Red Bulls, Red Bulls II, soccer

New look Baby Bulls embark on final USL Championship season

On Saturday, Mar. 12, the New York Red Bulls II begin their final season playing in the USL Championship on the road against 'The Miami FC'. The Baby Bulls underwent many changes including hiring new head coach Gary Lewis and bringing in a host of new players.

The weather is warming in New Jersey and soon the New York Red Bulls II will be playing in front of passionate crowds at Montclair State University's Soccer Park. However, before things get better, the Baby Bulls will trudge through four games in the first 12 days of the season.

There is a new manager in charge and his name is Gary Lewis. He was just the Academy Director for the Seattle Sounders and before that coached youth academy teams for the Philadelphia Union from 2015-2019.

The Red Bulls II have undergone major changes, starting with the departure of John Wolyniec, the manager who led the club to it's only USL Championship Cup in 2016. Now the Baby Bulls will be guided forward under an experienced new manager who has coached some of the biggest names in the game like Trent Alexander-Arnold from Liverpool FC and Brenden Aaronson who plays for Red Bulls Salzburg. So what might Lewis be able to do with a diversely talented roster of 16-22 year olds looking to move up to the first team?

Seven New Members Added to the 'Baby Bulls!

The team has made many signings and committed several exciting players to their club for the 2022 USL season. Some of these include Jonathan Filipe, the midfielder who turned heads by scoring three goals in the Red Bulls II's four preseason games as well as Giannis Nikopolidis.

Johnny’s very exciting on the front foot, his first touch going forward, his first reaction is always forwards, and then when the ball is building on the left side, his ability to read situations and again be on the front foot [and to] get himself in the correct position in the penalty area to finish which is what he did against Philadelphia on Saturday." - Coach Lewis on new Red Bulls II midfielder, Jon Filipe

The goalkeeper above with the Greek name was picked by the Red Bulls in the 3rd round of the MLS SuperDraft 2022. Nikopolidis has had an interesting youth and college career to this point. In high school, he played for Greek first division team Olympiakos in the U-20 Greek Super League.

Niko's profile on Georgetown University's website says "trained with Olympiakos first team." When he went to college, he attended the Washington D.C. based Georgetown where he became BIG EAST Goalkeeper of the Year twice and posted a gawdy 39-10-3 record in net for the 'Hoyas' in three seasons.

He may seem like the first choice in net but there are others; Connecticut College graduate, AJ Marcucci who made 19 starts for the Red Bulls II in 2021. This allowed him to sign his first MLS Contract with the first team this offseason and this year, when he is not backing up Carlos Coronel, he will be battling for the USL starting job with the new keeper from Georgetown.

Goalkeeper A.J. Marcucci does drills during training with the New York Red Bulls II. Photo courtesy of Matt DeLuca, NY Red Bulls comm.

 

Then there is Derrek Chan who the Red Bulls signed out of the University of California, Davis. The 23-year-old who stands six-foot-three made 15 appearances during the 2021 season for Davis where he posted four shutouts, meaning he will be yet another goalkeeping talent that the organization will be developing in the Red Bulls II's final year playing at the USL Championship level.

In addition to having three goalkeepers playing with the Baby Bulls, one with a full year's experience playing in the USL, the Red Bulls have added Jordan Adebayo Smith. The 21-year-old scored two goals against the club he is with now.

Baby Bulls Who are Returning in 2022

Then there are the familiar faces that the Baby Bulls fanbase will get yet another chance to see play this season. Chief among those familiar faces is the cool, calm midfielder named Sam Williams. During last season the skilled midfielder was one of just three players 16 years old or younger to play on the Red Bulls-- which says a lot about Williams. This year, the small but gifted midfielder should be able to earn even more minutes on this Red Bulls II team.

Another returning player is Curtis Ofori, who made his debut on May 3, 2021, with Red Bulls II. Oddly enough, Ofori was not played often during the middle of last season but made a comeback in September where he played seven games including full 90 minute starts against Loudoun United. This year, the young Baby Bull defender from Hopewell Junction, New York believes he can follow in the footsteps of Ngoma, Edelman as long as the 16-year-old takes it, one day at a time.

Getting a full 90 gives anyone confidence, and... the games I played were pretty decent performances, so...just getting used to playing a professional game week in and week out, I think it helped my confidence a lot. It gave the organization and the coaching staff more trust in me to say, 'We can trust him and put him out and give him the full 90 to play well the whole game.' - Baby Bulls defender, Curtis Ofori

Ofori was just 15 years old on last year's team. The Red Bulls II made a habit of bringing up several very young players from the Red Bulls Academy, such as Serge Ngoma and Daniel Edelman, the last two already made MLS debuts in Red Bull's first game of the 2022 season. The midfielder from North Plainfield, a town in central New Jersey, debuted at the Major League Soccer level at 16-years-old, which tied a franchise record for youngest debut since the founding of the original club, the New York Metrostars, 28 years ago.

Team photo of the New York Red Bulls II from 2021. Photo courtesy of New York Red Bulls II.

Al in all the RBNY Front Office brought in close to seven new players: midfielder John Murphy, defenders Christopher Cragwell and Daniel DeLeon, along with forwards Adebayo-Smith, Filipe, and O'Vonte Mullings. This last player is especially intriguing because he hails from the good sporting city of Toronto in Canada and also was able to score a gawdy 28 goals while at Florida Gulf Coast University during a three-year collegiate career.

By adding three forwards to the Red Bulls II in one offseason, sporting director Denis Hamlett has demonstrated that the Red Bulls are interested mainly in developing attacking players at the level right below the MLS. What's the big idea, why aren't defending players as important? The reason for that is that the 'Red Bull high-press' demands a steady supply of attacking players who have the ability to play fast and run hard many times during a game.

Here's what the new bench-boss from the United Kingdom, Coach Lewis had to say about what he wants to see on Saturday in Miami, Florida.

Really, it's just about our identity...identity and behaviors together that align with our first team. It's a clear identity with our first team, and we’re trying to be competitive on Saturday, but with the end in mind of trying to get as many players as I can into Gerhard’s [Major League] environment, which again, is a player development strategy more than a team development strategy.

Midfielder Jeremy Rafanello led the team with six assists, while compiling seven goals, one less than 2021 top scorer Omar Sowe and 'Rafa' will be back this season. It will be his third USL Championship season and because he is a ripe 22-years-old, the South Jerseyan must feel the pressure to earn some Major League Soccer minutes up with the first team in 2022.

Wait there's more. Another player who made over 20 appearances for Red Bulls II last season who is going to be patrolling the left sideline at MSU Soccer Park again is Juan Castillo! The Colombian is a very quick left-back who likes to get forward and produced two assists in 2021.

Baby Bulls manager Gary Lewis shed some light on what he expects from his defenders within the realm of the relentless style of play.

Against the ball, we want them to be proactive, the best way I can describe it is that I don’t want defenders to be soccer supporters. I don’t want to see the play building down the right-hand side and our defenders looking as if we’ll score a goal here. It’s the what ifs for me.

Anthony Paradiso
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