Julian Hall said he wanted to make an impact while he was at his first senior U.S. men’s national team camp, and he has certainly delivered on that.
The New York City native and Red Bull New York star scored in his second straight match for the national team, becoming just the 13th player in USMNT history to score in his first two senior matches, finding the back of the net with a header in the 51st minute of the United States’ 4-2 win over Chile.
The 18-year-old made his first start for the USMNT on Tuesday night in St. Louis and continued the strong first impression from the U.S.’s previous match on Saturday in Orlando.
His goal against Chile made him the youngest player in program history to ever score in back-to-back matches.
“It’s been amazing to share the field with some amazing players and they put me in the right spots. I’m just doing as much as I can to put them away,” Hall said about the way he’s played during an interview with TNT Sports.
The impressive goal came off a header that helped tie the match after Chile took a one-goal lead.
Gio Reyna sent a ball into the box and Hall leaped through the air to redirect it past a diving Lawrence Vigouroux for the goal.
He then proceeded to do what’s quickly becoming the patented celebration he said he got from playing the FIFA video game series.
The goal was not his only contribution on Tuesday night.
Hall helped set up the opening goal by Sebastian Berhalter with an impressive dummy to free up space for Berhalter to score.
Hall came into the international window on a high, having scored the only goal against New York City FC in a Red Bulls win over their archrival earlier this month, and despite being on a lengthy goal drought before that, he had been one of the biggest young stars in the MLS.
His success this season in MLS — scoring 10 goals and recording five assists in the regular season — has come under first-year head coach Michael Bradley, who is a USMNT great from his playing days.
Following the win on Tuesday, Hall credited Bradley’s coaching with helping get him and Red Bulls teammate Adri Mehmeti to where they are.
“It’s been amazing. We had a lot of young guys on our team, including Adri who’s here as well, and he’s helped us so much in our development,” Hall said. “He’s a big reason as to why me and him are here right now. He’s been amazing, he gave us amazing advice before we came down here and he’s been awesome.”
