New York Red Bulls’ Kyle Duncan scored the team’s first goal of the new season in the 3-2 win over FC Cincinnati.
“I go forward when I can," Duncan said. "Chris [Armas] stresses that a lot, get forward, play forward. I get forward when I can. My first priority is defending, but I’m happy I got forward today.”
Not only did Duncan contribute with the first goal of the day, but he also finished the afternoon with two assists. Captain Sean Davis believes that although Duncan is a young right-back, he has been able to learn a lot through the club’s system.
“He reminds me a little bit of myself,” Davis said. “I mean Duncan is so young you got to remember that, and he is so good. He just needed a little more experience. He went through a little bit of a rough patch and honestly that’s how you grow the most. It’s painful, but it’s the best way to grow and be the best player you want to be. Duncan proved that last year, and he had to go down to USL and sharpen up and understand the tactics a little bit more, but you saw when he came back on the team he brought something special. It’s no surprise today he played extremely well on both sides of the ball.”
Duncan, who had one goal and two assists in 1,080 minutes last season, tallied one goal and two assists in 90 minutes.
Armas looks forward to observing Duncan’s progression at club and national team level.
“We're a young team and we remind ourselves, because Kyle is a mature kid, but he's a young player in terms of professional games,” Armas said. “So what we see this year is a confidence out of Kyle, a real understanding of our principles, especially defensive. He's putting in more complete performances consistently.”
Kaku, who scored the team’s second goal of the game, thinks Duncan can play like a forward, and that helps the team have more scoring chances in the final third.
“It looks like he’s a forward because he always manages to find the right space in that area,” the Paraguayan international said. “I’m happy for Kyle because he deserves it, and we hope that he can continue scoring goals because that’s important."
