MORRISTOWN, N.J. — Though the World Cup only just reached the rearview mirror, the soccer world is already speeding toward the new European club season.

Brenden Aaronson is proof.

After taking the three-week break that FIFA’s rules allow for players after major tournaments, the Medford, N.J., native returned to work at his club, Leeds United of the English Premier League, on Monday. Conveniently, that was right as his teammates arrived in North Jersey amid Leeds’ first preseason tour of the U.S. in nearly 30 years.

“Just great to get home, spend some time in Jersey,” he told The Philadelphia Inquirer. “I just needed to just get home and see family. I hadn’t been home since last September. That’s been probably the longest time I’ve been away from home.”

Leeds fell to Wrexham of the second-tier Championship last Saturday in Tampa, Fla., 3-2, then beat fellow Premier League club Sunderland 1-0 on Thursday in Harrison, N.J. The finale is Sunday against powerhouse Liverpool in Chicago (4 p.m., ESPN Deportes), the same day Wrexham and Sunderland meet at Subaru Park (noon, ESPN).

Alas, Aaronson wasn’t in the game squad Thursday, as much as he wanted to play being close to home. He had a lot of friends and family in attendance, and a busload of fans from the Leeds supporters’ group in Philadelphia made the trip. (Their viewing parties at the Black Taxi in Fairmount are lively occasions.)

But if his absence disappointed the box office, it wasn’t too surprising since he’d only just returned. No one begrudged him the time to rest, having gone just about nonstop since the last preseason started.

Not for nothing, too, he was also able to finally enjoy being a husband after his whirlwind wedding that briefly took him out of U.S. camp in late May.

That was just one early turn in a roller-coaster ride through the World Cup.

There were so many good moments, with three wins that brought unprecedented attention to the U.S. team and the sport. Then there was the sour ending of the crashout to Belgium and the scandal around Folarin Balogun’s red card.

‘An opportunity lost’

As he looked back, Aaronson started by saying “I think we have to be proud of what we did,” before turning to the rest.

“It’s a shame that our worst game was in the round of 16,” he said. “I don’t think that we were at our best that game — I don’t think it’s anything to blame this or that, I just think we weren’t at our best. And sometimes you have to put your hands up, because they were also very good on the day, Belgium.”

He added that “it did feel like an opportunity lost” for a group of players who “felt very, very confident” heading into the biggest game of their lives.

“I felt like we knew what we could do and what we could have accomplished, and we knew we could have went farther in the tournament,” Aaronson said. “So I think that’s the thing that hurt the most. … It’s not fun when you lose that type of game, but also, I think we were upset with the way that we played, too.”

The emotions were particularly strong around U.S. centerback and captain Tim Ream, whom Aaronson said “was really upset after the game, knowing that maybe this [was] his last one — it was difficult to see.”

There was never any doubt about how the Balogun scandal affected Belgium’s team, especially President Donald Trump’s intervention with FIFA president Gianni Infantino to get Balogun reinstated. But there hasn’t been too much clarity about how it all affected U.S. players.

In mid-July, Balogun told CBS This Morning that “I could almost see within my teammates a bit of nerves.” Not long after that, Ream spoke on ESPN’s First Take and said “I don’t think it affected the group.”

Aaronson came down on the latter side.

“I wouldn’t say it affected us,” he said. “I think we did a good job the whole time of kind of just staying in our little bubble and not really paying attention to the outside noise. We know in those moments, of course there’s media, it’s the World Cup, everybody’s going to be talking and stuff like this. But I didn’t really think much of it, to be honest, myself.”

He didn’t hesitate to add, though, “that it gave [Belgium] maybe a little more fire under their belly.”

On to a new season

As the next World Cup cycle begins, it’s natural that some players will move on, and newcomers will be welcomed. That’s likely to start in the fall, when the new FIFA calendar takes effect with a four-game national team window from Sept. 18-Oct. 3. And it will be no surprise if some of the players who’ve succeeded Aaronson at the Union get invitations, such as Cavan Sullivan, Frankie Westfield, and perhaps Quinn Sullivan too.

“There’s a time period where you can test things out and try things,” Aaronson said. “So it’ll be interesting to see what goes on the next four years, but I’m excited for it. I think it’s an exciting time for the national team, and we need to keep getting better and better.”

Aaronson hasn’t gotten a ton of playing time from Mauricio Pochettino, who from all indications seems headed toward a new four-year contract as U.S. manager. But it’s hard to believe that a 25-year-old who plays regularly in the Premier League, the world’s top domestic circuit, will be cast off entirely.

He certainly intends to do his part to stay on the radar.

“My aspiration, of course, is to play every game for the club, be a big player at the club and score goals and get assists, and then ultimately transfer that to the national team,” he said. “I want to play every game for the national team — I think that’s what everybody wants to do. That’s just been my aspiration, my goals. I’ve always been hungry like that.”

And he was pleased by the news that Pochettino is likely to return.

“I think it’s something that we can continue to grow on,” Aaronson said. “I mean, he’s coached the best players in the world [over his career]. Being able to study under him and learn from him is massive for me.”

This will be Aaronson’s fourth season at Leeds, one of England’s most passionately supported clubs, and his third in the Premier League. As with last year, when the Peacocks returned to the top flight, the first goal is to stay up. But now Leeds can aim a little higher, with new signings bankrolled by an ownership group tied to the NFL’s San Francisco 49ers.

“I swear, Leeds fans are everywhere,” Aaronson said. “It’s got such a big fan base, and it will continue to grow. Because what we want to do is put this club in the right spot, and that’s being in the top of the Premier League. So that’s the goal.”

He has his share of critics in England, largely for the same reason he has them over here: for all his industrious work on the field, he’s an attacking midfielder who doesn’t score a lot of goals. But Leeds manager Daniel Farke has been one of Aaronson’s biggest backers, and intends to stay that way.

“The task is more or less keep going exactly in the same way and develop exactly in the same way that he’s done since I’ve really worked with him,” Farke said. “I’m pleased for him that he was called up to the U.S. team — didn’t play perhaps as many minutes as he was hoping for, but he’s also a player full of potential, and he’s still in an age where he can develop and hopefully make the next steps. He is, in addition to that, also a great human being, and it’s a pleasure to work with him.”

Forward Lukas Nmecha, who scored the winner Thursday, also gave a nice endorsement.

“Firstly, on a personal level, he’s a lovely guy, works really hard,” he said. “On the football side, I think we all know what he brings. He’s very active in the game, he runs a lot, he creates a lot, and he’s just a good guy to have around.”

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