TUCSON, Ariz. (February 21, 2017) ā Amongst the Red Bullsā Desert Diamond Cup roster in Arizona are New Yorkās first and second round SuperDraft picks, Zeiko Lewis and Ethan Kutler.
Since joining the team for their first preseason stint back in late January, the pair have been tasked with learning the teamās tactics and adjusting to the professionalās pace of play.
Although itās a difficult task, the rookies have been up to the challenge.
āOur style of play is not always easy for young guys, but theyāre certainly taking on the challenge,ā NYRB II head coach John Wolyniec said. āItās a work in progress, but thereās definitely been strides made from the first day of preseason to now.ā
For Kutler, the adjustments have been drastic. Despite playing as a forward for his entire college career, the Red Bulls staff has identified him as a potential right back.
While itās a challenge to change positions, Wolyniec believes with his soccer IQ and continued hard work that heāll be able to complete the transition.
āItās not easy to make a positional change. Especially when youāre stepping up levels,ā Wolyniec said. āAnd then at the same time, we have some specific tactics that arenāt always used at the college level. Heās already made some strides and we believe that heāll continue to make those and weāll end up in a good place.ā
Lewis is also finding his way in a new system. On Saturdayās opening Desert Diamond Cup match against Sporting KC, the rookie started at striker alongside Brandon Allen.
Wolyniec noted he was able to create, āopportunities to make plays and possibly finish,ā and hopes that by learning the roles of a midfielder and a forward, he will find his position with the club.
āThe formation that weāre playing, itās kind of a change of position for him whether he plays in the striker role or the midfield role,ā Wolyniec said. āWeāre trying to work through what might be best for him, and we feel like he has qualities that fit playing one of the strikers or playing one of the attacking midfielders.
āItās a little difficult if youāre not playing the same position day-in-day-out, which makes it a little bit harder as the tactics change with each position, but we still see the qualities that we saw when we drafted him and we feel like heās also making strides.ā
Overall, Wolyniec is confident that if they keep up the hard work, theyāll make an impact with the team in 2017.
āThereās a balance of being patient and working hard. Getting up to speed with the speed of play, the physical demands, the endurance demands, the in-game focus demands. Once they get up to speed on that, then they can begin to put their own spin on things within the framework of the style of play and start to show what they can do.ā