Red Bulls Getting Ready for the Crew in Midweek Action

By Daniel Feuerstein | Harrison, NJ | May 12th, 2026

After a great result away on the road in tough conditions at Soldier Field in Chicago, Red Bull New York returns to Sports Illustrated Stadium for two matches this week as they will take on the Columbus Crew in midweek action before another Hudson River Derby on the weekend. The hope for these Baby Bulls is to start a new winning streak, finish off the remaining matches before the World Cup Break, and put themselves in a better position in the Eastern Conference table.

What an amazing feeling a win can do after nearly an entire month of going winless in your last five league matches and six winless in all competitions. The Red Bulls were outside of a playoff spot, but are now back in a playoff spot in the wildcard round. Currently outside a playoff spot, the Columbus Crew, in 12th place, are 12 points behind CF Montreal, who also have 12 points, but their points per game is 1.09, while Columbus is at a solid 1.00. Of course, Wilfred Nancy is no longer the head coach of the Crew, as he went to Scotland to manage Celtic, and we all knew that was a disaster for a little over a month. Their new head coach is Henrik Rydstrom, and at the moment, it’s not looking good.

But for the Red Bulls, they are still riding high over their win against the Fire as they grabbed three points in a match where, we can be honest, didn’t look good for them from the first minute till that magical strike by Jorge Ruvalcaba inside the final minute of the first half before first half stoppage time came into play. Then, a quick change, bringing in Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting before the second half started, then quickly getting that second goal four minutes after the restart from Cade Cowell, but two huge defensive blocks from Dylan Nealis sealed the deal, along with a penalty that was given after a VAR review, and Choupo-Moting buried his chance to make it three.

“The result in Chicago was a really important one. Obviously, in this last little stretch, we had let some points get away from us. And so the part of going away from home, playing against a good team in Chicago, playing on a tough afternoon, not easy conditions, in terms of wind, as a result, a dry field. And so it meant that it wasn’t perfect, it wasn’t beautiful. But the mentality of the group, the way that we were able to take some of the things that we have talked about a lot and worked on over the last over this last period, and really, really apply them in a good way.

We were really hard to play against. We didn’t give away very much at all. And so those things were really positive, and we made sure the group felt really good about that. And obviously, in a period of the season where things are really tight, and obviously everybody is trying to maximize what they’re doing over these last few games before a long World Cup break. It was an important, really important afternoon, and it sets us up now for two home games in a really short time span, and then, obviously, we’ll get the last game in Kansas City.

And so we’re excited, we spoke before the game in Chicago about these last four games, being almost like a four-game mini season. We’re now trying to take the foundation that we have been building and really see if we can be at our best every single game. As I said, the first one, Chicago, was a really good start. Now we’ll get ready for a good Columbus team. We know that, obviously, there’s a big one on Saturday as well. But our, our mentality this year has been from the beginning to take one game at a time and be ready to go after every single 90 minutes with everything we have, and then be ready for the next one,” said Michael Bradley

For Matthew Dos Santos, this season was supposed to be back at the MLS Next Pro level, but during training this offseason for the Senior side, Michael Bradley saw something he liked. While he did have Dos Santos last season at Red Bull New York two as the left wing fullback, he gave Dos Santos two short loan stints to start the season in Orlando and the home opener against New England. Since then, he has been a part of the first team, and while there have been some ups and downs, Dos Santos has been consistently a strong player, and it seems he has transitioned nicely to the senior side of the club.

“The step from MLS NEXT Pro to MLS is a big one, and I think it’s the speed of play and the physicality as well. This year, it’s just been a focus on getting on that level, and I think I’ve done well with that. But to improve, I think obviously conceding the amount of goals that we have conceded defensively, it needs to be better from everybody, including me,” said Matthew Dos Santos

For the club the currently have three matches remaining before the World Cup Break comes, and it’s now up to the players and the coaching staff to put on a great display and move forward to make a strong flourish, before returning to action toward late July. facing the Crew, then NYCFC, and then on the road to a struggling Sporting Kansas City to finish the job. The hope is to finish this stretch of games and have a good feeling into the break, and enjoy some World Cup games. That’s the task at hand.

“Now, in these next 10 days, we’ve got three games: The focus right now is on making sure that the group is ready to maximize points and play in the best possible way over this last little stretch, because these are games and points that are going to really set us up for the second half of the season in a good way. The World Cup break is certainly a new and unique opportunity, I’d say, especially for a group like ours we’re still a new team, and to be able to take advantage of now essentially a second preseason, and be able to do it, where the ideas and the starting points of who we are and how we want to play, how we train every day, that part is all there.

And so now we get a chance, after the game in Kansas City, the players will get 18 days off, and then we will come back and really use that time to push, to push our football, to push our fitness, to push our ability to sustain our ideas and our tempo. And we’re really excited. We’re also going to do that for the first time at our new Performance Center. So it’s going to be a really exciting period for us,” said Bradley.

Red Bull New York will host the Columbus Crew this Wednesday, May 13th, at 7:30 PM on Apple TV. Broadcasters: ENGLISH: Steve Cangelosi & Danny Higginbothom, SPANISH: Bruno Vain & Andres Aguilla

OFFICIALS:

REF: Pierre-Luc Lauziere
AR1: Brian Dunn
AR2: Eduardo Jeff
4TH: Luis Diego Arroyo
VAR: Timothy Ford
AVAR: Mike Kampmeinert

Red Bull New York will host the Columbus Crew at Sports Illustrated Stadium and hopes to start a new winning streak before the World Cup starts play on June 11th.

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