Juan Agudelo’s four-month long trip to Cloud 9 continues.
The teenage phenom, who burst onto the scene in November and scored a goal in his first appearance with the United States National Team, struck for his first Major League Soccer goal last night, lifting the Red Bulls to a 1-0 win against the Seattle Sounders in the club’s season opener in front of 20,982 at Red Bull Arena.
So calm and composed on the field, the 18-year-old who graduated from the Red Bulls academy, admitted being overwhelmed afterward as he was swarmed by media in the locker room.
“I told all my friends to come out for the opener and they were here,” he said. “It was just amazing to score. I’m really young for this. I’m really happy.”
Agudelo started in last year’s Eastern Conference Semifinal Series two-legged loss to San Jose, showing a glimpse of his bright future. That continued a few days later when he scored on his full national team debut in a 1-0 win at South Africa.
When the Red Bulls declined to renew Juan Pablo Angel’s contract, it became clear that Agudelo’s future was now and the New Jersey kid hasn’t disappointed in the preseason or last night.
“He surprised me today,” Red Bulls coach Hans Backe said. “We all know he has decent pace, that he’s an athlete, very hard to play against. But I was very happy with his decision-making today. In our buildup, I don’t think he had many lost balls or unforced errors comparing to last year.”
Agudelo took a perfect long ball from Finnish defensive midfielder Teemu Tainio, fought off a challenge from Seattle defender Leo Gonzalez to strike a shot with the outside of his right foot past veteran goalkeeper Kasey Keller in the 70th minute.
“It was 10 times better because that’s what I was trying to do, curl it to the far post,” said Agudelo.
Agudelo also set up a penalty kick in the eighth minute when Jhon Kennedy Hurtado clipped him in the box. But Thierry Henry poorly struck the penalty and Keller dived to his right to save the low shot.
“Whatever, good save or bad, I didn’t see it, the ball didn’t go in,” Henry said. “But at the end of the day, we won the game.”
Henry also said he suffered a hamstring early in the game, but he “didn’t want to leave the pitch.”
“I didn’t pull it, I thought I have a strain, so I’m going to have to see how it’s going to go next week,” Henry said. “But early in the game I was pretty lively and I felt comfortable, but then at one point I don’t know if you saw it but I wasn’t moving too much because I wasn’t able to move too much.”
While the Red Bulls dominated possession, outshooting Seattle, 21-10, and had an 11-0 advantage in corner kicks, they were unable to score until Agudelo’s stroke of brilliance on an outstanding ball from Tainio, who played well on his debut.
“I saw there was a big space behind him and he made the first cut, so all I had to do was play the ball behind the defense in front of Agudelo and he did the rest,” Tainio said.
Backe went with Canadian Greg Sutton in goal, starting over Bouna Coundoul, who set a club record with 11 shutouts last year. Backe has been critical of Coundoul’s decision to play for Senegal in a friendly last month and Sutton was sharp during the preseason.
“Sutton has played more minutes in the preseason, Bouna also had an injection the last week so he started his training just two days ago,” Backe said. “I felt after his preseason that Greg deserved a chance to play.”
Sutton made seven saves, including four against Colombian Fredy Montero, who troubled Sutton with a dipping shot from 40 yards in the 27th minute and again with an acute-angled attempt 12 minutes later.
“He had some key saves in the first half with a tricky guy like Montero, he’s definitely a player who can make a difference,” Backe said. “He had a great game today.”
With Coundoul away with Senegal for the African Cup of Nations next week, Sutton will get the nod when the Red Bulls travel to Columbus. A solid performance there could put him even further ahead of the former Martin Luther King standout.
“I know obviously if we keep winning and I’m doing my job in goal, then hopefully that job will continue,” Sutton said.
While Sutton and the Red Bulls go to Crew Stadium after improving to 10-3-3 all-time in home openers and 7-6-3 in season openers, Agudelo will join Bob Bradley’s squad for the friendly against Lionel Messi and Argentina at the New Meadowlands Saturday.
“I don’t know how it’s going to work out,” Agudelo said. “There’s some huge names on that roster. I’m just going to respect them and stuff, but I’m pretty excited to be part of that group.”
With things happening so quickly for him, is there a chance Agudelo lets success go to his head?
“We’ll just slap him in the head once in a while if he gets out of line,” Sutton joked. “No, he’s staying grounded.”