Red Bulls Roll Past Revolution

 

Julian Hall battling for possession of the ball. Provided by Red Bull New York.

At Sports Illustrated Stadium, the song that plays after Red Bull New York goals is, naturally, "Bulls On Parade" by Rage Against The Machine." 

After the first two games this season, that should change to "Youth Gone Wild" by Skid Row.

That is because Julian Hall, a 17-year-old Manhattan native, gave the Red Bulls the goal they would need to vanquish the New England Revolution, 1-0, on Saturday afternoon in the home opener.

This is already Hall's third goal of the season, as he scored both of their goals in a 2-1 win at Orlando City last Sunday night.

That leads the MLS, to which Hall said, "Of course, it's an honor, but I think I expect a lot more for myself and hopefully there's some more good things to come this season...I think just the connection we all have as a team together, I wouldn't be able to score without my teammates, so I think the chemistry of the team is at a really good level right now."

Hall's goal broke a scoreless deadlock in the 53rd minute, and was described as 17-year-old to 16-year-old to 17-year old. 

Matthew Dos Santos, who had been in a give-and-go with Emil Forsberg, volleyed one towards the net, where Adri Mehmeti, by the right post, headed one across, where Hall, who was on the doorstep of the net on the left side, buried it into the left corner.

Dos Santos notched his first career MLS assist, and at 17 years and 268 days old, the Sandy Hook, Connecticut native is the fifth-youngest player, and the youngest defender, to record an assist in franchise history.

Mehmeti, at 16 years and 328 days old, became the youngest player in MLS history to record an assist in each of the opening two games of a season. He is tied for the most assists in MLS through the first two matches of the season with Amahl Pellegrino and Andres Dreyer, who both play for San Diego; Warren Madrigal of Nashville, and Jesus Ferrera of Seattle.

After coming within a minute of achieving it in the season opener, when Orlando City scored in the final minute of extra time, Red Bulls Goalkeeper Ethan Horvath earned his first career MLS clean sheet, as he notched three saves in this one.

Showing the strength of that position for the Red Bulls, from Luis Robles to Carlos Coronel, that was their 101st clean sheet at home since 2010, which is first in MLS during that span of time.

That is also when Red Bull Arena, now known as Sports Illustrated Stadium, opened, and the Red Bulls are now 11-3-3 in home openers since then.

Red Bulls Head Coach Michael Bradley became the third coach in his franchise history to win his first two games at the helm.

This is the sixth team in MetroStars/Red Bulls franchise history to win their first two games of an MLS season. 

Coach's Comments: Red Bulls Head Coach Michael Bradley addressed these topics after the game:

On forward Julian Hall and midfielder Adri Mehmeti: "They have their football and they have personality, and as we move through preseason and as we continued to push our group and start to figure out the best way to put it all together at the beginning of the season, it was more and more clear every day that both of these guys needed to be on the field. And so they are really talented young players. They both have really good mentalities. They come every day ready to train, ready to work, ready to push themselves, And so we're really happy with the progress that they're making, that we're really happy for them, that now, as they've gotten opportunities, they've showed, how good they are. And so we're going to keep pushing them. We understand that with any young player, with any player in general, not every weekend is going to be perfect, not every game is going to be their best, but we're going to continue to find the right ways to kept these guys and make sure they continue to take the next step."

On fan base and support during the match: "It meant a lot. The stadium is amazing. The stadium itself, the environment, the atmosphere. It's a unique and special stadium, and I've played a lot of games here, or I've been a part of a lot of games here as a player, typically, on the other end, with the national team, one or two where I got to experience the home support. But then I had my first taste last year of what it means to be on the right side of things in this stadium, and it's amazing. And so for the home opener, we wanted to make sure that we did everything we could to step on the field. And to show the team that we want to be, and to show our football and to show our personality, and to make sure that everybody walking out of this stadium this afternoon leaved thinking to themselves that they got to come back."