On Sunday at 4:15 p.m. ET, Red Bull New York II will take on their arch-rival, New York City Football Club (NYCFC) II at Belson Stadium in Queens, New York.
The match will be the first meeting between the two rivals since July 20, 2025, when the Red Bulls II triumphed 4-2. The Baby Bulls took two out of three from their rivals from across the Hudson River en route to their first MLS NEXT Pro championship last season.
With each new season comes a new set of challenges and one of them is introducing new players to the Red Bull way. The Red Bull way centers around “pressing”, which according to GQ Sports, is “the organized, proactive defensive scheme that aimed to win the ball back high up the field by swarming the opponent in a systematized, collective fashion.”
It was first popularized by the German soccer manager and executive, Ralf Rangnick while he was Red Bull’s Head of Sport and Development in the mid 2010s. For the last decade or so, Red Bull New York’s first team, which plays in Major League Soccer (MLS) has had several very successful seasons with this philosophy. The most recent of which was winning the 2024 MLS Cup Playoffs Eastern Conference title.
When Michael Bradley was promoted to first team head coach in December, Red Bull New York appointed Dominik Wohlert head coach of the Red Bull New York II.
Wohlert had been an Assistant Coach of Analysis from 2022-2024 and an assistant coach from 2024-25 with the first team. He was also Head of Match Analysis at Hertha BSC, a German club, during a period from 2013-2021 where they played in the Bundesliga.
Now, Wohlert is tasked with defending the Baby Bulls’ MLS NEXT Pro title and while it’s too early to judge whether it was the right hire or not, the team is off to a great start. He’s been training the team for six weeks and the 2026 season has been underway for two weeks and so far the Red Bulls II are 2-0 and have outscored opponents 7-2.
Red Bull New York II made eight new signings during the offseason: goalkeeper and 2026 MLS SuperDraft first round pick Tomas Hut, defenders Aimar Sanchez, Erick Londono, Shunya Sakai and Alexander Julio, midfielders Makan Sissoko and Sekou Koné and forward Akheem Wilson.
Additionally, Deven Cadigan, Brady Boulanger, and Sean Baitinger were called up from the Red Bull New York Academy. Cadigan made his first MLS NEXT Pro start on March 8 against Inter Miami CF II and Boulanger and Baitinger dressed for that game. Cadigan, Koné, Londono, Sanchez, Sakai and Sissoko made their first appearances for Red Bulls II during the club’s first two games of the season, and they were recently honored by the coaching staff.
At a recent media availability, Coach Wohlert described how the group of players he has to work with have come together over these past six weeks since preseason training began.
We are now, around six weeks [into] working with each other. And from that standpoint, I’m really happy with how things are coming together, how the group comes together, how they interact with each other every day, and like these little things. To see that and to observe that, it’s fantastic to see that. And the good thing is always results. Always results in a positive way are always positive, also for the process of creating a group, so creating the belief that the things we are doing are the right things. And for now, it feels really good without talking about individuals, but we have a bunch of guys who are really interesting, who are on a good track and trying to take the next development step. And again, we just try to create the environment where the guys take on the next step.
Eleven additions to the roster means that out of 33 rostered players, 22 made at least an appearance with the club last season. One of them is Morristown native Tobias Szewczyk who earned the first shutout of his MLS NEXT Pro career on March 8. Szewczyk made one start for the Baby Bulls last year and is looking to take over more responsibility in 2026.
Then there is Brooklyn native and Academy product Dennis Nelich. Nelich made 15 appearances last year and scored two goals. So far, through two appearances in 2026, he is off to a great start with one assist, which he earned against Miami on March 8.
Nelich’s cross found Mijahir Jimenez (another player who contributed to last year’s title run) open inside the 18-yard box and Jimenez finished it for his first goal of 2026. Their connection is one that could be big for Red Bulls II this season and Nelich touched on it in a recent media availability.
I mean, I’ve known the guy for a while, and we know what we can do together. So we have a good relationship with each other. And hopefully this weekend, we can build off that.
Academy product Benjamin Rodriguez scored his first MLS NEXT Pro goal on March 8 in his second MLS NEXT Pro start and first appearance of 2026.
Coach Wohlert described how his game has been coming along in training.
Benny is an interesting profile. He got the chance to play and to express himself on the pitch because he had to earn it. He showed it in training that he’s close, and he can have a positive influence in our performance. And that’s why we decided to give him the chance. And I think Benny did well. Now it will be the most important that he’s continuing his way, and he’s not stopping because he had his first goal, and we hope it’s just the beginning.
Turning to NYCFC II, the club played their first match of the season on March 8. It resulted in a 0-0 draw with the Columbus Crew 2 after 90 minutes and went to a penalty shootout, which NYCFC II lost 5-4.
Last season, they finished 12th out of 15 teams in the Eastern Conference and missed the playoffs by just four points.
In terms of NYCFC II’s roster, there has been significant turnover. Only eight players who faced Red Bull New York II last season are still on their roster: goalkeepers Mac Learned and Brennan Klein, defender Max Murray, midfielders Maximo Carrizo, Sebastiano Musu and Peter Molinari and forwards Seymour Reid and Uriel Zeitz.
Reid led the club with 13 goals in 2025 but Nelich isn’t worried about facing their rivals’ prolific striker.
For us it’s a derby game. We know that every team in this league has good players, so we’re just treating it like a derby, and we’re going to give it our all and hopefully take three points home.
The last word goes to Coach Wohlert, who, with his interesting group of players, is looking forward to his first derby as a head coach in professional soccer.
Derbies are always, always special. The atmosphere around that is a little different. It’s the duels [that] are a little bit more intense. And we all look forward to that, because these are really enjoyable games, and that’s what we are communicating to our guys the whole week. And the atmosphere is good, the quality and training is good. So we look forward to hopefully a good game and a good fight.
Kickoff for the New York Derby of MLS NEXT Pro is scheduled for 4:15 p.m. ET on Sunday. Coverage of the match will be available on OneFootball and MLSNEXTPro.com.
