HARRISON – Red Bull New York (3-4-3, 12 pts) look to get back to their winning ways vs FC Dallas (3-3-4, 13 pts) Saturday night. New York will be inducting club legend Bradley Wright-Phillips into Legends Row as well on Saturday.
Whenever a club is in a tough situation, fans will be quick to put the blame on those who are making the decisions. That is what is essentially occurring with New York amidst their inconsistent start to 2026. Whether it is on head coach Michael Bradley or on Head of Sport Julian de Guzman, fans will blame someone.
The Red Bull faithful have been very vocal the past few seasons regarding the current status of the club. What was once one of the premier clubs in Major League Soccer (MLS), fans have been disappointed with some of the decisions made by the team in recent years.
Supporters hope that the team will one day return to being one of the more successful squads in MLS, like in the 2010s. In the 2010s, Red Bull hoisted three Supporters’ Shields and on Saturday night, New York will honor their best player from that era. Perhaps, the best player in club history.
Bradley Wright-Phillips will join former Red Bull goalkeeper Luis Robles in Legends Row and it is well-deserved. Wright-Phillips was one of the most prolific goalscorers in MLS during his time with Red Bull and remains an important figure for the team.
Speaking with the press Thursday, Wright-Phillips believes the team, despite their interesting start to the season, is heading in the right direction.
“We’re in great hands,” Wright-Phillips said Thursday. “We got a young coach. He’s enthusiastic and we got good young players and we can’t have short memories. At the beginning of the season, we saw these young players taking the league by storm, scoring goals, winning games and we’re all excited. Then we see a few losses and then we get upset. We just need to stay steady. This is what’s going to happen. If we’re buying into, progressing young players and a new philosophy, there’s going to be ups and downs. It’s about what happens at the end of the season. I do know when I watch Red Bull, I’m excited.”
Going back a decade, Wright-Phillips and Bradley were two of the best players throughout the league and at one point, they had an intense relationship. Over the last couple of years, however, the two have earned each other’s respect and formed a great bond. Wright-Phillips went in depth on New York’s current head coach on Thursday.
“The man is very smart when it comes to football, very good at getting his ideas across to players,” Wright-Phillips said about Bradley on Thursday. “I feel like I have good ideas and sometimes I’ll be talking to players for 15 minutes trying to get an idea across or what I have in my head to those players, he can do that in 10 seconds… it’s a nice relationship I have with him, but it’s more of a respect for the work he does and the player he was and the coach I think he’s going to be.”
“Hard to think of anybody more deserving, in every single way, for what Brad means to this club, and for what he gave on the field, for what he continues to give to the club,” Bradley told the media Friday.
Bradley added that over the last year or so, he has been lucky enough to get to know someone like Wright-Phillips.
The timing and the opponent for when Wright-Phillips enters Legends Row is a unique one. Despite only scoring two goals vs Dallas in his MLS career, his first one against them came on May 4, 2014. Nearly 12 years later, Red Bull are honoring him when they play Dallas in an early May match.
Currently sitting eighth in the Western Conference, Dallas have not won in league play since April 4 against D.C. United. Coincidentally, that was the same day Red Bull last won a league match.
Dallas is also led by one of the best goal scorers in MLS in forward Petar Musa. Musa is currently tied with Nashville SC’s Sam Surridge for most goals scored this season in MLS with nine.
“Very good team, an athletic team, a team that plays with a lot of intensity, a team that has everywhere across the field, speed and guys who really run forward in an aggressive way,” Bradley said on Friday. “We’re very aware of their qualities. Musa is a really, really good striker in the league. [Logan] Farrington is a good attacking player in the league. We’re very clear about the game that’s coming, and ready to make sure that we can do everything possible to come away with three points.”
New York is also on a nine-match unbeaten run against Dallas. Red Bull’s last defeat to “Los Toros” came on March 11, 2012.
Kickoff for Saturday’s match is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. on Apple TV.
