Julian Hall’s Two Assist Night Steals a point for the Red Bulls at Miami

By Daniel Feuerstein | Miami, FL | April 11th, 2026

On a beautiful, cool night at the brand new Nu Stadium in Miami near the International Airport, Red Bull New York made their road trip to South Florida to become the second visiting club to enter the brand new ground of Inter Miami. This was a strong performance from the baby bulls at the start of the opening whistle to the closing whistle as they battled hard with the greatest footballer the world has ever seen in Lionel Messi. After the full 90 minutes were up, the Baby Bulls came up big, stealing a point and heading home for their next match in the U.S. Open Cup as they took a two-goal draw.

Julian Hall becomes a provider

Once again, Julian Hall is having a fabulous start to the season. After scoring five goals in the first six matches this season, he decided to raise his game a lot more and helped out his teammates score their first goals in MLS. The Red Bulls opened the scoring as they broke out from defending an Inter Miami chance. Cade Cowell ran toward the ball at the near side touchline and sent it down the pitch to Hall. Just a slight flick by Hall to push it forward, and he started to make his run toward the area. Then he quickly hit the brakes, got the ball back, and let both centerback pass him, saw Jorge Ruvalcaba trailing in from the far side. Made the pass, and all Ruvalcaba did was slot the ball past Dayne St. Clair for his first in MLS at the 15th minute.

Later on in the match, down two goals to one, the Red Bulls earned a free kick just along the near side. Captain Emil Forsberg took the free kick and kept the ball on the pitch while driving it hard towards Hall. He danced a bit back and forth with two defenders, then made the run toward the endline, took a hard cross to the middle, and laid it off toward Adri Mehmeti, sliding into the ball and smashing in his first MLS goal in the 77th minute.

Inter Miami finds the net, but misses a lot

Throughout the match, Inter Miami had many chances to score, and, to be fair, they should’ve scored more than just the two. As they kept bringing in attack after attack, Inter Miami was getting frustrated from not converting, being blocked, or the amazing goalkeeping of Ethan Horvath putting himself in a great position to make the saves. But Miami is a veteran team that can bury those chances when they get into those danger areas. With a single minute of first-half stoppage time, Miami leveled the match at one when Yannick Bright in the middle of the pitch sent the ball to the far side, finding Rodrigo DePaul. He took a long cross back to the near post, taking it one time was Mateo Silvetti, smashing it inside the far post.

“You know, coming here it’s not easy to pick up points and um, you know, I’m just really proud of the team for pushing into the last minute and yeah, luckily not luckily, but uh, we fought really hard to get the point on the road,” said Julian Hall.

Ten minutes after the restart, Inter Miami finally took the lead. Lionel Messi received the ball at the near side and started working his way with the ball toward the outside of the area. Out of nowhere, Mehmeti stripped Messi from behind, but accidentally gave it to Germán Berterame. He waited for the ball, composed himself with a one-time strike, and beat Ethan Horvath in the 55th minute. While these types of mistakes will happen in a match, the Red Bulls were able to stay in the match and do some damage. They should’ve had a goal in the 62nd minute, but due to a VAR review, Cowell was in an offside position by a full big toe and more before he crossed the ball.

“Their performance, obviously, since the start of the season has been spectacular, but in that moment… For you, what was that like? Yeah, we’re really proud of these guys, you know. We have challenged them in big ways to step on the field and show everybody how good they are, to not be fazed by anything, to not be… to not be overawed by the moment, by an opponent, by anything. And so they have… They’ve had a really good start to the season, both of them. We can include Matty Dos Santos in that. We’re going to keep doing everything we can to push these guys, to move these guys forward. They continue to show that they’re… They’re going to respond in every moment and be up for everything that gets thrown at them,” said Michael Bradley

Horvath had a great match

Ethan Horvath was stellar in the net today. Both goals were taken well, and those weren’t his fault. But he put himself in great position to make several big saves to keep his side either with the lead or to get back into the game. He made a huge save early in the match after Ruvalcaba’s tally. Inter Miami got a great chance to level it at one, but Horvath stood his ground and found a way from point-blank range to take the shot in his chest and smother the ball on the pitch off of DePaul. Horvath made a big save on the Lionel Messi free kick in second half stoppage time by getting his left hand on the ball after making the diving save.

This was a fantastic result for the Red Bulls, who probably should’ve lost this game by a lot, but they stuck to the game plan, and battled hard to take a point from Messi, and that was a big effort from this club, which is putting into the future for youth from Red Bulls 2 and the academy to young and promising transfers. Another sign of growth, and now a chance at their first match in midweek in the U.S. Open Cup against the Pittsburgh Riverhounds.

Michael Bradley’s Comments

“I’m really proud of our team. Thank you. Really proud of the players and the way they went after things. It’s obviously a really good opponent. The atmosphere tonight in their new stadium was incredible. I keep saying it, for a young team, for a new team, to have a night like tonight, where we were pushed and tested and had to live the ebbs and flows of a game. We had moments where we were doing a lot of the things that we would like to do, where we were dangerous, where we scored X. First goal goes up 1-0, obviously. Then their response is strong, and so we have to be able to deal with some of the parts of the game that play out on their terms. We go down to one in the second half, and you know, just the willingness of every guy on the field to keep going, to keep playing, to keep running, to stay after the game. That part was special. And that’s the sign of a really good team.”

JULIAN HALL: Earned his first two assists this season, second and third career MLS assists

JORGE RUVALCABA: First Goal of the Season, First in MLS

ADRI MEHMETI: First Goal of the Season, First in MLS

CADE COWELL: Second Assist of the season, 16th career MLS Assists

EMIL FORSBERG: Second Assist of the Season, 18th Career MLS Assists

Red Bull New York made their road trip to Inter Miami’s new Nu Stadium and came out with a fantastic result with a two-goal draw against the magical Lionel Messi and his friends. These kids played hard and strong to get the result and put themselves into another positive performance.

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