The Red Bulls U-14’s began their run at the English Premier League Youth Tournament with aplomb, recording back to back 1-0 victories against Aston Villa and Chelsea’s youth squads. In their third match, however, the win streak came to an end as the U-14s fell 2-0 to West Bromwich Albion.
The Red Bulls created a couple of early chances with Stephen Elias going close to opening the scoring on both occasions. Red Bulls goalkeeper Tomas Lapinas made a great save in the 18th minute to keep the game scoreless at the half. However, West Bromwich Albion started the second half very quickly and the Red Bulls found themselves trailing 2-0. In the 26th minute a Red Bulls defensive mistake allowed West Brom to take the lead, and the Baggies followed it up in the 28th with a quick counter-attack to double the lead. Neither team created many scoring chances for the remainder of the half as the U14 Red Bulls dropped their first points of the tournament.
In their next match, however, the Red Bulls bounced back to defeat Palmeiras 2-1 and give themselves a chance to advance to the Semi Finals of the tournament. In a stark departure from the norm, the U-14s were put under tremendous pressure early on, but a well-organized defense limited Palmeiras’ chances, the best one a 30-yeard freekick that clanged off the crossbar and was cleared away
The Red Bulls continued to play very compact and organized, and were rewarded in the 24th minute when forward Ethan Lochner was tripped up in the box on a counter-attack. The penalty was given, and midfielder Gideon Metrikin stepped up to blast the ball into the lower left hand corner of the net to give New York the 1-0 lead.
In the second half, Palmeiras again started with a high tempo game but found it difficult to break down a resolute Red Bulls team. With seven minutes to play in the game, Palmeiras leveled the score with a free kick from the top-left of the box, but despite the setback the Red Bulls responded well and began to exert more pressure. In the 46th minute, Red Bulls forward Ethan Lochner played a cross into the box that was miscleared by Palmeiras. Midfielder Wilber Nunez attacked the poor clearance and blasted a 15 yard shot that hit a Palmeiras defender in the hand. For the second time the Red Bulls were awarded a penalty kick and Gideon Metrikin again stepped up to place the ball into the back of the net and seal the win for the Red Bulls.
“We felt strongly that we could win [against Palmeiras],” Red Bulls U-14 defender Andrew Lombard said. “We stuck to the game plan and each and every player gave a tremendous effort. We feel more confident as the games have progressed and we are looking forward to our final group game against Newcastle tomorrow.”
The U-14’s are now guaranteed of a place in the Semi-Finals with a win or tie against Newcastle on Thursday.
Lineup vs. West Brom:
(4-3-3)
Tomas
Lapinas, Cameron Riach (Cameron Allen
26’), Henry Martin, Andrew Lombard, Anthony Sileo (Kyle Zajec 26’), Gideon Metrikin (Marcelo Borges 35’), John Antunes, Wilber Nunez, Jonas Halvorsen (Orestis Sousonis 35’), Ethan Lochner, Stephen
Elias (Callum Johnson 30’).
Subs not used:
Nick Giordano, Malik Stewart
Lineup vs. Palmeiras:
(4-3-3)
Nick Giordano, John Antunes, Henry Martin, Andrew Lombard, Stephen Elias, Gideon Metrikin, Wilber Nunez, Marcelo Borges, Orestis Sousonis, Ethan Lochner, Anthony Sileo (Callum Johnson 47’)
Subs not used:
Tomas
Lapinas, Jonas Halvorsen, Cameron Riach, Marcelo Borges, Kyle Zajec, Malik
Stewart.
Goals:
Gideon Metrikin (PK), 24'
Gideon Metrikin (PK), 46'
