HANOVER, N.J. – While they earned all three points in their previous meeting, there remains one key factor that still has the Red Bulls scratching their heads when it comes to dealing with Orlando City SC: how to stop Cyle Larin.
In their last two meetings, the reigning Rookie of the Year has flat out torched the Red Bulls, terrorizing the New York defense to the tune of four goals, all of which came at Red Bull Arena.
Now, as they face off for the second time in less than two weeks, the Red Bulls will head back to the drawing board in the hopes of finding some way to limit the sophomore sensation.
More than most, defender Karl Ouimette knows just how lethal Larin can prove to be. Not only was he on the pitch during Larin’s goal-scoring effort on April 24, but the two are also teammates with the Canadian national team. Matching up with the Ontario native in training on regular basis, Ouimette offers a unique perspective as to how New York may want to deal with the talented forward.
“Cyle is tough guy to defend,” defender Karl Ouimette told NewYorkRedBulls.com.
“He’s big, strong, just a great finisher. You just have to make sure he doesn’t know where you are as a defender; you have to try to play with his head a bit. I’m sure it’s going to be a big challenge but I think we can do a pretty good job on him.”
Leading into their first matchup of 2016, Ouimette offered perhaps the most insightful outlook as to how to deal with Larin. However, with the recent addition of Aurelien Collin, the Red Bulls have yet another resource at their disposal.
“That’ll help for sure,” head coach Jesse Marsch said of having Collin on board. “Aurelien knows exactly what Cyle is about. But he’s not an easy guy to deal with. He’s strong, and when Kaka is feeding him balls around the box he can strike a ball. He’s also fast, so that challenges us when we’re up the field since he can find seams to play behind us.
“We’ll have to do a better job of keeping track of him, but I do think that the comment about Aurelien helping us and knowing him will be able a key factor in the game.”
Teammates throughout the 2015 campaign, Collin has seen first-hand just how dangerous the Canadian striker can be, but also boasts a wealth of experience to draw from when it comes to keying in on Larin’s tendencies. But despite his familiarity with Larin, the Frenchman was more interested in focusing on his own team’s approach rather than the opposition.
“He’s an unexpected player; he can do something amazing,” Collin told reporters. “Right now, we just have to be focused on ourselves. Whoever comes against us, we’ll manage, so I hope we’ll be focused.”
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