Chelsea Manager Jose Mourinho praises New York Red Bulls youngsters

First things first, after the match Jose Mourinho said this:

You are speaking with the manager of the best team in England. We don’t have fragilities. We are a top team, we have top players. We started training six days ago and we did 11 training sessions in six days. We don’t need other players.

We play ten times against Red Bulls, we win nine. The second half was a disaster, but I’m not worried.

Agreed. This was just a friendly. It means nothing. Chelsea is clearly the better team. However, the New York Red Bulls, using a mix of reserves and USL players, were able to hang with one of the best teams in the world even if it was just a friendly.

Franklin Castellanos (New York Red Bulls II), the 16-year old Tyler Adams (New York Red Bulls II), and Sean Davis (recent Homegrown signing for the New York Red Bulls) all scored for the home team in front of a decidedly pro-Chelsea crowd. Baby Bulls (what we call anyone not on the senior team) Chris Tsonis, Mike da Fonte, Dan Metzger, Konrad Plewa, Dan Bedoya, Jamie Thomas, Bolu Akinyode, Victor Manosalvas, Colin Heffron, and Devon Williams also made appearances and performed well in what was surely a thrilling experience for them.

And Mourinho made sure to praise the kids:

The kids they picked tonight were very good opponents for us - sharp, quick, fast, high motivation, I believe so happy to play against Chelsea.  They gave us a good match, maybe better than they should, but a very good match.

Goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois also complimented the Red Bulls players and the growth of soccer in the United States after the match:

They did really well, I think. They gave us a really hard game. They scored four goals, you see that the youth in America is doing well, they have a lot of talent. Last year I played with Belgium in the World Cup against the U.S.A. and it was also a good game. You see that also soccer is getting important in the United States and that is good for the sport.

Lose to the Philadelphia Union in the Open Cup while up a man for most of the match. Beat the English Premier League Champions using a roster comprised of reserves and second-team players. That's how we roll.

P.S. I heard there were Chelsea fans crying at the match.