Herculez Gomez says Brenden Aaronson needed a strong performance during the international break after having a "rough" time at Leeds United.
Aaronson ended a run of nine caps without an international goal with his solitary strike during USA's 7-1 thrashing of Grenada on Saturday.
Fellow Leeds teammate Weston McKennie also found the net twice for the Star and Stripes. Aaronson has not scored for Leeds since registering his first goal for the club in a 3-0 win over Chelsea in August last year.
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The 22-year-old has come under heavy criticism for his performances in the Premier League of late, and Gomez believes Aaronson desperately needed to prove his quality once again on the international stage.
“That’s a good one for Brenden Aaronson because he desperately needed a good showing,” former USMNT forward Gomez told ESPN.
“He was one of the most productive players in the lead-up to the World Cup. We used to call him Mr Futbol Americas. Mr Running back because he would constantly show up with goals and assists in our programme.
“About the time he went to Leeds, and he was about to go to the World Cup, everything started going south for him. He gets injured, then he starts playing with the reserve side and then he is coming in off the bench.
“Then when he is coming in, his team are giving up leads. They are giving up goals. It’s been a situation that has been kind of rough. The man who brought him there, Jesse Marsch, gets fired, it has been a lot of change for Brenden Aaronson. He desperately needed a strong showing.”
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