The recent youth and senior national team call-ups have involved eight Red Bull New York II players going on international duty in recent weeks.
The call-ups have given players like New Jersey native goalkeepers Aidan Stokes and Tobias Szewczyk the opportunity to gain experience playing against the best of the best in their age brackets, but it’s also forced the Red Bulls second team to bring up several players from the academy like 17-year-old midfielder Troi Panniel, 15-year-old midfielder Bradley Castro, and 17-year-old defender Ian Paola who may not be ready for the speed and physicality of MLS NEXT Pro soccer.
Panniel and Paola were subbed into Red Bull New York II’s last match against Chattanooga in the 68th minute and made their professional debuts and logged 22 minutes. Castro also made his professional debut as he was subbed in in the 90th minute.
Red Bulls II manager Dominik Wohlert first talked about why he decided to bring Panniel into the fold.
“Troi, still a young guy who received his reward for a real strong performance with the Under-18s the last couple of months. He was one of the main figures there and it was time to reward him for that and to show him we see his performance, we see his development and hopefully we will be more often in a situation to reward Troi for his quality but also for his willingness to show up in each training session and influence big games for the Under-18s.”
The first-year manager then discussed Castro and his thoughts on the young midfielder’s future.
“Super young guy. I think he’s the fourth or fifth youngest player in history from Red Bull…There was a moment when we decided to sub him in and it’s just about quality, it’s not about age anymore so Bradley showed that he’s able to compete and now we make sure that it’s exposure to a new speed of play, to a new physicality and we have to be smart to manage him in the right way but there will definitely be times when we bring him back.”
Coach Wohlert also discussed Paola who’s been in the Red Bull academy for the past 10 years and enjoyed a special moment when he got the chance to make his second team debut.
“Ian, probably the most unique situation. Ian Paola has spent 10 years in the RB academy, he has red bull blood in his body, and I think he’s living it every day. Hard-working kid, someone who’s already committed to university…we had a need on this position and we had an idea to bring Ian, to put him on the bench, to have him ready in case something happens and then it turned out that Josh Munson had a little concussion and we needed a center back and I think it was a great end for him to get rewarded for all his 10 years to make his debut in the second team. I think it was a round story for Ian with the Red Bulls making his second team debut and we were really proud and really happy for him that this moment came and we are really grateful for his work and his time.
Another young player who has seen his stock rise lately is Connor Faello, a full back who has started four straight games. He talked about the faith that Coach Wohlert and the staff have placed in him.
“Dom and the whole staff is really high on me. They pushed me so much to become a better player. At the beginning of the season, I’m coming off the bench, preseason, not even making the roster, so them pushing me really helped me. Also, them just trusting me, even though the game wasn’t going well, still kept me in the whole game.”
Despite these feel-good moments, the fact remains that Red Bulls II are on a four-game winless streak and they are looking forward to getting eight players back from international duty.
The players who the Baby Bulls will be getting back are goalkeepers Tobias Szewczyk and Aidan Stokes, forwards Roald Mitchell and Mijahir Jimenez, midfielders Jason Bori, Deven Cadigan, and Marco Morigi and defender Alexander Julio.
Cadigan and Szewczyk were called into U-17 US Youth National Team camp in Brazil, where they played two friendly matches against the host nation’s U-17 squad. Bori was called in to the Albanian U-17 camp, Jimenez and Julio, the Panamanian U-20 camp, Morigi into Venezuelan U-20 camp, Stokes was called into U-19 USYNT camp, and Mitchell was called into Trinidad and Tobago’s senior national team for a friendly against World Cup bound South Korea.
Wohlert described how he will make the decisions on whether to dress these players for Saturday’s game against New England Revolution II on the road.
The idea is to check first with the player. Make sure that they’re feeling good because it’s really demanding for the body, they played minutes, they played games like Deven Cadigan went to Brazil spent some time there. Most importantly we have to check first with the guys and I can say that this check is not completely done right now A few guys will travel with us but I don’t think any will be in position to impact the game.
Tomorrow will be the 11th meeting between the Revolution II and Red Bulls II and the Baby Bulls hold a 5-3-1 edge in regular season play against their rivals from Massachusetts.
This time around, it will be a fight for position in the Eastern Conference standings. Red Bulls II sit in fourth place while New England are fifth. The two teams are tied on points (25) with the tie-breaker being goal differential which the Red Bulls II have a slight 6 to 5 edge in.
On their four-game winless streak, Red Bulls II were outscored 11 to 4, which Coach Wohlert touched on during a recent media availability by saying their defending has to be better.
“The big goal has to be defending our goal in a better way, how we did the last couple of weeks, we just conceded too many goals, and I think that was better in in the big stretch of the start of the season, where we were successful, but now when I look back on the results, it’s just too many goals, and the goals, they have been just too easy, you know, it’s not that like you concede some goals in the season where you just say it’s also difficult to defend, like the opponent is that, so they come out with a clear idea, they train every day, they also get paid to play the game, so there has to be a moment, or there will be moments where you just stand on the sideline, or you rewatch the game, and then you say, oh, you have to give the opponents credit, but I feel like the last goals we’ve conceded, there are too many situations where it’s just too easy.”
When a team goes through a stretch like this, coaches often make training sessions harder to help teams build endurance for the next match. Faello discussed what he and his teammates need to do better during their next match.
We definitely need to just bring the energy right from the first minute of the game. Training has been really good with energy, but we need to bring that energy to the game, not just in training. It needs to be from minute one to the end of the game.
The Baby Bulls will look to get their first win since May 8 when they travel to Beirne Stadium in Rhode Island to face the New England Revolution II. Kickoff is scheduled for 3 p.m. ET with coverage available on MLSNEXTPro.com and OneFootball.
