NYRBII tops Louisville City FC 2-0 with strong play from debutant Flemmings

On a windy afternoon in Louisville, New York Red Bulls II managed to come out with a 2-0 victory. On the back of a fantastic attacking effort from Junior Flemmings, as well as solid defensive play from Dan Metzger, 'Speedy' Williams, and the whole backline, NYRBII exited with a win today despite a short bench.

The game saw play from seven Red Bulls Academy products, as Brandon Allen, Derrick Etienne, Dan Metzger, Noah Powder, and Konrad Plewa started, while Mason Deeds and Brian Saramago entered the game as subs. Allen got on the score sheet in the 78th minute tallying his third goal of the year off a cross from Junior Flemmings after Flemmings made a strong run down the length of the right side of the field. Prior to that, in the 29th minute Flemmings finished off a rebound off strongly, hitting the ball near post to put NYRBII 1-0. Vincent Bezecourt, who's shot provided Flemmings with that rebound, exited the game in the 40th minute to injury.

Lineups-

NYRBII: Meara; Powder, Long, Carroll, Plewa; Metzger (Schmoll 66'), Williams, Etienne, Bezecourt (Saramago 40'); Flemmings (Deeds 80'), Allen

LCFC: Goodwin; Smith, Reynolds, Shanosky, Son; Abend, Quinn, Kaye (McCabe 79'), Lubahn (Lancaster 60'), Davis IV; Hoffman

Three Thoughts:

Aaron Long is impressively versatile-

In the first few games of New York Red Bulls II's season, the new man from Seattle has featured all across the backline, while also being capable of playing in the midfield, as he did for S2 last year. As the team lacks the depth to do like for like substitutions at this point in the season, Long's ability to seamlessly shift across the field has paid dividends for NYRBII. He looks equally comfortable at centerback within five minutes of playing there after featuring for 65 minutes at rightback; that's a rare skill. Jesse Marsch and the first team coaching staff thinks highly of Long, and he could be quite the valuable utility man for the first team in the future. Utility men are exceptionally valuable on an MLS roster capped at 28, especially with they're not 5' 6" (sorry Connor Lade).

The USL still needs to work on their camera and game presentation-

Louisville City claims to have Major League Soccer aspirations. They like to present themselves as one of the "better", more professional organizations in USL. If this is the game presentation that one of the "more professional" clubs in USL has to offer, then USL has a long way to go as a professional league. The camera work was shaky, unable to track the ball, and often unfocused. The perch for the camera was at low angle, which when coupled for the camera man's propensity to zoom, led to the ball often being out of the frame entirely. It's kind of hard to watch a soccer game without seeing the soccer ball. The commentators are another matter entirely, but local commentators being subpar and homers is an issue that appears at a variety of levels to be fair.

Junior Flemmings is the real deal

In his USL debut, Junior Flemmings put in a very impressive shift. He led the team on the stat sheet with a goal and an assist, while continuously terrorizing Louisville's right side. Flemmings likely doesn't have much adapting left to do despite only signing recently. He has been with the organization on and off for the last year, as well as with the team for much of preseason; as such, he can hit the ground running. If Flemmings continues to improve, he could well be one of the best players in the USL by the end of the year. With the young attacking talent of Derrick Etienne (19) and Junior Flemmings (20) on the wings, NYRBII, and later the first team, have quick an exciting duo coming through.