TUCSON, Arizona (January 27, 2017) – The New York Red Bulls opened the 2017 preseason with a 2-0 win over the Portland Timbers on Friday night at the Kino Sports Complex in Tucson. The teams played three 30-minute sessions.
“For us, we have to accelerate our process here because we have a very important game in about 26 days,” said Red Bulls Head Coach Jesse Marsch. “The emphasis was to come down here and play MLS competition immediately. I think, overall, a really good performance from us. We were very organized. We’re missing a bunch of guys, but we’ve got a really good club here, and a bunch of good, young players that we really like and think have bright futures…. On a night like tonight I think you saw a lot of them have good nights and [they] fit into the way we play so, overall, thought it was pretty good.”
New York’s starting group largely consisted of MLS players from last season, but also featured second-round draft pick Ethan Kutler, NYRB II center back Aaron Long and trialist forward Robbie Findley.
New York got on the board with an own goal in the 3rd minute when a Kemar Lawrence cross deflected off of a Timbers player and into the net.
The rest of the first period passed uneventfully, with New York getting the better of the scoring chances.
The second stanza featured a lineup reminiscent of NYRB II’s USL Championship run from last season, with newly-signed Dan Metzger playing alongside Homegrown Players Brandon Allen, Tyler Adams and Derrick Etienne Jr. NYRB II’s Long also played the second period alongside Tim Schmoll, Florian Valot, Vincent Bezecourt, and David Najem.
Bezecourt converted a penalty in the second period to round out the scoring.
Sal Zizzo and Mike Grella both missed the match – Zizzo was ruled out due to illness, while Mike Grella picked up a knock in training.
New York is back in action on Tuesday, January 31 with a match against Real Salt Lake.
Scoring Summary
NY – (own goal) 4’
NY – Bezecourt (PK) 55’
New York Lineup: Ryan Meara (Rafael Diaz, 60’); Ethan Kutler (David Najem, 48’), Aurelien Collin (Jordan Scarlett, 30’, Tim Schmoll, 43’), Aaron Long (David Somma, 60’), Kemar Lawrence (Justin Bilyeu, 48’), Felipe (Tyler Adams, 30’, Zeiko Lewis, 70’), Sean Davis (Dan Metzger, 48’), Daniel Royer (Florian Valot, 30’), Alex Muyl (Vincent Bezecourt, 48’), Robbie Findley (Derrick Etienne, Jr. 30’, Arun Basuljevic, 70’), Gonzalo Veron (Brandon Allen, 48’)
