It will be home sweet home for the New York Red Bulls II as they will host their second straight playoff game at MSU Soccer Park when they play the MLS NEXT Pro Eastern Conference semifinal against Chicago Fire FC II Sunday night.
The Red Bulls II led by rookie head coach Michael Bradley advanced to this round after trouncing Carolina Core FC 5-1 last Sunday in the Eastern Conference quarterfinal. The Baby Bulls were one of two teams (along with Philadelphia Union II) who got to pick their opponent for the second round because they are the highest-seeded teams left. Meanwhile, the Fire FC II narrowly defeated New England Revolution II 1-0.
These two Eastern Conference teams have met nine times and the Baby Bulls have a 5-2-2 edge. At MSU Soccer Park this season, the Baby Bulls have posted a dominant 10-1-3 record, including a 1-0 win in their most recent meeting with the Fire FC II on August 24. Defender Juan Gutierrez scored the lone goal on a corner kick in that contest. Overall, Bradley’s side went 2-1 against the Fire FC II this season.
This game will be the first playoff game between the Fire FC II and Red Bulls II since October 1, 2023 when the Baby Bulls cruised to a 4-1 victory in the quarterfinals at MSU Soccer Park. But this is a different Fire FC II team and a different Baby Bulls team because each team has different players but also rookie head coaches. Michael Bradley has only been a head coach for 16 games, while this is the first year for Fire FC II’s head coach Mike Matkovich as well.
Chicago were led in goal scoring this season by forward Jason Shokalook, who finished the 2025 season with an MLS NEXT Pro-best 20 goals. Italian midfielder Claudio Cassano was Chicago’s midfield maestro, leading the team with 10 assists, which was tied for second-most in the league along with Baby Bulls’ forward Rafael Mosquera.
Bradley described how his team is planning to stop Shokalook on Sunday.
He’s a good player, obviously, in MLS NEXT Pro this year. He’s a guy that has gotten a lot of goals. I know that he has spent time training in different moments with their first team. So he’s a guy who causes trouble, runs and gets in the box and finds ways to get goals. We certainly will need to make the game hard on him, and in terms of how we do that and confidence. You do that every day in training by the situations that you put your players in, by how you challenge them, how you work on things, how you put training together, all of these types of things that now allow for improvement, that allow for the growing of confidence and so we feel like we’re in a good spot, and we’re excited now to test ourselves again.
Red Bulls II forward Rafael Mosquera had a brace in the Baby Bulls’ first round playoff game as did midfielder Nehuén Benedetti. They became just the fourth and fifth players in club history to score a brace in a playoff match. One of them is still on the team and that is Ibrahim Kasule.
Montclair native Roald Mitchell scored last weekend as well, and he will be eager to face Chicago who he has scored a team-high six goals against in his career. The last two of those goals came on July 27 when the Fire FC II handed the Red Bulls II their worst defeat of the season by the score of 9-2.
Fire FC II scored the most goals in MLS NEXT Pro during the regular season, one goal more than the Red Bulls II scored (68). Benedetti paced the Baby Bulls in goals this season (11) and finished second on the team with seven helpers.
Coach Bradley described how he views Fire FC II as an opponent.
They’re a good team. They have good players. They have good ideas, about how they want to play football and how they want to try to put the game on their terms, score goals and be dangerous. So it’s a team that we have a lot of respect for. Obviously, the game there in Bridgeview was disappointing, from our standpoint, really disappointing. It was obviously a game where hot day went down to 10 men early. But that was a day that we learned a lot. We learned a lot about ourselves and tried to really use it as a way to improve and take the right steps from there. And so, I think we were able to do that. And then obviously, in the game at our place, a few weeks, month later, we felt like we played a good, solid game. Scored the goal on the set piece in the second half. So again, it’s a good team. It’s a team that we know is going to be ready to test us at our highest level, and we’re excited by the challenge.
One thing to watch in this game will be the Red Bulls II’s goalkeeping situation. The keeper who started 23 of the Red Bulls II’s 28 regular season games this year, Totowa, New Jersey’s own Aidan Stokes will be unavailable due to being at a U-17 World Cup pre-tournament camp. Now, the spotlight falls on 23-year-old backup, Austin Causey.
Causey appeared in five games, while starting in four, this season and allowed 10 goals. Conversely, the Red Bulls II regular, Stokes allowed 45.
Adri Mehmeti, the captain of the Baby Bulls who started in all but three regular season matches this year, described the trust that’s developed between Causey and the team.
Austin (Causey) has done a really good job in training, the way he carries himself, the way he helps his teammates and it doesn’t change a thing. They’re two really good guys, [Aidan] Stokes and Austin and Austin always finds a way to make an impact when he comes into games, so again nothing changes. Hopefully, he goes out and just does his thing like he always does in training.
Mehmeti also touched on what has clicked for him and his teammates this season and through one playoff game and how Michael Bradley’s system has helped ease along their development.
Our style of play with Michael is very clear. It’s very free flowing. There’s a lot of fluidity when we have the ball. We get our guys on the ball that can do things, our wingers, that can be brave go one vs one at guys, which is what we need. And then, when we have the ball, when we’re playing in their half, he loves us to play our football. He lets us play, with good tempo, with control in training doing it every day. It really helps us and prepares us for the games.
The Baby Bulls may be a young team with 16 of the 33 players that suited up for them this season being under the age of 19. But they’ve been training all year for the playoffs, to perform when the spotlight shines a little brighter and the stakes are higher and Bradley touched on how maturity will factor into Sunday’s semifinal.
When you play in big games, when you play with a lot on the line, when you play in the playoffs, there’s no telling how anything is going to play out. Maybe you get the lead, maybe you’re up two goals, maybe you go down and have to come back. And so you have to be able to manage the moments. You have to be able to manage different scenarios and not be phased by that. Know how to deal with everything that gets thrown at you. And so the common threads there are, yes maturity, but also competitiveness and intensity and concentration. And so we felt good about a lot of those things against Carolina, but now we have to be ready to do it again against Chicago.
Kickoff for the Eastern Conference semifinal is scheduled for 7 p.m. ET at MSU Soccer Park on the campus of Montclair State University. Streaming coverage will be available on MLS Season Pass on Apple TV.
