HARRISON – Red Bull New York commences their U.S. Open Cup journey Wednesday evening when they face USL Championship side, Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC. This will be New York’s first ever meeting against the 2025 USL Championship winners.
The performance New York had down in Florida on Saturday was remarkable all things considered. In a match which saw designated player Jorge Ruvalcaba and midfielder Adri Mehmeti score their first Major League Soccer (MLS) goals, a draw wasn’t bad. Their opponent, Inter Miami CF, were coming off a season in which they won MLS Cup so Red Bull should be thrilled to earn a point against them.
“I’m really proud of our team, really, really proud of the players, and the way they went after things, you know, it’s obviously a really good opponent,” head coach Michael Bradley said postgame on Saturday.
Fans joked on Tuesday that the result was the reason why Miami’s head man, Javier Mascherano, stepped down from his position. In reality, he stepped down as Miami’s coach for personal reasons.
Next up for Red Bull is another champion, albeit from the USL Championship in Pittsburgh. New York’s matchup against “The Hounds” in the storied tournament is a tasted one for many.
Throughout the opening rounds of the country’s oldest ongoing national soccer competition, “cupsets” have been the talk of the event. Take for example USL League Two side Vermont Green FC beating USL League One side Portland Hearts of Pine in the first round. Don’t forget Tuesday evening when USL Championship club Louisville City FC knocked out Austin FC at home to advance to the next round.
The U.S. Open Cup is a beautiful event where, just like March Madness in college basketball, fans should always expect the unexpected. Bradley and his club understand that their match vs Pittsburgh should be taken seriously.
“We’ve spent a lot of time with Pittsburgh over the last few days,” Bradley said Tuesday. “It’s a really good team, obviously, a big tradition of success. They win the USL Championship last year. It’s a team that, over the years, has a real track record in the Open Cup of playing well and beating MLS teams. And so we give them full respect. We took the players through a good amount of video this morning to make sure that, again, we’re 100% ready for what’s coming, and 100% ready to step on the field tomorrow night and play our football to do everything that we need to do to make sure that we advance a round further. And so we’re excited to start a new competition.”
In their current campaign, “The Hounds” sit eighth in the USL Championship Eastern Conference standings. The club from western Pennsylvania is coming off a road loss to Birmingham Legion FC. Funnily enough, Birmingham is the current home of Serge Ngoma, who was loaned out by Red Bull last month.
In USL Championship competition, Pittsburgh has fallen behind early in a majority of their six league matches. Furthermore, their backline has struggled, having not recorded a clean sheet in league play this season. In the last round of the U.S. Open Cup, however, Pittsburgh were able to secure a clean sheet vs Virginia Dream FC.
Again, Pittsburgh is still an excellent squad in the second tier of US soccer so New York cannot squander an opportunity like this one.
This season’s U.S. Open Cup will be the 27th time New York has participated in the tournament. Red Bull successfully defeated USL Championship club Colorado Springs Switchbacks FC and FC Dallas in last season’s tournament. Their impressive run ended in August when they fell to the Philadelphia Union in the quarterfinal round.
Kickoff for Wednesday’s match against Pittsburgh is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. on Paramount+.
