CAPE TOW – Former Bafana Bafana defender Bradley Carnell has been appointed as interim head coach of Major League Soccer side New York Red Bulls following the firing of coach Chris Armas.
Carnell, who had been serving as Armas’ assistant coach, will take charge of Red Bulls in their game on Sunday against the Philadelphia Union at the Red Bull Arena in New York.
The former Kaizer Chiefs, Bidvest Wits and Borussia Monchengladbach defender was capped 42 times at international level, and played in all three of South Africa’s games at the 2002 World Cup in South Korea and Japan.
After hanging up his boots, he served as assistant coach at Orlando Pirates, Free State Stars and was the head coach of the University of Johannesburg’s men’s team.
“It’s been a whirlwind and emotional rollercoaster and we know we valued Chris and CJ. What happened came as a shock to everybody, but I now have an obligation to the team, to the club, who brought me in 2017 and I have an obligation and our biggest assett right now are the players,” Carnell said in a video on his club’s website.
NEWS: Bradley Carnell will serve as interim head coach. #RedRunsDeep | #RBNY pic.twitter.com/4qeHt6ry39
— New York Red Bulls (@NewYorkRedBulls) September 5, 2020
“We’ve had a good chat this morning and we said what’s most important is to hit the ground running, you know, the dust has settled and things in this business go pretty quickly and there’s no time to rest on what was and now we’re going to focus on the future, which starts on game day,” he said.
After nine games, the Red Bulls are in eighth place in the Eastern Conference of the MLS having won three games.
IOL Sport