Saturday’s Red Bulls match against the Chicago Fire at Red Bull Arena will be as much about a special, vibrant 10-year-old girl as it will be about the Red Bulls trying to continue their remarkable dominance on the home pitch.
If you’re at the arena for the 3:30 p.m. kickoff and you see a pretty little girl participating in the pregame coin toss with Dax McCarty, the former Red Bulls midfielder and current member of the Fire, that will be Julia de Grandpre.
Julia, the daughter of Red Bulls general manager Marc de Grandpre, is on the autism spectrum and is very much the inspiration, not only for the Autism Awareness Day the Red Bulls will conduct Saturday, but for the unique, forward-thinking “sensory room’’ the club has created at the arena.