© Michael Baptist
Dante Vanzeir made his comeback to the New York Red Bulls last night after the racism incident. Vanzeir was given half an hour by coach Troy Lesene for half an hour, but the 2-1 victory was already established.
Jorunn Vannoorden
After his racist comment, Dante Vanzeir was sidelined for six games with the New York Red Bulls. He did train with his teammates a few weeks ago and after a unanimous vote within the selection, Vanzeir was included back in the squad this weekend. Vanzeir came on in minute 67 against Hernan Losada’s Montreal, but the 2-1 final score was already established.
The fuss around the racism incident seems to have subsided a bit, Vanzeir even received applause when he was replaced. Although logically there are also people against his return. There were also some slight boos and a small number of negative reactions on social media, but his return was largely accepted. Case closed?
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“It has been a long and arduous process for Dante, the club and our supporters, but the process will not stop after his return to the team,” said NYRB coach Lesesne ahead of the game. “Dante has taken responsibility and accepted the consequences of his actions. He’s already taken six or seven sessions to face its impact. He also took the time on his own initiative to gradually restore ties with his teammates, which is impressively good. They also realized that Dante is learning from his mistakes. Dante has used hateful words, there’s no question about that. But that doesn’t mean he’s a hateful person. He has to keep proving that every day.” There were never major problems between Vanzeir and his teammates.
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Vanzeir himself took his responsibility and wants to focus mainly on football again. That will be necessary, because New York Red Bulls could use a scoring striker. The team is only eleventh in the Eastern Conference of the MLS.
