The New York Red Bulls found in Andrés Reyes and Sean Nealis the perfect pair after the former club’s captain Aaron Long left for California
If the New York Red Bulls have been struggling to find the back of the opponent’s goal, on the other hand, the team has been consistent when it comes to its defense after two games into the MLS 2023 regular season.
In their opening game down in Florida against a loaded Orlando City with South American talent moving up the field, the Red Bulls were able to control the Lions for much of the game until a controversial handball penalty by Sean Nealis cost them the game.
A week later, on a cold Saturday night in Harrison, New Jersey, the New York Red Bulls faced a Nashville SC team that had Hany Mukhtar – last year’s MLS Player of the Year – sitting on the bench due to a hip injury that has been preventing the German to play a full match.
Read more: Aaron Long compares LAFC with the New York Red Bulls
A scoreless draw disappointed the almost 19k fans that challenged the weather, hoping for a win but another good performance by the Red Bulls defense didn’t go unnoticed. The new duo formed by Sean Nealis and Andrés Reyes, along with John Tolkin on the left and Cameron Harper on the right with Frankie Amaya ahead of them, didn’t allow a single open play shot towards Carlos Coronel, which proves the excellent start of the season considering the amount of talent Orlando and Nashville have.
The @NewYorkRedBulls duo have won the most challenges in MLS this season 💪#NYRB pic.twitter.com/EvQjcEEE74
— PFF FC (@PFF_FC) March 9, 2023
One of the reasons for this encouraging standard going forward into the season joined the New York Red Bulls at the beginning of 2022 but had to deal with a foot injury that sidelined him for 20 games during his debut campaign with the team: Andrés Reyes.
”A player for Europe”
Reyes, a 23 years old Colombian signed last year from Atlético Nacional, started both games this season and registered some interesting stats: 10 total duels won (eight in the air and two on the ground), three interceptions, and clearances per game, according to Sofascore.
Despite the good defensive numbers, Reyes almost scored a goal against Nashville during the second half when he beat Walker Zimmerman and Jack Maher up the air, but the ball went a bit wide.
The head coach Gerhard Struber pointed out during his press conference this Thursday (9) that Reyes’s performances didn’t surprise him and classified the Colombian as a “player for Europe.”
“Don’t surprise me. I think we’ve dealt with what he has for me was always clear when he’s in the right shape, and he has the right fitness level. He is a player for Europe. This is not a surprise right now”, said Struber.
The coach continued: “He shows us that he is reliable in all his defensive moments. His actions are on a different level from a defender in this league. I think I have a high appreciation for him. … very clean and breaking the lines to help our team. I have the belief he can play in Europe in the near future, this is what he showed me the whole preseason and also in these the first two games in the MLS; he looks very very good at the moment and helped the whole group to be successful.
I’m very happy that I have him with this fitness level and in this shape and this make us with him much stronger“, Struber praised his defender.
(Cover: John Pern/Território MLS)
