New York Red Bulls II laid out a masterclass in Red Bull soccer with head coach Ibrahim Sekagya pleased with how his team implemented the overall style of the club. The win over Hudson Valley Hammers in the US Open Cup first round helped the club set a standard for the youth in the club moving forward.
“This is our style of play,” said Sekagya after the game. “You can’t take your foot off the pedal. You must think of getting more goals because, these games, you never what can happen with these things. This is what we talked about. Those players are professional and to play with our second team so that we needed to push for 90 minutes.”
Red Bulls II started the season with a 2-0 win over Columbus Crew SC 2 and in 2023 made a run in the MLS Next Pro playoffs. Previously the team set the standard in lower division soccer for a style of play that produced MLS level talent. Players like Tyler Adams, Aaron Long, Sean Davis, Sean Nealis and others have paved the way for a club that has a reputation to uphold.
Now, after leaving the USL for MLS Next Pro, coach Sekagya feels the responsibility to continue that pipeline with players that are more than capable of making the leap to the first team.
“They have a bright future,” said Sekagya about the team’s young players. “This is why we are here. We have to trust the young ones and they’re demonstrating it themselves. This is the first step. This was a big game from them.”
Expectations are that some of those players will feature for the MLS New York Red Bulls club against Inter Miami. With so many players on international duty, we may see debuts from the club and more proof that the system is producing top level talent for the club to use on the main stage.