Justin Haak scores in second game with Hartford Athletic

Two games into his loan spell, New York City FC’s Justin Haak has already made an impact for the USL Championship’s Hartford Athletic. While his debut game was one to forget for Hartford due to the club losing 5-0 to the Pittsburgh Riverhounds, Haak was the lone bright spot in what was overall a pretty dull outing and was given Man of the Match honors.

But in his second appearance for Athletic, Haak made his presence known on the scoresheet. Against New York Red Bulls II of all teams, the 18-year-old Brooklyn, NY native made good on a corner set piece to effect seal the game with a late goal in a 3-1 win.

Haak’s late tally against the Red Bulls’ reserve side is his first goal at the professional level. And for him to make this kind of impact in what is effectively his fifth career pro game is a good sign for the NYCFC youngster moving forward.

Having been with NYCFC’s youth academy since its inception, Haak signed a professional deal with the Boys in Blue prior to the 2019 season. Since then, he’s only seen minutes sparingly — to date, Haak has only made three league appearances for New York City. But for a while, he’s been City’s highest touted prospect not named James Sands or Gio Reyna, the latter of whom now plies his trade as a starter for German giants Borussia Dortmund. And this kind of progress is further proof that the future of NYCFC’s midfield — and Academy products as a whole — is indeed bright.

Keep up the good work, Justin! We look forward to seeing you back in Blue in no time!