Red Bulls Return to Action After the World Cup, Travel Down to Philadelphia

By Daniel Feuerstein | Morris Township, NJ | July 20th, 2026

The World Cup is over; Spain has won their second championship at MetLife Stadium on the world stage, and that means the 2026 MLS Season has officially resumed. It also signals the restart of the Red Bull New York season as the club is currently in fifth place in the Eastern Conference. The return of the players, the coaching staff, and the youth movement, seeing Julian Hall, Adri Mehmeti, Matthew Dos Santos, Ronald Donkor, and some of the veterans like Emil Forsberg, Dylan Nealis, Ethan Horvath, and the entire squad on the pitch, but they will restart the season on the road against the Philadelphia Union who has struggled at the start of the season, sacked their head coach and are in an unfamiliar position as they are dead last in the Eastern Conference and the entire league in the Supporters Shield rankings.

The Union is up, and the Red Bulls are heading down

The Red Bulls will be thrown into the fire real quick as they head down to Subaru Park in Chester as they face the Philadelphia Union. We all know the story of this season for the Union. They traded away some of their big names to other teams within the league or transferred out others to clubs across the globe. Sacked Head Coach Bradley Carnell after a stellar Supporters’ Shield year last season, and now made the move to give their two team head coach the job to run the first team from MLS Next Pro. This could be a new challenge for Michael Bradley as he will now have to manage a different type of game on Wednesday.

“Yeah, I think you hit the nail on the head. For Philadelphia, for any team in the league that isn’t or wasn’t so satisfied with the first half of the season, I think they’ll have used the summer preseason in the best way possible. And they will start with a renewed sense of energy and optimism. They’ll have made a point to themselves internally that this can be the new beginning, you know, and so I think we will really make sure that our guys understand going down to Philly to play them in the first game after the break, you know, what that game will feel like, obviously over the last. A bunch of seasons in the league, Philadelphia has been a really strong team at home. It’s a good atmosphere. And so we’re going to make sure that we’re ready in every way to kick things off in a really strong way,” said Michael Bradley

The long break during the World Cup

The players had their long break and watched the World Cup from home or while on vacation. When they did return to training, they shared their home with the Brazilian National Team. They got back down to business with several friendly matches against locals and other MLS clubs in the Eastern Conference. But now it’s time to get back into the grind and improve their season, as the club is currently in fifth place in the East at the World Cup break. We all know they are ready to go and can’t wait to get back out on the pitch.

“This is probably new for everyone in the league, this little World Cup break, you can call it. We took this, what, six weeks? window, and we really pushed. We were here almost every week working really hard, pushing our ideas, our philosophy, getting more fit. Getting used to the way we want to play. So we took this break, and we pushed super hard, and I think it was great. It went really well. I think we’re just excited to face a new opponent other than ourselves. So we’re looking forward to the game on Wednesday,” said Dylan Nealis

Preparation and playing their game

While the Red Bulls and the rest of the league are getting back into the current league season, they know they must be ready to get out of the gate running. The Red Bulls are very aware they must have a strong start when the opening whistle blows, and they must be on the front foot. Regardless of where the Union is in the standings of the Eastern Conference, this is still a natural rivalry that heads up and down the I-95 Corridor. The Union wants to make sure the Red Bulls don’t earn their first win at their place in a very long time. They finally won against the Union at home last season; now they need to take a result at Subaru Park.

“Look, first and foremost, when we talk about preparation for games, we talk about ourselves. We talk about being at our best. We talk about the football that we want to play; we talk about doing everything we can to put the game on our terms, and we have really used the summer period to push our ideas and our way of playing and raise the level and the consistency with which we play every time we step on the field. And so that has been the main focus as we get ready for Philadelphia.

But obviously in the last few days and as we get even closer to the match, for sure, we start to look closer at them and some of the things that that. we can, or we think we can expect. And obviously part of that is what it’s like to go and play in that stadium, combined with their style of play and what they want games to look like. And so we’re going to make sure that when that whistle blows, we’re ready,” said Michael Bradley

The players are well aware of what they need to do

It really doesn’t need to be said, but the players do know they need to be ready to go when the season resumes against the Union. These are very important three points on the line, and if they do get the win, that means they either go into fourth place and leap over the New England Revolution, or if they do win but the Revs win, they stay right where they are and start distancing themselves from the rest of the pack. While this is technically the second half of the season, a poor start would be very worrisome for this side as they have two matches this week before going back to a single.

“I think the message is the same, you know, stick with what we know, our intensity, Red Bull philosophy, putting the game on our foot, on the front foot right away. Just using this window that we had and getting better at our ideas. And it’ll be important to get on this start of this next start of the season. It’ll be important to start strong. So we’re going to come out flying,” Said Dylan Nealis

After a long month and a half of World Cup action, the Red Bulls have returned for their 2026 MLS season, and they must restart their season to continue their good feelings before they put a halt to it after their road win at Sporting Kansas City on May 23rd. Hopefully, the Red Bulls can turn it back on like they started the season in Orlando. Off to a strong start and continuing it, hopefully making the playoffs.

Red Bull New York is back in action, and so is the 2026 MLS Season as they travel down I-95 to face the Philadelphia Union.

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