This past week, the New York Red Bulls saw all of its teams get wins, from the first-team to the U-12s.
On Saturday night at Audi Field, Aaron Long recorded his first goal of 2020 and tied Steve Jolley for the franchise lead for most goals by a defender with seven. With his two assists against D.C. United, Kaku moved into New York’s Top-10 all-time assists list, tying Clint Mathis. Both Mathis and Kaku now have 23 career MLS regular-season assists.
“So exciting this past weekend to hear the results across the board within the organization, all the way from U-12 to the first team were victorious, outscoring opposition 40 goals and only conceding five,” said Interim Head Coach Bradley Carnell on the organization’s great past week. “The highlight for me, obviously, is the first team win, but the highlight was the Red Bulls II team, winning 6-0. I think that was a massive victory; it just boosted our confidence, seeing them go about it and knowing that we got young players coming through the ranks, and Omar Sowe got his first professional career hat-trick against the Union II.”
“It was a fantastic achievement, it's a true testament to the organization, and we're not afraid of playing young players and giving them debuts and giving them games and giving them minutes. I think the rest of the organization just followed suit, and it was great. I mean, the U-12s to be victorious and all the other age levels as well,” said Carnell.
Carnell believes the win in D.C. fit nicely with the rest of the results within the organization.
“The game against D.C., it fitted perfectly into the weekend within the organization. Really happy Kaku gets his two assists on a night, which took him into the top-10 of the franchise with the first team, and listen, he's knocking on the heels of some big names, that's great for him,” Carnell said. “I think he's up to 23 assists now, we'll keep on pushing him and getting him in the right spots. Hopefully we’re victorious this coming weekend against Cincinnati. Let's make this thing lasting.”
Last Wednesday, New York Red Bulls II started off the clean sweep week with a 6-0 victory over Philadelphia Union II. Forward Omar Sowe recorded his first professional hat-trick, while midfielder Caden Clark added two goals and an assist. Forward Dantouma “Yaya” Toure recorded a goal and an assist as well. This marked NYRB II’s first clean sheet of the season. Defenders Bo Cummins and Joe Fala registered their first professional assists, while goalkeeper Wallis Lapsley tallied his first professional shutout.
“This past week was very successful for the club,” New York Red Bulls II Head Coach John Wolyniec said. “We have the highest aspirations and it is great to see the signs of our potential throughout the club.”
The end of the weekend saw our seven academy teams all secure victories against different oppositions. The U-13’s through U-19’s all defeated Cedar Stars Monmouth, while U-12 Red defeated Real JFC and U-12 Grey defeated Penn Fusion. Overall, the academy teams scored a combined 32 goals, with three players recording hat tricks, and they only allowed five goals in total. 24 different players recorded a goal over the opening weekend of MLS Next.
“It was a great feeling for all involved to be playing our first league game and I was extremely impressed with the quality of play shown from all of our Academy teams at this early stage of the season," Academy Director Sean McCafferty said. “The staff have been doing some great work over the last four weeks and it was pleasing to see the players/teams perform at such a high level on the day which in turn led to the positive results.”
Results
U12 Red: W 2-0 Penn Fusion
U12 Gray: W 6-1 Real JFC
U13: W 7-0 Cedar Stars Monmouth
U14: W 3-2 Cedar Stars Monmouth
U15: W 5-2 Cedar Stars Monmouth
U17: W 3-0 Cedar Stars Monmouth
U19: W 6-0 Cedar Stars Monmouth
RB2: W 6-0 Philadelphia Union II
RBNY: W 2-0 D.C. United
