Red Bulls Back from the International Break, Hosts FC Cincinnati

By Daniel Feuerstein | Whippany, NJ | April 3rd, 2026

Red Bull New York has returned from the International Break to resume their 2026 MLS Regular Season before the big break comes in the FIFA World Cup this coming June. Currently, they have played five matches with two wins, a draw, and two losses, as their last match was a beatdown at the hands of Charlotte FC at the Bank of America Stadium. With two weeks off and watching a lot of international matches for friendly games or those teams fighting for the final spots in UEFA and or intercontinental playoffs, now it’s time to get back to business for the season at hand.

With five games already under the belt of Michael Bradley in his first season as the head coach of Red Bull New York, you can tell what he is trying to establish with this club and how he wants to play. While he’s been spot on with the tactics, you can see at times in the loss against Montreal he has stuck to the game plan and was outworked on the defending against Montreal, but in the second half at Charlotte, just a complete team breakdown that led toward the five goal destruction and losing Gustav Berggren to the straight red card. But so far, he has a young squad and they want to perform. At the same time the two weeks off was used to refocus and get ready for FC Cincinnati.

“We use the international break in a really good way. Obviously we had a few guys off with national teams, but the big part of our group was here, and so we were able to really use the time to work and train and continue to move everybody forward. So we feel really good about that. Generally speaking, five games, a lot of things going in a good direction. 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. And so for me,it’s all part of a new group, a young group, continuing to understand how we can take what we’re doing and make it better and make it count for more, and continue to make the margins for ourselves that much bigger every weekend,” said Michael Bradley.

The Red Bulls next opponent at Sports Illustrated Stadium is FC Cincinnati. Always a tough opponent under Pat Noonan, the club from the Queen City of Ohio, has been a hard club to break down and continues to get quality talent each and every match at TQL Stadium. They continue to be a threat in the Eastern Confernce, but has failed in other tournaments, most recently in the CONCACAF Champions Cup, they fell to UANL Tigres in the Round of 16 after having a dominant first leg at home, they had a horrible second leg in Mexico, and when they scored the away goal to level the series on aggregate, they still found a way to lose the tie and headed back home in disappointment.

“I know Pat (Noonan) well. 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, certainly when you start to look at individuals, Evander in the period that he’s been in Major League Soccer has consistently been one of the best players in the league, one of the most dangerous players in the league. And so we will understand that a really important part of the game is making things very hard for him. (Kevin) Denkey is a really dangerous attacking, attacking player, strong and fast and has a real, real eye for the goal.

And so that part of that part of their team complements the defensive part quite well. It’s a team that plays for the most part three or five in the back, they have a little bit of an ability to choose based on the game, based on who’s healthy available, how they want to use certain guys in which roles they think fit best for that game. But they have a number of guys who fill those roles in a good way. And the two midfielders who play in front of them are  hard working, cover a lot of ground and also give them football. So it’s a physically strong team, it’s a well-rounded team, and it’s a team that has some dangerous attacking players. And so we’ve done a good job really looking closely at them and preparing our group for what to expect. And we’re excited to step on the field at home again and play in front of our fans.”

When you play against FC Cincinanti, you have to make sure you can play your best and find ways to crack that defensive backline. With players like Nick Hagglund, Alves Powell, Obinna Nwobodo, Miles Robinson, Matt Miazga, Roman Celetano, Evander and Kevin Denkey, these players will always find a way to break the opposition down, but this time it’s up tothe Red Bulls to break them down and earn a victory to get back toward the winning side of the record.

“They have a good, good squad. They have good players and we’ll be ready for that. Obviously, we have good players in a very good team as well. So it’ll be a very good matchup with our home fans playing at home, that’s always an advantage. And I think he’s (Kevin Denkey) a great forward, but  we have even better and great defenders. So it’s going to be fine, and it’s going to be a fun matchup. And we’re really prepared for it, so it’s going to be a great game,” said Cade Cowell.

On Thursday Morning, April 2nd, The Red Bulls learned their fate in the Third Round Draw of the 2026 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup, that was broadcasted on Morning footy of the CBS Sports Golazo Network. They learned their opponent would be the defending USL Championship League winners Pittsburgh Riverhounds as the Red Bulls will host the club at Sports Illustrated Stadium on Wednesday, April 15th at 7:30 PM and can be seen streaming on Paramount+ Last season the Hounds hosted NYCFC At Highmark Stadium and won it at the death, the Red Bulls know facing a lower division side will be a difficult task in Open Cup play.

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