I’m going under the knife Tweeps, and I won’t be out at Red Bull practice for a hot minute, so I wanted to throw some notes at you.
First of all, second overall pick Toni Tchani was at practice today, as was second-year left-winger/right-winger/right-back Jeremy Hall (ah, the bad old days of tinkering). The former was coming from Virginia and the latter from Maryland, so apparently Snowmageddon played havoc with their travel plans to Jersey.
Teen phenom Juan Agudelo is practicing with the team, but as far as I know nothing is signed yet. Sporting director Erik Soler plans to have a discussion with agent Ron Waxman and try to get the 17-year-old academy prospect signed.
*** Soler and coach Hans Backe were pleasantly surprised by the team’s technical ability despite the long offseason layoff. Guess they were expecting some unskilled brutes. But they were predictably not as enthused about the conditioning, not surprising considering European teams aren’t used to such long offseasons.
“They had a long holiday,” Soler observed, then promised “They will not have that in the future.”
*** Still, a few players clearly caught Backe’s eye. At first he was hesitant to single anybody out, but you can tell he just can’t help himself where rookie defender Tim Ream is concerned.
“Tim ream did very well as a center back, very calm on the ball like a European centerback, precise in his passing game,” Backe said. “(He was) very calm on the ball, very precise in the buildup, no stress.”
Right winger Dane Richards either scored or assisted the Red Bulls’ first three goals of the preseason, and was called up for the Jamaican National Team’s friendly against Argentina in Mar del Plata, Argentina tomorrow.
“He was flying in the first two games. To have a good attacking game, you have to play him (behind the defense) in a little bit more, because no one can catch him with that speed. So he doesn’t come short too often, we have to have him turned the right way and play him in (behind the defense) in the attacking game.”
*** Lastly, in honor of the looming blizzard, let’s heat up the Soccer Hot Stove just a little bit. We’ve heard the Red Bulls linked to Thierry Henry and Raul, and now Big Apple Soccer is bringing the name Ze Roberto back out again.
Ze Roberto had been linked with Red Bull Salzburg last summer, before he left Bayern Munich and inked a two-year deal with Hamburg. Now the Brazilian holding midfielder _ who is returning from a three-month injury layoff _ is being connected with Red Bull New York.
To be fair, since he still has a year left on his contract, I admit the first thing I thought of was the 31-year-old USL veteran Ze Roberto. But Big Apple Soccer was specific in referring to the Hamburg version, not the Rochester version. We shall see, said the blind man….
