New York Red Bulls

The Red Bulls may be enjoying the 90-degree heat at their training headquarters in Riviera Maya, Mexico, but Coach Hans Backe, speaking to reporters Thursday during a telephone conference call, clearly had at least one eye on England.

That is where striker Thierry Henry is wrapping up his short-term loan deal with Arsenal and striker Luke Rodgers remains, cooling his heels waiting, hoping for the approval of a United States visa that would enable him to rejoin the Red Bulls.

“I talked to Thierry a couple of days ago and he will be back on Feb. 17, between our two camps,” Backe said. After two more games in Mexico (Saturday in a closed match against Mérida in Cancún and then Tuesday in Guadalajara against Tecos), the club will return home before departing for another camp in Arizona (and a series of preseason exhibitions).

Last weekend there were reports out of London saying that Arsenal was interested in possibly extending Henry’s loan until the end of the month, reports that Backe said were “only rumors.”

Although he tried to sound optimistic about Rodgers’s status, his visa situation remains up in the air, and the coach said it might not be sorted out until the end of next week.

“There is an appeal and we will probably have an answer by the end of next week,” Backe said. He added, “it’s some kind of paperwork that didn’t arrive in time and the embassy made a decision before that paperwork arrived. That’s what we’re looking into now.”

While that might indeed be the case, it is believed that Rodgers overstayed his visa last year by several days and is now going about compiling the documentation necessary to plead his case that his overstay was because of his employment with the Red Bulls during the Major League Soccer playoff series against Los Angeles.

New York Red Bulls

While the Iceland midfielder Victor Palsson was listed as a trialist on the match report from Tuesday’s game against Dallas, Backe confirmed one of Palsson’s recent tweets, saying that the 20-year-old, the son of an Icelandic mother and a Portuguese father, had been signed to a two-year deal by the club. Palsson has played outside Iceland since he was 15, including a stint with Liverpool’s reserve team.

The coach also expressed his pleasure with the other players who are on trial — Jhonny Arteaga, Ryan Maduro, Brandon Barklage, Giorgi Chirgadze and Jose Angulo — saying “I would like to sign all five, but it depends on the salary cap.”

“All five have impressed and done well,” Backe said. “Angulo is a very technical, balanced player with a phenomenal touch on the ball and he’s always asking for the ball. Arteaga is a more direct striker who always seems to be in the right position. He can play wide and has decent pace. Chirgadze is a homegrown player we’re giving another chance, he’s left-footed and has something special. He’s strong and not afraid of anything. Maduro is a creative central midfielder who could play box to box or wide. Barklage, you can see he has M.L.S. experience and reminds me a bit of Dane Richards. Good pace, good 1 v. 1, good in the air. Over all, I’m quite surprised with the level these guys have shown so far.”

Backe concluded: “It’s been a great start to the preseason. The attitude been quite good, this preseason looks like we have very motivated players. They’ve trained very hard and also really addressed the environment in the lockerroom where everyone has to get involved to make it better this season.”

Notes

¶ Backe said that the Red Bulls coaching staff was pleased, so far, with the play of the two goalkeepers in camp: the rookie Ryan Meara and Jeremy Vuolo, who played one season in Finland after his collegiate career with Syracuse. Vuolo apparently came to the attention of the Red Bulls because his agent had previously been represented by Red Bulls General Manager Erik Soler when Soler was an agent in Europe. … Injuries have kept defender Wilman Conde and Juan Agudelo limited in camp.Teemu Tainio has also been hobbled by what Backe called a “soft calf strain.” … Backe said that Henry would remain team captain.

¶ Unlike last preseason when Backe said he was focused on winning the league’s Supporters Shield, which is awarded to the No. 1 team over all in the regular season, and then basically tanking it in the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup, Backe pledged to pursue the shield, the Open Cup and M.L.S. Cup.

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