HARRISON – Red Bull New York advances to the round of 16 of the U.S. Open Cup after beating Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC 3-1 on Wednesday.
The U.S. Open Cup, no matter what season it is, always delivers to the diehard supporters of soccer in this country. Lower division clubs have a shot at defeating big-time Major League Soccer (MLS) sides and become darlings for those who watch this historic tournament.
This season’s round of 32 has brought that enthusiasm, drama and excitement fans have become accustomed too. Whether it was intense penalty shootouts or “cupset” victories from Colorado Springs Switchbacks FC and Louisville City FC on Tuesday, the 2026 edition has been excellent so far.
For Red Bull, they were hoping to not be another victim of the Cup madness. In past seasons, Pittsburgh has seemingly found ways to conquer MLS squads in this competition. This includes wins against New York City FC, the Columbus Crew and the New England Revolution.
Luckily for New York, they avoided being embarrassed by the visiting team on Wednesday.
Despite a low turnout from supporters, New York brought the energy early. Red Bull were fantastic in the opening half of Wednesday’s contest. A majority of the stats favored New York and they were clearly the better squad on the pitch.
The scoring would commence in the 25th minute for New York when captain Emil Forsberg unleashed an incredible shot off a well-played free kick. Forsberg’s beautiful strike gave New York a 1-0 advantage.
Three minutes later, the young goal scoring machine Julian Zakrzewski Hall continued his impressive start to 2026 by scoring and making it 2-0.
It was only fitting that the two goalscorers of the first half would connect on Red Bull’s third goal of the contest. In the 47th minute, Forsberg delivered a terrific pass to Hall, who would convert and earn the brace to make the score 3-0 New York.
Both Hall and Forsberg would sub off at the 57th minute of Wednesday’s contest given the scoreline. Still, both performed at an elite level against the 2025 champions of the USL Championship. For Forsberg, he finished with an impressive rating of 8.7 according to FotMob.
For Hall, his remarkable start to 2026 has been otherworldly. With nine goal contributions in all competitions this season, Hall’s breakout campaign is becoming a special one.
“Yeah, Julian is making big progress,” Red Bull head coach Michael Bradley said postmatch. “He’s been a really, really important player for us. Many of you guys have heard me say it: It’s not just the goals, his ability to lead our press, to set the tone for everybody in terms of how aggressive we can be to step up and go after the other team. The chasing and the strength thing that he does to make the game really, really difficult on the other team, he chases midfielders from behind. Those things go unnoticed.”
“I give a lot of credit to Michael and the coaching staff for helping me throughout preseason, the start of the season, and even up until now,” Hall said after the match. “Of course there are a lot of things to work on, but I’m looking forward to keep progressing and getting better.”
On the backline, defender Robert Voloder was incredible in helping goalkeeper John McCarthy. The German center-back put forth his best performance of the campaign so far, making critical plays throughout the night.
Red Bull did allow a goal to Pittsburgh in the 79th minute, a few minutes after Voloder subbed off the pitch.
Red Bull will now meet their heated rivals in NYCFC in the next round of this historical tournament later this month. League play resumes for New York this Saturday when they head up north to face CF Montréal. Kickoff is slated for 2:30 p.m. on Apple TV.
