On Friday, the New York Red Bulls II soccer club aimed to stay perfect on their home turf, MSU Soccer Park in a tilt with Atlanta United II in MLS NEXT Pro regular season action.
For Red Bulls II manager Ibrahim Sekagya and his club which consists of more than half of players 18 years old and younger, Friday’s match against Altanta United’s second teamn was a great opportunity. It was a great opportunity for the New York Red Bulls feeder club to continue its strong form in MLS NEXT Pro and win its third straight match but also an opportunity to prove they are a deep squad.
Each MLS NEXT Pro club is allowed to dress a max 20 players for each game (11 starters, nine on the bench), but the Baby Bulls can go even further into their roster to produce game-ready players than most clubs when injuries arise, as proved by the 22 players they have used this season. The most recent Baby Bull to hit the injury list is Mijahir Jimenez who was ruled out before Friday’s game with a leg injury but the most impactful has been Aimar Modelo, the right back who has been out with a bad shoulder for over a month.
One thing the Red Bulls II has is depth and Sekagya opted to start playing Steven Sserwadda– usually a midfielder– at right-back on May 9 and the Baby Bulls have won three of four matches since then.
Now for the game itself, both teams played cautiously in the first half and Red Bulls II registered the first shot on goal of the game in the 17th minute when forward Andy Rojas took a volley from inside the 18-yard box that was smothered by the Atlanta United II keeper.
Red Bulls academy product and USYNT player Tanner Rosborough tried his best to put the home team on the board in the 32nd minute when he ran onto the other end of a through ball that took him to the edge of Atlanta’s 18 and ripped a right-footed shot on the run that sailed just high and right of the net.
Atlanta United II nearly made its breakthrough right before halftime when a ball was sent forward for forward Ryan Carmicheal that split the Baby Bulls backline. Carmicheal was about to get to the ball when Aidan Stokes intercepted it, sliding in and clearing the danger in what was the most clutch play of the first half.
The teams went into the locker room locked in a scoreless draw.
The action was fast and furious in the beginning of the second half.
Sekagya made several substitutions in the second half. First, he replaced center back Brooklyn Schwarz with Juan Gutierrez in the 45th minute. In the 53rd minute, Aiden Jarvis and Nehuen Benedetti came on for Dylan Sullivan and Andy Rojas. Then in the 68th minute, Sekagya called upon forward Rafael Mosquera who came in to this match with two goals, to replace Rosborough and in the 81st, Matthew Dos Santos was subbed on for left-back Marcelo Morales.
There nearly was a goal in the 69th minute when Atlanta United II built out of the back and Cooper Sanchez received a pass at the midfield line and dribbled all the way to the edge of the 18. Sanchez then ripped a shot on the ground that hit the post, bounced off Stokes’ head and off the cross bar before Stokes fell on the ball ending the scoring chance.
In the 78th minute, a Red Bulls II counter resulted in Red Bulls II midfielder Ibrahim Kasule kicking the ball in, but it was ruled offsides. That goal would have been Kasule’s 25th career goal which would have broken the club record but it was not to be.
Then came the breakthrough.
In the 81st minute, a through ball was played into the 18-yard box down the left side for Red Bulls II forward Julian Hall. Hall got to it and sent a ground cross across the face of goal which was misplayed by Atlanta United II defender Salvatore Mazzaferro. This allowed Nehuen Benedetti to step in, get a light touch on the ball and push it over the goal line for the first goal of the match.
It took 81 minutes for Red Bulls II to break down Atlanta’s three-man backline but they stuck with their gameplan and were able to grind out their fifth home win of the season, which maintains an undefeated 4-0-1 (one shootout win) home record this season.
After the game, Red Bulls II manager Ibrahim Sekagya offered observations of his team’s second grind-it-out victory in a row.
Sometimes there’s some games in the league where you don’t play well, and then the most important part is to win, and it makes the players grow up. It’s the confidence to grow up in the group. These are the games which help us. Atlanta is not a bad team. They have good players, but these are the games we talked about it. The guys, they had a little bit of short week, and now having this and getting the results is good. Clean sheet is so important for them.
What may fly under the radar is how well USYNT goalkeeper Aidan Stokes played in a game where he only made two saves but earned his third Clean Sheet of the season in just 11 games.
Of those two saves, one was incredibly clutch, the sliding tackle he made on a loose ball that was laying on the edge of his 18-yard box, no-mans land for goalkeepers but Stokes made the right play on that ball and Sekagya spoke about the development of his 17-year-old starting keeper.
We need goalkeepers like this and Stokes is growing up. You can see sometimes you have a goalkeeper in the back, and then now this, a clean sheet is so important. Can see it now he is growing up to be the player in the back where sometimes we don’t have to worry about anything. He can make those saves.
The biggest stat to takeaway from the Red Bulls II’s season thus far is that on Friday, they scored their 12th goal in the 65th minute or later. 12 goals is nearly half of the 25 goals they have scored as a team this season.
Sserwadda, who played his 34th career MLS NEXT Pro game on Friday, discussed why his team has been so clutch late in games this season.
Sometimes scoring a goal like that, it depends about the strategy. Sometimes strategies don’t work and have to push. It’s, as I say earlier, it’s about the mentality. We kept on pushing until we got a goal and we had to defend the goal in that minute, because the game was to the end. I think it was a good goal for the team, and it pushes us more to maybe in the game like that, to win, to have three points at the end.
Lastly, being undefeated at home is no easy feat and Sserwadda touched on why his team have been playing so well inside the friendly confines of MSU Soccer Park.
Everyone wants to protect their house at the end of the day. There’s no team [who’s] going to come and think it’s going to be easy to have three points at the end, and this is our home. We have to respect that, and we’re going to battle to the end of the game until we get either a draw, or three points but it’s not going to be easy. And if you look at the game, the guys were so good, because they really deserve it, and this is the home and they respect the home.
The Red Bulls II’s next match is on the road in North Carolina against Crown Legacy FC on June 4. It’s a relatively quick turnaround for Sekagya’s club as they will face ‘the Crown’ just five days after their last game, when they normally have seven days in between games.
The Red Bulls II will look to improve their record on the road which is 3-2-1 this season and go for their fourth straight win on next Wednesday.
