HARRISON, N.J. – As Tyler Adams joins the camp for the US national team's upcoming friendly in Portugal, his New York Red Bulls colleagues think club teammate Aaron Long deserves consideration as well.
Long broke out in his first true season in MLS. The 25-year old center back, who played with New York Red Bulls II last year and was the USL’s Defender of the Year, was cut earlier in his career by the Seattle Sounders and Portland Timbers.
His first minutes of senior team soccer came this past February in the CONCACAF Champions League. And although he was considered a potential liability during preseason, Long instead grew consistently over the year to the point where coach Jesse Marsch thinks he should be in US conversation.
“If it wasn’t for Tyler, I think Aaron Long would be the big talking point of our team this year. Aaron I think went from a great year in the USL last year, started out strong but only got stronger as the year went on,” Marsch said on Wednesday. “And to watch him in the last year shut down [Sebastian] Giovinco almost entirely was phenomenal. We challenged Aaron a lot to develop in terms of leadership, in terms communication, in terms of presence. In all those ways he responded.”
Not only did Long play a staggering amount of minutes – the center back was second on the Red Bulls among all field players with 30 starts and 2,659 minutes logged – but he was surprisingly steady.
He talks with pride about how he developed to where he “made a stamp on the team.” The continued trajectory certainly gives hope that Long could be part of the national team pool moving forward.
“Of course it’s a goal. It’s a dream of mine to be called in. It’s huge that Jesse and Sacha are stepping up and saying those things on my behalf,” Long said. “I feel a lot of respect and a lot of love from the guys and the coaching staff and on this team. Very happy, hopeful. We’ll see what happens. Very thankful for those guys for having my back.”
Given how the Red Bulls press and counter-press, the center backs are often exposed and isolated against attacking players, forced into 1-on-1 defending.
This past Sunday was a perfect example, when the Red Bulls were eliminated from the Audi 2017 MLS Cup Playoffs on away goals at Toronto FC, despite winning their second leg 1-0. Chasing the game after losing the first leg 2-1, the Red Bulls pushed numbers forward. Long was repeatedly found in individual battles with the aforementioned Toronto star attacker Giovinco.
Long repeatedly frustrated the Italian, however, whose only goal in the series came off a lethal dead ball strike. Afterward, Long understated the significance of that effort.
“It gives me confidence for sure. Our game plan was to give him little to no space,” he said. “Doing well against him, or any other striker in this league, gives me confidence, for sure.”
Captain Sacha Kljestan, who himself has 52 caps for the US, also sees Long as someone who can challenge for a role on the international level.
Kljestan remembers seeing Long on trial with the team two preseasons ago, a player who at the time he recounted a big, if somewhat raw, skill set. The skills remain, now with a little polish.
“I was a bit disappointed not to see him brought into the national team in this game I think he deserves a chance to be there looking at the rest of the roster,” Kljestan said. “I don’t know if there will be a January camp but if there is, I hope he’s there. He’s got all of the physical tools. I think you can see when he goes up against some of the best players in the league, he can shut them down. He’s a very good one on one defender. He never loses his battles, he’s obviously very fast and very strong.”
