Bradley Wright-Phillips signed a contract extension with the New York Red Bulls that will keep him with the club for the near future. (Photo Credit/Kari Heistad)
After the promotion of Denis Hamlett to sporting director at the end of February, the New York Red Bulls were left with a vacancy in their assistant coach position.
Who would lead the side when head coach Jesse Marsch is (inevitably) suspended for dissenting to a referee’s decision? We need not fret any longer.
On Tuesday, the New York Red Bull front office announced the appointment of former South African international defender Bradley Carnell to the assistant head coach position. Breaking from the tradition of staffing the upper echelons of the coaching staff with people Marsch has worked with previously. Carnell, prior to this appointment, served as an assistant head coach to the Orlando Pirates in the South African Premier Soccer League.
This selection is hardly coincidental. The defender spent much of his career in Germany and played under Ralf Rangnick (head of Red Bull Global Soccer), during his days with VfB Stuttgart.
Bradley Wright-Phillips isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. Although New York has made some confounding trades in the last few months, the club’s all-time top scorer is to remain at the heart of the Red Bull attack.
On Wednesday, Wright-Phillips signed a multi-year deal which once again made him a designated player (as you may remember, his contract was bought down last season with allocation money). The marksman has scored 70 regular season MLS goals garnering a Golden Boot award in the process. For his heroics, Wright-Phillips has become the only player in MLS history to have multiple 20+ goal seasons and tied the all time single season scoring record with 27 in 2014.
At 32-years-old, BWP is proving age is just a number and has made himself irresistible to the Red Bull organization. Here’s to more years with you Brad (and hopefully to having you play as a lone forward in a 4-2-3-1 again).
During training on Wednesday, Marsch commented on the absence of center back Aurelien Collin from the starting lineup. Marsch hinted that Collin needed time to mentally prepare himself to be thrust back into the starting role. Fans will recall his sloppy play in the CONCACAF Champions League games in the beginning of the season which saw RBNY crash out of the competition against the Vancouver Whitecaps.
Collin is expected to start against the Houston Dynamo when New York travels to Texas on April 1st. Given the standout performances of Aaron Long, it is unlikely Damien Perrinelle will be starting next to Collin. Yet don’t take this as an affirmation that Collin will be the go to starting CB. There is stiff competition to start alongside Long.
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