Justin Meram is just 28, but he joked before Crew SC’s preseason trip to Brazil that he is, in many ways, the resident old guy.

Entering his seventh Major League Soccer season with the same club, the left midfielder has been here before.

Even in an 8-14-12 season in 2016, he scored five goals and had a career-high 13 assists to garner team MVP honors. He has made 154 appearances in Major League Soccer regular-season games, including 59 starts the past two seasons.

Although Meram, the team’s longest-tenured player, has made it as a professional, he is appreciative of how rare it is to play seven years with one MLS team. He is also able to reflect on how a stable career was once in flux.

Asked when he realized the magnitude of the jump between college and MLS, the former Michigan standout laughed.

“First preseason,” he said. “We joked sometimes, I think I was fortunate to get drafted by Columbus when they had a huge overhaul because it was basically as a first-round pick, ‘You have to sign him.’ So you get to stay, and you don’t get loaned out, and you’re kind of there.”

Meram, selected 15th overall in the first round, had two assists and no goals in 17 appearances in 2011 but said he grew under the tutelage of veterans such as goalkeeper Will Hesmer, midfielder Eddie Gaven and defenders Danny O’Rourke and Chad Marshall.

The group helped reassure Meram when he teetered on the edge of the 18-player travel roster.

Meram said his first feeling of having made it came in May 2012 when he had three goals in three games and earned back-to-back starts against San Jose and Seattle. He made nine additional starts in 2012 but never felt for long that the left midfielder’s job was his.

“I thought I made it, and I’m like, ‘The starting spot’s mine,’” Meram said. “The next week against Chicago, I was benched. So I went from an ultimate high to one of my lowest lows. and I think that moment kind of sunk in where, you know, at any given moment your spot’s up for grabs.”

That feeling returned in 2014 when, even as Meram recovered from ankle surgery, first-year coach Gregg Berhalter saw something in him.

“I think that what we saw in the beginning was a lot of raw talent,” said Berhalter, entering his fourth season. “He’s been able to channel that and keep improving every year, and now he’s a complete player, in my eyes.”

Early on, Meram said, there were many times that he thought he would have to leave Columbus.

“Every year I’m thinking I’m leaving, and every year I’m staying,” he said. “Some fans might love it, and some might hate it, but ultimately I love playing for this club, and it’s definitely an honor that I can play for one club.”

Playing with Iraq’s national team — although Meram is a Michigan native, his parents were born in Iraq — has opened doors and garnered offers to play outside MLS, but Meram said his focus is on the Crew while under he is contract.

He hopes to play for Iraq in its World Cup qualifiers in March but realizes that travel could be complicated by Iraq having to play its home games in Iran because of security concerns.

Both countries were included in President Donald Trump’s order restricting entry to the U.S., but reaction has been stronger in Iran, which initially said this month that it would not let a group of U.S. freestyle wrestlers compete there before reversing course once Trump's order was suspended pending a legal challenge.

“We spoke with some lawyers and necessary people," Meram said regarding his future with the national team. “It doesn’t look like there’s a problem, but you never know.”

In addition to committing himself to weight training, yoga and other preparation off the pitch, Meram said a reason he has been able to last in MLS is mental toughness. In the past, he would lose a dribble or miss a shot and look to the sideline in fear of being removed.

Entering year seven, he said he’s better able to shrug off mistakes and teach the youngsters he mentors — this year, it’s rookie forward Niko Hansen — to do the same.

“It’s like breakups,” he said. “You have so many of them that you start to figure it out.”

aerickson@dispatch.com

@AEricksonCD