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The New York Red Bulls will commence their preseason on Monday January 26, so the players are gathering for training camp. There is still a weekend to while away and, understandably, some are inclined to enjoy it.
Armando, for example, is horsing around on the streets of downtown New York.
Good for him.
As it happens, this is quite a popular game in NYC these days.
Huh. Same day, both posts hit social media within about an hour of each other, same street corner. Maybe Armando has joined some sort of cult.
Oh - that second video was posted by Gorka Larrea. He's a Spanish soccer player who joined Montreal Impact mid-season 2014, but had his option declined at the end of the year.
Larrea, a midfielder, spent much of his career before heading to MLS in the second tier of Spanish football, which is also where Armando has played the bulk of his soccer as a pro. The two men are roughly the same age, come from the same country, played many years in the same league, and both once played for Levante (though not quite at the same time, far as I can make out).
Entirely possible they are friends who go way back. Entirely possible they just happened to be in the same place indulging their affection for slapping street lights at around the same time.
One of them is definitely expected to be on RBNY's plane to Florida on Monday. As for Larrea, we'll have to wait and see.
He is conventionally regarded as a central midfielder - and the Red Bulls don't appear to have great need for central midfielders. But since they are being linked with Sacha Kljestan and Felipe Martins, lack of apparent need doesn't appear to play much of a role in the RBNY rumor mill at the moment. Larrea is available, and he's in town. We'll soon find out if it is for any other reason than to see friends.