After four days of training, the New York Red Bulls threw off the more regimented shackles for the first time on Friday morning, taking part in an intra-squad scrimmage in Orlando.
Playing two 25-minute halves, the teams were split up rather evenly, with interesting pairings coming in the center of the park where the Blue team saw Dax McCarty partner with Ian Christianson and the Orange team had rookies Leo Stolz and Sean Davis together.
The Orange squad struck first as Peguy Luyindula held up well before feeding Lloyd Sam into the box on the right. The Englishman made no mistake, placing a hard-driven, low effort past Luis Robles and just inside the bottom left corner.
The Blue team responded moments later as Sal Zizzo worked out of some tight space at midfield to play the ball over the top on the right, where it was centered for trialist Mike Grella who hit his first-time strike past Kyle Reynish.
Shortly after, Grella returned the favor, centering a pass from the left that allowed Zizzo an easy tap in and took the Blue side into halftime up 2-1.
A few changes were made at the break but the Blue team continued to find goals.
SuperDraft selection Shawn McLaws did well to find space on the right before cutting back for Zizzo at the top of the box, who finished for his second goal of the day.
After coming out of the match at halftime, Grella re-entered later on in the second half. The Glen Cove, NY product made his way past right back Chris Duvall at the end line before rocketing a tight angle shot inside the right post to give the Blue team a 4-1 victory.
The Red Bulls will play their first preseason friendly as they welcome the University of South Florida to Orlando on Sunday morning.
