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16-year-old Tyler Adams provides ‘unbelievable moment’ with goal against Chelsea

Tyler Adams

By RYAN TOLMICH

HARRISON, N.J. – Just 16 years old, Tyler Adams scored the goal of a lifetime Wednesday night.

At an age where many are focused on homework or earning a driver’s license, the New York Red Bulls academy product did something much, much more extraordinary: he scored against one of the best teams in the world.

Adams netted the second of four Red Bulls goals Wednesday night, leading a reserve-heavy team to a 4-2 friendly defeat over reigning Premier League champions Chelsea. For Adams, a mere teenager still working on getting his high school diploma, the moment was surreal to say the least.

The teenage midfielder did more than just take on some of his heroes. He bested them.

“The perfect ball, right over John Terry’s head,” Adams said. “I don’t know how (Frank Castellanos) got it over him, first of all, because he wins everything in the air. Luckily, it fell right to me and I had one job to do and that was put it in the back of the net, and that’s what I did. It was perfect. Unbelievable.

“Playing with players like Diego Costa, (Eden) Hazard, I’ve seen them in a World Cup. It’s an unbelievable feeling stepping on the same field as them. It’s almost like you don’t belong, but there’s a reason you’re on the field with them. They’re getting better, they’re helping you get better, so it’s an unbelievable experience. It was amazing.”

The goal was as surprising to Adams as any, as he admitted that he panicked a bit during the ensuing celebration.

Bright eyed and with braces, Adams said that his entire family was at the game while also admitting that there was no sort of postgame celebration planned aside from an ice bath.

Adams emerged from postgame interviews clutching a game-ball, a symbol of an achievement that Red Bulls head coach Jesse Marsch says was over six years in the making.

Introduced to the team through the Red Bulls Regional Development School program at the age of 10, Adams joined the Red Bulls Under-13 team two years later, working his way all the way up to being the club’s first USL signing back in March, just one month after his 16th birthday.

A member of the U.S. Under-17 National Team, Adams cited his time internationally as a key to dealing with the physicality of a club like Chelsea. With that part handled, Adams says that it was all about confidence, a characteristic he says he gets from Marsch.

Composed on the ball from minute one, Adams never looked outmatched or outgunned against players much older and, frankly, much better than he was. Quick to dismiss his height as 5-foot, 9-inches on a good day, Adams pushed back against some of the world’s best, including Chelsea midfield destroyer Nemanja Matic.

For Marsch, Adams’ play was exactly as he expected, as the youngster continues to show the swagger of a champion with the humility of a real veteran.

“He’s established himself in that group because he’s a very good player,” Marsch said. “He’s very alert and he’s specifically a player that is not afraid. We’ve liked him from day one. He was our first young signing and we think he has a really big future.”

“The confidence that Jesse and everyone put into me, of course I’m going to be nervous seeing stars,” Adams said, “but at the end of the day, you have a game to play. It’s just another game. You always have to have the same mindset like that and we did, and we got the job done.”

For Adams, that last statement is the most important, as he knows that Wednesday night was about much more than his personal achievements.

Fielding essentially a youth squad, the Red Bulls bested a Chelsea side that was admittedly in preseason form. Still, the achievement is not one lost on the club, as each and every young player like Adams now knows what can be achieved with just a bit of belief.

“Personally, I wasn’t (surprised),” Adams said. “We all played as hard as we possibly could. We made it tough for them at times as well. As long as you’re making it tough for guys like that, it’s hard to score. That’s what we did.

“(I’m going to) just relax and take in the moment. What an unbelievable moment.”

Comments

  1. Red Bulls II beats Chelsea. Red Bulls I still wondering what happened with philly. The media may use all the adjectives to diminish the victory but this was a definite victory against a star studded team regardless of preseason status. Did MLS all stars get anywhere close against Chelsea? No! The fact is that the talent came up short today and Marsh has tough questions to answer given the fact that he fields a .500 team with no creative midfield. Yep time for Dax, Felipe, and klejstain to hit that bench and watch. They don’t have heart, or creativity!!!!

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  2. Good for him! We need some good Yanks coming up through the system. Maybe someday he will be able to score against Jamaica in a Gold Cup semi-final.

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  3. good for him! – nice little piece of slightly uplifting soccer news. Seems like there is nothing but greed and corruption in the game but everyone once a while its nice to be reminded of the human element.

    i also like how MLS teams are playing their reserves in these games now a days; like how T2 beat Newcastle. Save the first team for the real games! In years past they would go all in on these bs games and de-prioritize the league/cup games. Glad to see this changing.

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    • Totally agree, beto.

      I did not see this game, just the lineup cards. Nice to see.

      I did watch the Galaxy/Barca game the other day, though. The biggest difference to me was the lack of a HUGE drop-off for the Galaxy than in years past. I remember (not long ago) when these Euro teams would come in for the friendlies. The first halves were almost always tight – with both teams primarily playing first team squads.

      The second halves, however, were usually blow-outs, with the second-string guys for the Euro teams being miles ahead of the reserves for the MLS squads. Not so, anymore. Or, at least, not in that game. The LA Galaxy II players more than held their own.

      Maybe the USL/Academy system is actually working… just maybe.

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  4. Must be unbelievable for a 16 year old to play against Chelsea, even if it’s a friendly. I’ve seen Adams a few times for RBNY II this season and he’s looked good especially considering he’s 16 and playing against grown men. Hopefully he keeps improving and we see him in the first team soon.

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  5. Why do you read his articles if you have such a problem with them? Go find another website instead of projecting your own disappointments in life to a soccer blog. What a joke you are

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    • There seems to be some serious and ugly trolling of SBI’s writers going on lately. Wonder why a maybe Ives fired one of them and they’re bitter?!

      Reply

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