Julian Hall has been the New York Red Bulls’ wunderkind for some time and now, he officially opened his ledger with the first team in historic fashion.
On Wednesday night, Hall headed home an all-important equalizer in the 88th minute against Montreal to help New York earn an important point via a draw for his first-ever Major League Soccer goal.
At 16 years and 87 days, it makes him the second-youngest goal scorer in MLS history trailing only Freddy Adu (14 years, 320 days) — the former prodigy scoring that benchmark tally in 2004.
“I mean, it’s an honor to hear my name in that sort of category,” Hall said. “I mean… it’s a surreal feeling. And I’m just really thankful and I’m grateful for an opportunity like this.”
Hall has been a part of the Red Bulls academy since 2020 and has stayed with the club despite heavy interest from big-time European clubs including famous clubs like Real Madrid, Chelsea, Manchester City, and Bayern Munich.
Across 39 matches with the Red Bulls Academy, Hall has scored 28 goals and has helped the team win the 2023 U-15 MLS NEXT Cup for the first time in its history. He scored five goals during the tournament and earned MLS NEXT Cup MVP. He also won the Golden Boot at the 2023 Generation Adidas Cup.
“If you see the individual development of Julian Hall at 16 years old, it’s unbelievable — 16 years old,” Red Bulls head coach Sandro Schwarz said. “But he’s a great person, a great guy, and he’s always listening. It’s good that he had an important goal [Wednesday], a good feeling that he is also an important player for us and not only an Academy player.”
Both Hall and the Red Bulls had to bide their time to get the promising talent on the first-team sheet. Local laws prohibit children under the age of 16 from working past 7:30 p.m. which is when most Red Bulls matches begin.
Since his 16th birthday on March 24, Hall has been on the bench for each of New York’s last 14 matches, picking up 34 minutes across four appearances while still playing for the academy team. On Wednesday night in Montreal, he was subbed on in the 87th minute. Just one minute later, he found himself on the end of a lofted ball in front of goal off a corner and amidst a scrum to tie the game.
“It’s a surreal feeling, you know, getting a goal in a moment like that. I’m just really proud, Hall said. “I got to score my first goal for the team… I mean, of course, it’s a great confidence boost. And I think it was a really important goal for the team. But I mean, I’ll try to just you know carry this momentum going forward for both Red Bull II and the first team.
With his ceiling as high as ever, now Schwarz has to keep finding opportunities to deploy what could US soccer’s next big thing.
“That makes the next step to play some minutes,” Schwarz said. “He’s in our roster every weekend and it’s good to take a big step now with this goal. I’m very happy for him.”
