Red Bulls Preparing for Monterrey in Leagues Cup

After securing the full three points against Chivas de Guadalajara in their first group stage match of their Leagues Cup run, the New York Red Bulls will be preparing for their next match as they travel to the Queen City in Cincinnati, except it won’t be against FC Cincinnati. They will instead play against CF Monterrey at TQL Stadium.

Monterrey has been a club on the rise in Liga MX for a very long time, while most of the clubs in Mexico are top-notch sides against MLS clubs, Monterrey has shown to be a difficult club to battle against throughout the years in their top-flight league and the CONCACAF Champions Cup. Let’s also not forget they won three consecutive Champions League titles against Real Salt Lake, then two finals in a row against Santos Laguna.

Back then, they were managed by Victor Vucetich from 2009 through 2013. But today it’s managed by former NYCFC Head Coach Domenec Torrent for two seasons before moving to South America in Brazil for Flamengo, took a year off, and moved to Galatasaray. Came back to North America to manage in Liga MX at Atheltico San Luis, then his current position with the club.

How will Schwarz handle this Monterrey side, even though at this moment their start to the 2025 Apertura season is currently in fourth place with two wins and a loss. But Monterrey lost to FC Cincinnati in their first group stage game by a final score of three goals to two; they will look to right themselves after that match.

“Monterrey is a really good team, their individual quality as well, very strong. Similar structure, they started the beginning of the season, they played a back four, but the past games they have played a similar structure like Chivas [Guadalajara] played, three center backs then like all of the Liga MX teams with a lot of good players in ball possession with a lot of good quality in keeping the ball, good switches, so it is a really good team. We have to defend very strong and also to find our moments with the ball, which is very important tomorrow,” said Sandro Schwarz

Tim Parker had a strong match against Guadalajara, along with Sean Nealis, Dylan Nealis, and Raheem Edwards. The backline did the job to prevent Chivas from earning chances, helping out A.J. Marcucci. Parker was a part of that 2018 side when they lost to Chivas in the CONCACAF Champions League Semi-Finals.

“Yeah, I mean ecstatic, I think whenever you are able to win a game late, it usually feels a little bit extra emotional because you have put so much into the 90 minutes, so when you win one late like that, there is a lot of emotion that goes into it. For us, it is huge, I mean obviously to win at home, but to give ourselves a good position going further into this competition.” Said Parker.

Now the club is getting ready to face Monterrey. They know that this club will be a big challenge to battle against, and they need to continue their good fortunes from their last match into this one. While they might have to change up their game plan, the job for the backline is simple. Stop all attacking runs and assist their goalkeeper at all times.

“Yeah, whenever we play Liga MX teams, we always anticipate the aggression and the intensity to be high. So, for us going into this next game, there are going to be certain players that we are going to look out for and there are going to be certain tendencies that they have, but for us it is about matching the intensity from the beginning and then taking advantage of our opportunities when we get them.” Said Parker.

Nothing else really needs to be said here. The most important thing for the Red Bulls right now is to use these games to improve themselves, gain confidence, and finish off the final stretch of nine games to make the playoffs, and to continue their run in the US Open Cup. Just get through this Leagues Cup and just worry about the rest of the regular season.