The New York Red Bulls II (10-2-3) are looking to rebound from a penalty shootout defeat at home last week against FC Cincinnati 2 in rookie head coach Michael Bradley’s home debut. Baby Bulls goalkeeper Aidan Stokes saved a penalty during regulation last Sunday but the team allowed Cincy to hang around and eventually were beaten in the shootout.
Now their attention turns to facing the sixth place team in the MLS NEXT Pro Eastern Conference standings and the 12th-place team in the league standings, Huntsville City FC (5-3-5) on their home field. The Baby Bulls are first place in the MLS NEXT Pro Eastern Conference and have gone undefeated in seven consecutive matches.
Huntsville are a well-balanced team that has scored 27 goals this season. That’s 11 behind the Baby Bulls who lead MLS NEXT Pro in team goals with 38 (five goals clear of the second-best team). Huntsville City also does not concede a lot of goals and have only given up 16 goals in 13 matches, or 1.2 goals per game.
Like RBNY II, Huntsville City are coming off a penalty shootout loss against Crown Legacy FC, who like Cincinnati 2 were in the bottom half of the standings. In the loss, Huntsville City used a 4-2-3-1 formation.
Alan Carleton scored two goals in Huntsville City’s previous game. He is second on the team with four goals this season and leads Huntsville City with four assists on the season.
The team’s most dangerous attacking player is Christian Koffi, who leads the team with seven goals. Furthermore, Koffi’s goal total is tied for fourth best in MLS NEXT Pro this season.
In this department, NYRB II are represented by Nehuen Benedetti and Tanner Rosborough who each have six goals on the season, which is tied for the fifth most in MLS NEXT Pro. Benedetti has scored a goal in five straight matches, equaling the five-game goal streak his current teammate, Rosborough had from June to August of last season.
New Baby Bulls manager Michael Bradley was adamant in a recent press conference that his approach and philosophy will not change despite suffering his first shootout loss as manager last week.
“The football ideas are not going to change. The football ideas, in terms of trying to be aggressive and really go after the other team. Trying to be the team that is pushing things in every part of the game. We’re going to continue to try and do that. We’re going to continue to try to win the ball as quickly as we can and when we have it, try to play in the other team’s half and try to make chances… the idea of Football isn’t changing one bit, we’re going to just try to do it better and better and better.”
One of those football ideas is the Red Bull style of play, or the “Red Bull way” which primarily involves pressing, which is as Ryan O’Hanlon of GQ puts it, “a proactive defensive scheme that aimed to win the ball back high up the field by swarming the opponent in a systematized, collective fashion.”
In April and May, Bradley spent time learning about the Red Bull way in Salzburg, Austria where one of NY Red Bulls’ sister clubs RB Salzburg play and at the Munich headquarters of Red Bull Global. That gave him a basis for taking on the position of manager of the NYRB II in June and he described what he’s learned about the Red Bull way over the course of his first two games as manager.
“The Red Bull style of play still fits with so many of my ideas about the game in terms of …trying to play a game that is fast and has tempo [and] trying to play a game where you are putting the game on your terms in as many moments as possible, with the ball and without the ball. And so for me, the idea of being aggressive… and combine that with ideas of really good football, of how to play in tight spaces, how to make chances, how to also control the game with the ball and the other team’s half, how to be a team that can score a lot of goals. All of these things really fit how I see the game. And obviously, those are things that Red Bull teams have always tried to be about. So it was one of the reasons why I was so excited to come and work here, was because I really felt like the starting points of the football that Red Bull want to see going forward, and how I see the game is really a good match.”
Huntsville sit in the top half of the overall MLS NEXT Pro standings for a reason—they are a really good team that will provide a stern test for this young Baby Bulls squad led by a rookie manager.
“It’s a good team when you just look at the standings [and] it’s a good team when you watch them closer… And so we’re really excited to now get a home match against one of the best teams in the league. As you said, [Christian] Koffi [Alan] Carleton, are important guys for them, but they have interesting football ideas. They are still a team that want to have the ball. They spread themselves out there. They have ideas about how to be, certain rotations and things that they want to do to disorganize you a little bit. We’re excited for the challenge.”
Baby Bulls midfielder Aiden Jarvis has started 13 out of 15 possible matches, including each of the last four, for the Baby Bulls and has emerged as a staple in the center of midfield for his team. The 18-year-old former member of the Red Bull academy described what he and his teammates have been working on during training to get ready for their next match.
“We’ve been working a lot in training on our defensive duties. And as long as not just the back line, but our whole team works together and shifts together, then we’ll definitely succeed.”
The big Red Bulls II news of the week was midfielder Nehuen Benedetti getting named MLS NEXT Pro player of the month for June. Benedetti scored four goals and added three assists in four matches in June.
Jarvis described how Benedetti is as a teammate.
“First congrats to him. That’s a great achievement, and he definitely deserves it. He’s a brilliant player. When he first came here, he doesn’t speak much English as it’s not his first language, but he always tries to communicate with everybody. And he’s a really smart player so those two things have helped him a lot.”
Coach Bradley chimed in about his star attacking midfielder: “Nevi…is very intelligent, very good at finding space and his timing now to get in and around the box for goals has been excellent. We’re really pleased with the way that he’s continuing to grow and, we’re going to keep trying to push him in an even better.”
The Baby Bulls will look to get back in the win column on Sunday at MSU Soccer Park against Huntsville City. Kickoff is scheduled for 7 p.m.
