Not Skipping A Beat: Armas Ready At The Helm

Chris Armas brings a lot of soccer pedigree to the club as the Head Coach of the New York Red Bulls.

Armas, U.S. Soccer’s Male Athlete of the Year in 2000, appeared in 264 MLS regular season matches and 66 games for the USMNT during his playing career.

He’s served as an assistant coach with the Red Bulls since 2015 and was previously an assistant coach with the Chicago Fire, where he played for 10 seasons, in 2008. As a head coach for three seasons, he led the Adelphi University women’s team to back-to-back conference title game appearances in the NE-10, and reached the ECAC Championship in 2014.

As for the playing style that the Red Bulls have used with much success, Armas fully understand all aspects.

“I understand it, I know it very well,” Armas said when he joined the organization in 2015. “If it’s a philosophy of making it hard for opponents and taking away their time and space, it’s what I did when I played. Being able to pass it on, understand and embrace it, I get it.”

His style of play as a former USMNT mainstay and MLS great is exactly the kind of soccer the Red Bulls show on the pitch week in and week out.

“It requires a lot of the physical parts of the game, but also the mental part of the game to stay tuned to plays. I understand it,” Armas said. “It’s a fun way to play and you can see it’s taking shape.”