Red Bulls Exposed at the Corners, Falls to NYCFC in the U.S. Open Cup

By Daniel Feuerstein | Harrison, NJ | April 29th, 2026

The Hudson River Derby came early this season in the Fourth Round of the U.S. Open Cup as Red Bull New York hosted New York City FC. But for the entire 90 minutes, the Red Bulls were lacking in quality to convert multiple goals and lacking in defensive markings all match long during corners, which allowed NYCFC to take advantage of the open space and convert their chances, as the Red Bulls fell to NYCFC by a final score of three goals to one.

All Corners led to goals

While NYCFC was trying to score during the run of play, they found the corners to be the best place to convert their chances. All of the balls that were served at the corners were from Maxi Moralez, as the 39-year-old delivered fantastic balls in the right place to give his teammates the time to leap for flick headers to convert. Early goal in the 5th minute flicked on by Kai Terwin, then later in the first half, when Raul Gustavo was wide open in the 39th minute to make it two. But the third goal was flicked in by Thiago Martins in the 57th minute.

All three goals from NYCFC were easily scored because of the poor marking or the lack of man-marking by the Red Bulls. No matter what they tried, someone lost their man, and the ball was in the back of the net. The third goal was headed in from the corner. Ronald Donkor lost his man and allowed Thiago Martins to run into the space near the front post and beat John McCarthy with ease. None of the three goals were the fault of McCarthy; it was poor man-marking and not paying attention to who was going to defend. But give credit to Moralez, he put the ball in a position where the defenders couldn’t make a play.

Julian Hall is back on the scoresheet

After he was goalless in Cincinnati, Julian Hall got back on the score sheet and converted the only goal of the match for the Red Bulls. Down by one, a long looping ball went all the way to the far side towards Cade Cowell, and off to the races he went. Cowell made a fantastic diagonal pass toward the path of Hall, and as Matt Freese came toward him, Hall delivered a fantastic shot and nailed the back of the net in the 14th minute for the equalizer at that time. His third Open Cup goal this season, and it was a beauty.

The first loss in the Open Cup to NYCFC

After three straight Open Cup victories over NYCFC, the Red Bulls have finally dropped their first in four. They also conceded their first three goals to NYCFC after three consecutive clean sheets. While many believed this streak wasn’t going to last that long, it finally happened on the fourth try. But in six matches outside the MLS Regular Season, this was the first in six that the Red Bulls also dropped, if you add the Leagues Cup match and the Playoff victory from two years ago. Now, NYCFC will be in the Quarterfinal Draw, and the Red Bulls will be pondering the Open Cup in 2027 or 2028, depending on the change to the International Calendar.

“We left players up, even on defensive corners, to force the opponent to leave certain players back, which allowed them to come with less into the box. You can, obviously, always play around between, you know, how you want to find a balance between man marking and zone. You can give away fewer corners. There are certainly things that will continue to look at and then ultimately, like, like, anything in the game, it’s still down to then, in any given situation, we have our ideas. We have the way that we want to handle something, and the other team has theirs, and who, on the night, can find it,” said Michael Bradley

JULIAN HALL: Scored his third U.S. Open Cup Goal in Two Matches

CADE COWELL: Earned an assist in the first half

Red Bull New York fell to NYCFC in the U.S. Open Cup Fourth Round match, allowing corner kicks to beat them due to poor communication or getting outmuscled inside the area.

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