While who fills in at left back is still a bit of an unknown for the New York Red Bulls, a competition seems to be brewing on the other side of the defense.
The Red Bulls are entering the second of three games in their final homestand of the regular season with two options at right back in veteran Richard Eckersley and rookie Chris Duvall, and neither is currently a clear-cut choice to start. Eckersley most recently got the nod and performed impressively in a shutout win over the Houston Dynamo, but Duvall has been a steady contributor for months now and was only benched in this past Saturday’s game after a decision was made to give him a rest.
Duvall, 23, could very well return back to the lineup in a crucial match vs. Toronto FC on Saturday (7 pm ET, Univision Deportes in US, TSN in Canada) ahead of the 25-year-old Eckersley, or the two could both start if one is needed to fill in at left back. But neither of those scenarios will happen until Duvall is deemed ready enough to play again after experiencing the common issue of MLS rookie overload.
“Duvall is a day-to-day thing to when we see a noticeable difference that he’s had his time to recover,” said head coach Mike Petke. “It’s never easy for someone like Chris to come in from a college season of two months and from preseason on he’s looking at 10 months or so. It’s a tough thing, but at this point that’s going to be under a microscope for us on a daily basis to see how he’s doing, how he’s feeling and then we take a decision from there.”
When Duvall was benched this past weekend, many observers thought it was because of the rough day he endured at the office the week prior in a 4-0 hammering away to the LA Galaxy.
Petke, however, insisted after the triumph over the Dynamo that that wasn’t the case. Instead, he pointed to the fatigue Duvall accumulated after starting 18 of 19 league matches since May and 20 of 23 games across all competitions (21 of 24, if you include his 78-minute stint in July’s friendly vs. Arsenal).
- Find more Red Bulls news at NewYorkRedBulls.com
“The decision is not based on LA last weekend with Duvall,” said Petke. “This was a decision from the staff — things that we saw and analyzed and also a decision in talking with Chris that it was very obvious that he needed a break, both mentally and physically, perhaps a game or two before that.
“I had a long, candid talk with Chris and Chris needs a break. … If it was just me saying. ‘Oh, maybe he needs a break,’ and he was up for playing, perhaps he would’ve played. But it was a mutual thing and I give Chris a lot of respect for the work he’s put in and him being mature enough about being honest instead of running out there when he wasn’t ready.”
Franco Panizo covers the New York Red Bulls for MLSsoccer.com. He can be reached by email at Franco8813@gmail.com.
