NYCFC’s Herrera has World at his feet

Yangel Herrera already has hit two career milestones by age 19. First, he won the Bronze Ball with Venezuela at the Under-20 World Cup in South Korea earlier this month, given to the third-best player in the tournament. Second, after only three starts with New York City FC (two before, one after the World Cup), he has supplanted Italian superstar Andrea Pirlo in the midfield.

“I see [replacing Pirlo] as normal,” Herrera said through a translator this week. “It’s the coach’s decision.”

NYCFC head coach Patrick Vieira effusively praised Herrera ahead of Saturday’s Hudson River Derby, the first rivalry game against the Red Bulls in which the midfielder will take part.

“Yangel can defend, can attack and score goals,” Vieira said. “He’s a physical presence, he’s a big help for the team and he’s not so bad with the ball as well. ... If we were trying to get him after the World Cup, it’d be too late because he did really well. He was one of the best, if not the best player at the tournament.”

Herrera played every minute of the U20 World Cup, leading his national team to the final, where it lost 1-0 to England.

As a box-to-box central midfielder, Herrera dictated Venezuela’s offense, swinging passes across the field and putting himself on the world stage in a tournament in which NYCFC had been hesitant to let him play.

He even skipped the team’s celebration because even though NYCFC had given him two days to return, “I wanted to go straight back to the club because be- fore I had left, they didn’t even want me to play in the World Cup,” Herrera said.

Herrera’s parents initially wanted him to follow in the footsteps of great Venezuelan baseball stars such as Dave Concepcion and Hall of Famer Luis Aparicio, but he “didn’t really like it.”

In January, Herrera was transferred to British powerhouse Manchester City from Atletico Venezuela. From there, Man City loaned him to NYCFC. Though Herrera expects to stay through the season, that could change if an opportunity arises.

“I’d love to stay, but I would like to see if I could see some minutes in Europe, not necessarily Manchester,” he said.

For now, NYCFC is just happy to have him.