aren’t many.

His biggest contributions came where they always have: pressing, moving the ball forward, and connecting passes that lead to scoring chances. Hustle plays, as they say back in Medford where he grew up, and on all the other couches where American fans have watched him over the years.

“It wasn’t easy going back,” Aaronson said. “It was a tough decision, because I knew I would be under scrutiny and be killed in moments.”

When things were difficult, Aaronson turned to his family. He admitted that at first, his parents were hesitant about a return to Leeds, wanting to make sure he was ready for the burden. But others, including his fiancée Milana D’Ambra — daughter of former Kixx star and St. Joseph’s coach Don D’Ambra — and his grandfather gave encouragement. Eventually, they all agreed it was the right move.

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“Without their help, I wouldn’t have been able to do it, because it was tough,” Aaronson said. “There were moments when I showed up [and] it wasn’t easy when the fans were not happy with me. But then to just push through that, and to earn their respect back, and to continue to get better throughout the season, I think it really showed my character and built it up, and made me even stronger.”

Leeds celebrated its promotion with a parade through the city center that drew more than 150,000 fans. The scenes resembled those from Broad Street, albeit on a smaller scale. (Leeds’ regional population is just under half of Philadelphia’s — around 2.3 million to 5.8 million.)

Aaronson said Milana D’Ambra was there, and at the Eagles’ Super Bowl parade in February, and saw the similarities.

“She said it’s almost like the same type of fans, in a way,” he said. “So into it, so involved.”

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It wasn’t just a one-off. Not only is Aaronson part of one of England’s most famous clubs, but he’s in a city whose sporting passion genuinely feels like Philadelphia’s. Leeds fans are loud, energetic, occasionally crazy, fiercely loyal, not afraid to boo you (among many acts), and capable of shaking their Elland Road stadium to its foundations when their team scores.

“I know what the Philly fans are like, I know what the Leeds fans are like and that’s why I love the city so much,” Aaronson said. “And I think it’s so cool — I mean the club has got so much history, and whenever you step into Elland Road you feel it. And I love it.”

A hustle play pairs just as well with a sausage roll as it does with a hoagie, to pick from each city’s culinary tradition. It also pairs well with the national team, especially against opponents in this summer’s Concacaf Gold Cup who will dare the U.S. to play ugly.

“Making sure that we’re on top and that we’re the aggressor,” Aaronson said. “We’re the team that’s maybe fouling them on counter attacks, doing stuff like that — being smart, but really setting the tone.”

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There is pressure on the U.S. to win the Gold Cup to make up for those Nations League losses, to bring confidence back to the team and its frustrated fans. Aaronson embraces that, too.

“Everybody’s used to pressure — I’m used to it, too — but you know you’re coming in and there’s going to be expectations,” he said. “After the way — if we’re being honest — the last camp went, and us going out the way we did, it doesn’t look the best. So there’s going to be pressure to perform, and I think everybody knows that mentally.”

Nor is the weight of a long European season a concern. He’s had three weeks off since Leeds’ last game, and he is ready to go again.

“I want to always be able to represent the country,” Aaronson said. “You always have times where you’re called upon and then something can happen. … It also is prepping me for the next season in the ‘Prem,’ so I can work on some things here. And it’s always about getting better and continuing to grow.”

» READ MORE: Why the U.S. men’s Nations League flop became about who wasn’t there, not just who was

From what he has seen in last week’s practices, the players have responded to Pochettino’s call to bring more intensity, and are determined to avoid another failure.

“I can already see in this camp, everybody’s so focused, and we don’t want that to happen again at all,” Aaronson said. “I think that everybody’s in that headspace of we need to give it all, and go out on to the pitch and really show what we’re about.”

The first chance came in a competitive 2-1 loss against Turkey in a friendly on Saturday in East Hartford, Conn. Next is a friendly against Switzerland on Tuesday in Nashville (8 p.m., TNT, Peacock), then the Gold Cup.

After that, the race to make next year’s World Cup team will truly be on. Every weekend will bring scrutiny of every U.S. player, whether in Europe or MLS, competing to play in the world’s biggest show.

Aaronson won the race in 2022, becoming the first player from the Philadelphia area to make a U.S. men’s World Cup squad in 16 years. The road has been bumpy since, but now the pathway is clear.

“I feel like that’s how my career’s going,” he said. “Of course, I’ve had downs, but I feel like I’m on a trajectory going up now. I’m really excited for what’s to come for myself, and I just want to go out there and just be myself, be brave, and just go out there and enjoy football, because that’s what it’s about.”

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