Red Bulls Break Three Game Winless Streak, Defeats FC Cincinnati

By Daniel Feuerstein | Harrison, NJ | April 4th, 2026

After getting blitzed by Charlotte FC in the Second half of their last match before the International Break came, Red Bull New York had to find a way to get back on track after winning two straight to start the season. FC Cincinnati came to town and is limping in as they haven’t had a great start to the season. A hard-fought match from start to finish, and a better performance from the Red Bulls as they took down Cincy by a final score of four goals to two.

Game Recap

The partnership on the right side between Jahkeele Marshall-Rutty and Cade Cowell has been spectacular from the start of the season down in Orlando, and continued in this matchup against Cincinnati. As the play was forming, Marshall-Rutty started down the far side and laid off a nice ball to Cade Cowell. Then, a nice run going inside the area, and trailing down the middle of the area was Julian Hall. A beautiful pass served right at the feet of Hall, and he sweeps it in with a slight deflection off Evan Louro and over the line in the 12th minute.

“I feel like I approach every game, every season, the same. I think I just try to make the best of every opportunity I have, and every minute I can play. So I feel like this year I had something to prove, and I still have something to prove, so I’m going to keep working every day,” said Julian Hall

Even though FC Cincinnati leveled the match at one from Pavel Bucha in the 17th minute, nothing more came from the opening half, and the referee blew the halftime whistle. When the match restarted, the Red Bulls got a foul call at a yard and a half just outside the Cincinnati area. The original free-kick chance was whistled down due to a false start by Cincinnati, so the Red Bulls retook it, and Captain Emil Forsberg drilled a beautiful ball, which bent toward the upper far 90, hit the bottom of the crossbar, and completely landed over the crossbar in the 48th minute.

They earned a two-goal lead when that combination on the right side worked its magic again. Marshall-Rutty once again laid a nice ball to Cowell, and he did all the work attacking down the near side. Cowell challenged two Cincinnati defenders as he danced around the near side, made a run toward the endline, and delivered a hard cross toward the middle for Julian Hall. Still, Kyle Smith tried to defend it and put it inside his own net for an own goal in the 66th minute.

Kyle Smith made amends to his teammates and cut the lead to a goal in the 72nd minute, but the Red Bulls continued to battle, and when the match reached second half stoppage time, they continued to hunt for a fourth goal. They got it when Hall was going to the far corner to waste time, but he changed his mind and brought the ball back towards the midfield stripe to reset. Gave the ball to Robert Voloder, who saw Ronald Donkor and attacked the middle of the pitch. He lays it off to his Ghanaian teammate, Mohamed Sofo, who entered the area and roofed it to regain the two-goal lead and won the match.

Dylan Nealis makes his return

Centerback Dylan Nealis made his return from the Injury report as he was sidelined with an Ankle injury for the last three matches. In his return, he was solid and made several strong defensive plays, including an unbelievable play where he challenged Evander while spinning around him and stealing the ball in one fluid motion in the second half of the match. Seeing him with Robert Voloder as the centerback tandem was much better than having Gustav Berggren, who looked out of position and suffered the Red card he earned in the last match.

“FC Cincinnati is a good team and they’re a physically strong team, so the part of being able to take our ideas and our football in the way that we want to play, make it count for as much as possible, put the game on our terms as often as we can over the course of 90 minutes, but still understand that it’s football, and there’s two teams and there’s going to be certain moments in the game that play out in the way that they want. And are we ready to deal with that? Are we ready to really compete with them? Do we have ways that we can, even in those moments, still be the aggressor and go after things.

So look, it’s a game where our good moments are really, really good, and there’ll be a few things to look at for sure, in terms of now being able to sustain it all a little bit more. You know, it’s a night where we give away a few too many balls in the attacking part of the field, which allows them to go off in transition a little too easily. But again, this is the work, and we’re going to continue to take our ideas and try to be as good as possible with what we want to do, play our football, put the game on our terms, score goals, be aggressive, and keep trying to push that,” said Head Coach Michael Bradley

JULIAN HALL: Scored his fifth goal of the season, his eighth career MLS goal

EMIL FORSBERG: Scored his first goal of the season, his 21st career MLS goal

MOHAMED SOFO: Scored his first goal of the season, his 6th career MLS goal

JAHKEELE MARSHALL-RUTTY: First assist of the season, his fifth career MLS assist

CADE COWELL: First assist of the season, his 16th career MLS assist

RONALD DONKOR: First assist of the season, his fourth career MLS assist

ROBERT VOLODER: First assist of the season, his third career MLS assist

The Red Bulls returned home to face a difficult FC Cincinnati side and came out victorious by winning the match four to two with Goals by Julian Hall, Emil Forsberg, Mohamed Sofo, and an own goal from Cincinnati’s defense. They wanted to erase that horrible loss to Charlotte FC and amended their ways with a solid performance.

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