Overview:

Sometimes, children playing recreational soccer in the Eastern New York Youth Soccer Association can wind up representing the United States internationally a decade later.

Richmondtown Rampage photo. Adri is circled, coach Joey Caruana Jr. is on the left and coach Anthony Cosenza is on the right. (Photo courtesy of Joey Caruana Jr.)

From Eastern New York Youth Soccer Association

Sometimes, children playing recreational soccer in the Eastern New York Youth Soccer Association can wind up representing the United States internationally a decade later.

Case in point:

Staten Island’s Adri Mehmeti, who is 17 years old and plays for the New York Red Bulls.

Mehmeti started playing soccer when he was two years old. His first team was a recreational side, the Richmondtown Rampage of the Staten Island Youth Soccer League (SIYSL). He played in Richmondtown for two years.

“Adri was really, really talented and hard working. He was great, a real sweetheart who stood out from the rest of the players,” Richmondtown coach Joey Caruana Jr. said. “His father Vani is very passionate about the sport.”

Vani Mehmeti grew up in Albania and played for a semipro team in Greece before emigrating to the U.S., where he played for New York Albanians in 2007-08, Kofrabi for 5 1/2 years and then FC Ulqini, all in the Cosmopolitan Soccer League.

Adri also played for the SIYSL’s Staten Island United, then for Red Bulls Academy. Vani scheduled night shifts for the trucking company he owns so that he could drive him to Red Bulls’ practices in New Jersey in the afternoon. As Adri continued to develop, he played for the Boys Under-15 U.S. national youth teams for the U.S. and Albania.

“Playing for Albania there, he scored a goal with nearly 100 of our relatives watching,” Vani said, according to ENYYSA.

Adri made his professional debut as a 16-year-old with the Red Bulls and the midfielder is now a fixture in their starting line-up at age 17.

He came on as a second-half substitute, replacing another Eastern New York product, Tyler Adams, for the U.S. men’s national team in its 4-1 win over Peru in Orlando, Fla. on Sept. 26.

“I cannot put into words how great it is that Adri is playing for the U.S. men’s national team. It’s a dream come true,” Vani said. “I met my wife, Adri’s mother, here, he was born here and developed here. We have become successful in the United States.”

In the recently completed international window, Adri played in three games, coming in as a sub against Peru and Canada and starting against Chile. The Americans won all four matches in the FIFA international window.