Red Bulls Fall to LAFC, Down Nine Men

By Daniel Feuerstein | Los Angeles, CA | September 10th, 2026

Red Bull New York traveled to Southern California to take on LAFC at BMO Stadium in downtown Los Angeles. While the match was a tough defensive game for the visitors, they started losing players due to non-contact injuries. While they defended well against the top players of their opponents, they still fell behind in the match and dropped all three points. While there was some improvement, the result once again went against them as they fell to LAFC by the final score of two goals to nil.

Stopped the point-blank, but couldn’t stop the rebound

The Red Bulls gave a poor pass that was easily intercepted by LAFC, and down the far side of the pitch they went towards their goal. While the defenders came back to stop any chance that was created, a big shot from Denis Bouanga was stopped by Ethan Horvath as he was defending his far post, but the rebound went back out towards the top of the area. Coming out of nowhere was Jude Terry as he ran towards the rebound and smashed it home in the 21st minute. No defender was near the ball, giving a free chance to Terry as he cashed it in.

Centerbacks stopping the attack

This was a match where you thought the goal-scoring duo of Denis Bouanga and Son Heung-Min had terrorized the league, especially in the Western Conference, but not on this night. The centerback tandem of Julain Bazan and Justin Che stepped up and made all the stops against these two men as they defended the middle of the park. Any time Son was in perfect position to score, Bazan or Che would be right there to stop them with blocked shots or a strong defensive challenge to muscle them away from the ball. Both men were snake-bit in this one, as they failed to capitalize on their chances.

“Justin Che and Julian Bazan have been incredible in this last period, incredible. The way that they compete, the way that they play, the way that they defend, the way they put out fires, their leadership, their mentalities, they have been immense. When you talk about pride, when you are standing on the sideline as a coach, when you have players who play and compete like that, then that part is special,” said Michael Bradley

Injuries hit the Red Bulls hard.

While no one wants to see any player injured, it’s double worse when they are non-contact injuries. In the first half, Adri Mehmeti was down on the pitch and looked concerned in the 26th minute. While he did get back up, he continued to play and looked o.k. to continue. Unfortunately, Mehmeti went back down on the pitch, and he knew right away he would be subbed out for recently called up on a short-term loan Sakou Kone in the 33rd minute. More non-contact injuries came to the Red Bulls when Jahkeele Marshall-Rutty came on as a second-half substitute for Devin Padelford in the 65th minute, then came off ten minutes later with a leg injury.

But the third and final straw came to Che when the match entered second-half stoppage time. Towards the final minute of four, Che was attacking and, all of a sudden, jumped as his left leg withered in pain as his studs somehow got caught in the grass, and he went down. Walked off the pitch back to the bench, and the Red Bulls finished the match with nine men, not due to red cards, but through non-contact injuries, as they had a leg issue. You hope it’s not serious, and that these three will be ready to return either against the Columbus Crew or against NYCFC.

The second goal was scored.d

While LAFC eventually scored their second goal of the match in second-half stoppage time, the truth is, this match was already over as the final moments ticked up and the final whistle was about to be blown. Armindo Sieb, with a rocket of a shot inside the near post, wasn’t needed, but when you’re down to nine men for the rest of the match, it was bound to go in. The Red Bulls dropped all three points at LAFC and will now fly back to the East Coast, to the capital of Ohio, to face the Columbus Crew next.

“Obviously, it is a busy period; we know that with the schedule and the travel that we have to be able to try to take full advantage of our squad. That obviously factored into some of the decisions in terms of who started tonight. We had some ideas and a little bit of a plan in terms of how we wanted to be able to change the game as things unfolded. Obviously, Adri [Mehmeti] needed to come off early, and then shortly after bringing Jahkeele [Marshall-Rutty] on, he was not able to continue, and then we lost Justin [Che] for a few minutes at the end.

So, that part makes it a tough night. Generally speaking, and I just said this to the players, I am extremely proud of the way that they went after the game, the way they competed, the way they tried to step on the field against a good team in a difficult place to play, and put the game on our terms. They tried to play our football, tried to really be the aggressor, and I said to them again that it is important that they hear how proud I am of them on nights like this as well because it is easy to say it when things go well, and I also told them that I’m proud, but we are not happy or satisfied either.

So there is a difference there, and so we are disappointed to not be able to come away from this game with any points. We understand that we have to continue to get better and continue to be more concrete in some of the big moments of the game, but again, the group steps on the field in a really strong way and tries to go after things, and so that is always a good starting point. Now, we’ve got to keep making the rest that much better,” said Michael Bradley

Red Bull New York falls to LAFC away at BMO Stadium and lost three players, including Adri Mehmeti, to injury.

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