Rising young midfielder Adri Mehmeti is grateful for his opportunity to make an impression with the United States men’s national team.
“For me, it’s been great,” Mehmeti said ahead of Tuesday’s friendly against Canada, which will take place at Allianz Field in Saint Paul, Minnesota.
The 17-year-old Red Bull New York central midfielder is trying to learn all that he can from teammates who are already accustomed to USMNT head coach Mauricio Pochettino’s tactics and approach.
“Obviously, this is my first call up and to experience it with all these players, the young guys, especially the older guys who aren’t as old as us but not too old, it’s been great. Just to get to play with all the characters, different personalities, get to meet everybody, get to know the experienced guys who are playing overseas, it’s been great to learn off them.”
Mehmeti Looks to Establish Himself With USMNT After Fast MLS Adaptation
Over the past seven and a half months, Mehmeti has made rapid progress and has shown evidence that he will enjoy a long career at club and international levels.
Back on February 21, Red Bull New York head coach Michael Bradley handed an MLS debut start to Mehmeti at just 16 years and 321 days old in the club’s season opener away to Orlando City SC.
Mehmeti responded by recording a 40th-minute assist by winning a loose ball and holding off a defender before sliding a pass across the goalmouth to feed Julian Hall for his second goal of the contest.
The Red Bulls’ teenaged homegrown duo had announced themselves to the world in New York’s 2-1 victory at Inter.co Stadium. Mehmeti became the second youngest player in franchise history to tally an assist.
Seven months and five days later, Mehmeti and Hall returned to Inter.co Stadium and made their USMNT debuts in a 4-1 victory over Peru on September 26.
Mehmeti Praises Hall’s Historic USMNT Start
Hall would record a goal and an assist in 28 minutes of action against Peru and has scored in subsequent friendly victories over Chile and Mexico. He became the youngest player since Brazilian legend Pelé in 1957 to score in each of his first three international appearances.
“He’s off to a really good start and he’s been working so hard in training,” Mehmeti said. “I see him every day at Red Bulls, what he’s been doing day in, day out on and off the field, taking care of his body so when he has moments like this he can come in 100 percent ready to work.
“We all know that and him having this first call up, he’s gonna have to work as hard as possible to keep this spot and he’s been doing really well — three goals, three games, so we’re all really happy for him. You can see the excitement that he has. So, again, really happy for him and, yeah, he’s gonna do more for sure.”
Mehmeti has featured twice for the USMNT, including a 62-minute appearance in the Americans’ 4-2 win over Chile on September 29.
Sebastian Berhalter, Tyler Adams Provide Examples For Mehmeti To Follow
He’s closely studied the habits and examples of established USMNT midfielders Sebastian Berhalter and captain Tyler Adams.
“It’s been great to learn from them,” Mehmeti explained. “Especially players in my position like Seb, Tyler, all of them. Even Seb playing in different positions as well, that shows that he has a really strong mentality that I can kind of implement too and take when I go back to Red Bulls and hopefully come back into future camps.”
The United States will have the opportunity to close out the fall international window with four wins out of four, but they’ll first have to defeat 27th-ranked Canada in Saint Paul.
Tuesday’s match is scheduled to kick off at 8 p.m. Eastern Time. It will be broadcast on TNT, truTV, HBO Max, Universo and Peacock. Westwood One Sports will provide English radio commentary while Fútbol de Primera will call the match in Spanish.
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