Photo from Getty

The Red Bulls’ most-improved player from their Week One abomination to their Week Two heartbreak was 23-year-old forward Macoumba Kandji. He went from subpar in Seattle to dangerous against New England; now he’s looking to be lethal in Chicago.

“(Last weekend) he did really well, he’s been doing extra weights. I think the reaction is there and he’s been improving substantially,” Osorio said of Kandji, who didn’t score but was for much of the game the best player on the field against the Revolution. The next task is to find the net tomorrow at the archrival Fire (3 p.m. MSG).

“I’m just getting comfortable with the team so this is just a start. Hopefully by next game for sure I’m going to do the same job or better,” said Kandji. “The first game I played left midfielder in the first half; the second game I started up top. In practice after the first game (Osorio) talked to me and told me I’ve got to hold the ball well.

“We worked on that the whole week, me holding the ball. Any time I lose the ball he would yell at me “Macoumba, you’ve got to hold the ball for us! If you want to play for this team, you’ve got to do that for us!’ I worked on that. I thought about it, so I just proved in the game that I could hold the ball well and I deserve to be in the starting lineup.” Osorio said it was both of those factors that made the 6-foot-4 Kandji so much more dangerous to the Revolution and helpful for his Red Bulls.

“It’s a combination of both,” Osorio said, who pointed to last year’s Oct. 9 draw with Real Salt Lake as proof of Kandji’s ability to play wide. “I told the strikers they have to do a better job on holding the ball. That was the big thing I took from my time in England; your strikers have to be very good at holding the ball and there are different ways to do that.

“One is by receiving the ball on the half-turn, and go at people and get some fouls. Or by shielding the ball and getting kicked, get some fouls. But make sure that the ball sticks at your feet; then you link with other players. He can do both of them. That was the big thing for me. He’s as good at turning with the ball and running at people as he can be just holding the ball.”

Osorio pursued Kandji for much of last season, while he was posting 11 goals and five assists for cash-strapped _ now defunct _ Atlanta of the USL. And after arriving in September and getting his feet wet in MLS _ scoring in the regular-season finale at Chicago _ his confidence in burgeoning.

“Hopefully (I’ll) score one or two goals and make it a tradition: Every time I go to Chicago, score a goal or two over there,” said Kandji, who has impressed captain Juan Pablo Angel, the league’s top scorer the past two seasons with 33 goals.

“It’s going well. He’s a kid with a lot of talent,” Angel said. “Obviously this is the best I’ve seen him play since he got here; and with time he’s going to get better and better. With a partnership we need to play games. The only way you get that is by playing together, so hopefully this year we get to get a run together and hopefully build something up. Only time will tell

“He’s been here a little bit longer now; he understands what we require of him in order to help the team. He understands what the coach needs as well and what the coach wants from him; so I think it’s time, putting in the work, gaining an understanding of what the professional game is al about. It’s all a credit to him.”

Angel conspicuously said he felt Kandji could give him the strike partnership he hasn’t had the past year-and-a-half _ noteworthy since Jozy Altidore was on the team for a good amount of that time. Considering Altidore’s hat-trick in the last World Cup qualifier, that’s high praise for Kandji’s prodigious talent.

And with regards to national team duty, Kandji _ born in Senegal and raised in The Gambia _ is still undecided as to which country he’ll represent. In the past he’s been called into camp by both countries but couldn’t leave the U.S. because his asylum status was pending. That case has been transferred from Atlanta lawyers to New York lawyers in hopes of a faster resolution.

“I’ll be free to leave the country and do national team duties, which I haven’t decided yet which national team,” Kandji said. “I got called into Senegal and Gambia. My mom is from Gambia and my dad is from Senegal. The U.S. hasn’t called me, but I will keep that in mind, too. I just have to decide and see which one is best for me.”