Red Bull New York head coach Michael Bradley has had two weeks to recover from the huge loss in Charlotte and reassess where his team needs to improve. While there are certainly points to take away from the loss, he doesn’t want the narrative to be the one off failure. Instead, the club is focused on where they have made progress with the young core of the team.
“I think we’ve established good starting points with who we are and how we want to play,” said Bradley ahead of Saturday’s game against FC Cincinnati. “There have been moments where we’ve rewarded ourselves and moments where we have taken what we should. In other moments we have still paid a heavy price for not quite doing enough with our really good spells of football.”
Red Bull started strong in 2026 with two consecutive wins. The club looked dynamic on the ball but showed signs of not being able to convert on their many chances. Still, they pulled off a 2-1 win in Orlando on the road and opened up Sports Illustrated Stadium with a strong 1-0 win over New England Revolution.
From there the season showed its first challenges. Montreal took advantage of defensive lapses to grab a 3-0 result, culminating in a 6-1 drubbing at Bank of America Stadium two weeks ago. Now, the club hopes to regroup amidst an injury crisis to the backline that sees the availability of Dylan Nealis and Justin Che in question. The club also hopes to focus on their offensive challenges against a team like Cincinnati, known for their physicality.
“We try to put the game on our terms every single weekend,” said Bradley. “We feel like, ultimately, if we do that really well, that is going to put us in a good spot every weekend regardless of how the other team plays.”
Cincinnati is a team still looking for consistency. A 4-3 win over Montreal gave them something positive heading into the international break, but days earlier the club dropped a disappointing 5-1 result in the Concacaf Champions League to Mexican club Tigres UANL. Both clubs are hovering at the playoff line, needing a win to set their seasons straight in the early part of the campaign.
photo by Matt Kremkau