HARRISON – Red Bull New York (2-2-1, 7 pts) returns to action Saturday night when they host FC Cincinnati (2-3-0, 6 pts). Red Bull will be looking to earn their first victory since their 1-0 win over the New England Revolution on February 28.
The FIFA International Break came at a great time for New York, who were no doubt disappointed with how their last contest went on March 21 vs Charlotte FC. A 6-1 defeat is bad no matter how you describe it and the month of March was not Red Bull’s month.
Through five matches, head coach Michael Bradley shared his thoughts on how he was feeling when he spoke to the media on Thursday.
“Five games, a lot of things going in a good direction,” Bradley said. “I think we have established good starting points with who we are and how we want to play and what we want to be going forward and there have been moments where we’ve rewarded ourselves and moments where we have taken what we should and in other moments we have still paid a heavy price for not quite doing enough with our really good spells of football, with our really good periods of controlling and dominating games and then we get penalized in other moments.”
Entering Saturday, Red Bull are currently positioned eighth in the Eastern Conference standings ahead of a Cincinnati squad who should be better than what their record suggests. Over the past few seasons, “The Orange and Blue” have been one of Major League Soccer’s (MLS) best performing clubs. Last season, they were close to securing another Supporters’ Shield in their franchise’s history, coming in second in the standings behind the Philadelphia Union.
Cincinnati head coach Pat Noonan has been a huge reason for their success over the past few seasons and Bradley praised him on Thursday.
“Pat was obviously a really good player and has done a really good job in his time in Cincinnati. I think he has built something that is strong and I think the success that they’ve had over the last number of years speaks for itself. It’s a team that has a real clear identity in terms of how they play.”
Cincinnati’s superstar, Evander, has also been a major factor in their success and he will always be a headline for them given his status in the league. But, forward Kevin Denkey deserves his flowers as well, especially to begin the 2026 season. Denkey leads Cincinnati in goals with two and his game-winning goal vs CF Montréal was brilliant.
Thanks to Denkey’s goal vs Montréal, Cincinnati were able to get a huge 4-3 comeback win back on March 22. Denkey was also responsible for the only goal in Cincinnati’s win vs Red Bull last October, the last time they visited Sports Illustrated Stadium.
However, three early losses in 2026 have hurt the visiting team in the beginning portion of the season. Still, considering the momentum they are riding on from their last match, Cincinnati has high hopes for Saturday.
On New York’s side of things, Saturday is a chance for them to rebound greatly. Given the break they just had, it was a chance for them to regroup and figure out what has worked and what needs to change.
With a busy stretch of matches ahead for Red Bull, Saturday is a chance for them to do great things at home. A win to start the month, especially against a visiting side like Cincinnati, would be fantastic.
Saturday’s match against Cincinnati will also be the first of two against the club from Ohio with the second one coming on April 25.
Kickoff for Saturday’s match is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. on Apple TV.
