A day after the New York Red Bulls grabbed a point at Gillete Stadium after drawing 1-1 against the New England Revolution, Ben Mines wrote on an Instagram post, “Just like old times. Hard fought and we keep moving forward. #rbny” Omir Fernandez, who scored off Ben Mines’ assist, commented, “Some things don’t change 💪🏼🔥”
The lone goal of the night for the Red Bulls was a Red Bulls Academy goal, and after the game Fernandez highlighted the importance of getting his first goal in 2020, his third in five professional league starts.
“I think it gives me a lot of confidence to score in big games when the team needs it,” said Fernandez. “We wanted to come out and gain more confidence for the team to show that we can score goals. We have that creativity up top. I feel like it gives me confidence, but everybody in the locker room has confidence to keep pushing and keep progressing.”
After the game Mines shared his thoughts on his performance, in which he got his first professional assist in his second professional start.
“It was really good to get another start. It’s been a long time to be back on the field,” said Mines. “It was a big roller coaster to get there, but good assist on the night, it was a great run by Omir, great goal. Unfortunate to not get the win, but we move forward.”
Head Coach Chris Armas praised Fernandez and Mines’ growth, and how they responded to the demands in the visit to New England.
“Both of those players continue to grow. They’ve grown in the philosophy, they’ve grown as young men who physically can hold up in games like that against an athletic team. Listen, as much as we knew that New England would be good in transition, we felt that we could catch them in transition with speedy guys on the field,” said Armas. “You can see that Ben Mines challenged them a few times and so did Omir, and he gets rewarded with a great goal. Those guys have earned those minutes, it’s not like we didn’t have options, those guys earned those minutes and I thought they had some really good moments tonight. Even seeing Omir Fernandez dig deep and go the whole distance there, it’s good for him because this is how players grow.”
Captain Ryan Meara believes that the next months will be important in building from Saturday’s performance, which showcased the team’s depth.
“Defensively, I'm very comfortable with whoever's in front of me. We have a good unit, both with our regular first team guys and the backups,” said Meara. “Tonight was a big opportunity for guys like Amro [Tarek] and Manny [Egbo] and Patrick [Seagrist] and even guys up the field, like Ben [Mines] and Omir [Fernandez]. I think everyone stood up to the test. These guys have been working so hard in training and I've been there and been that guy on the outside so I have a lot of sympathy for them.
“It's great to see when they get their opportunities that they stand up and contribute. Going forward, we're going to have a game every three, four or five days until November, so it's huge to have that depth. It's definitely something to build on.”
