Red Bulls Fall to Ten Men D.C. United

By Daniel Feuerstein | Washington, D.C. | October 14th, 2026

Red Bull New York went to our Nation’s Capital to face D.C. United, who haven’t had a good season but are trying to fight for every point possible. In this matchup in the Atlantic Rivalry, it was the Red Bulls who began the match poorly and failed to execute their game plan with poor defending and poor fouling. When they did get a lifeline with their hosts going down a man and pulling one back, they couldn’t get that second goal to take a point home, as the Red Bulls fell to D.C. United by the final score of two goals to one.

Coughing up an early penalty

Inside the opening five minutes of the match, the Red Bulls were already scrambling to prevent a chance from going in. The defenders were doing all they could to make sure Ethan Horvath wasn’t getting scored on, and they tried to clear the ball out. After Dylan Nealis whiffed on his touch, the ball went towards Tai Baribo, and coming in from behind was Adri Mehmeti, who fouled him from behind. That gave referee Guido Gonzalez Jr. the moment to blow his whistle and point to the spot. Baribo took his spot kick and scored in the 5th minute.

Coughing up a late goal

Four minutes of stoppage time were added towards the end of the first half. On the fourth and final minute, D.C. United earned a corner along the near side. When the ball was delivered by Keisuke Kurokawa, it was crossed toward Baribo, who headed the ball back towards the near post. Coming out of nowhere was Silvan Hefti, who ran into position and delivered a snap header short side past Horvath for his first MLS Goal in the fifth minute of first half stoppage time

D.C. goes down a man

Lucas Bartlett is a tough defender for D.C. United, and he has found ways to break up attacking runs, but this time he was the one who was going to be broken apart as he earned two bookings and then a red card to put his side down to ten men. His first yellow of the match came in the 22nd minute when he trailed Julian Hall on his attacking run towards the D.C. Area and pulled him down from behind. With two other D.C. defenders around him, he was booked for the challenge and not sent off for denying a goal-scoring opportunity. But his second yellow card was a surprise

As D.C. United was awarded a free kick in the midfield, Bartlett was taking the restart, but delayed it either by shouting instructions or intentionally delaying the restart. Gonzalez Jr. had enough and walked right up to Bartlett and quickly showed the yellow card for the second time, then looked down at his book and saw he had tagged Bartlett earlier in the match and showed him the red card and sent him off in the 68th minute. D.C. was down to ten men for 20 minutes plus whatever was added for second half stoppage time.

Choupo-Moting pulled one back

When the second half started, Michael Bradley already didn’t like what he saw from his club and made four big changes in the 57th minute, bringing in veterans Emil Forsberg & Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting along with Cameron Harper and Jahkeele Marshall-Rutty. The attack was renewed, and the Red Bulls were trying to break through. It finally happened after the sending-off of Bartlett, as Ronald Donkor made a nice pass towards Forsberg and led Choupo-Moting to get the ball, and he was just kept onside by the defender. Sean Johnson came off his line to stop Choupo, but all he did was go past Johnson and tuck the ball into the net in the 71st minute

Had chances, but nothing went in

For 19 minutes and five minutes of second half stoppage time, the Red Bulls were trying to break through, but no matter what they did, it wasn’t enough to get that equalizer and steal a point against D.C. United. They already lost this match in the first half with the foolish foul inside their area, and once D.C. United got their goal, all they did was bunker inside their area and frustrate the Red Bulls. After a great win at home against San Diego FC, the club heads down I-95 with a clunker, and now they have to return home to face Toronto FC on the weekend.

Some decent news

After scoreboard watching, the Red Bulls remain in eighth place as Orlando had a three-goal draw with Toronto, FC Cincinnati lost at home to New England, NYCFC lost on the road to Inter Miami, Atlanta United defeated CF Montreal, and Columbus defeated Charlotte FC. So right now Orlando has a two-point lead and remains in seventh place; FC Cincinnati is in ninth place above the playoff line. NYCFC, Toronto FC & DC United are all tied with 33 points and three behind both the Red Bulls and Cincinnati. Columbus is in 13th with 32 points, Atlanta United with 30 points, and CF Montreal in dead last. The Red Bulls now have five matches left, and they need to get points right away.

“You come to play a big game and after whatever it is, three or four minutes, you find yourselves down one-zero. Do not feel well enough with a play at the beginning of the game. For the rest of the first half, you push the game in a good way, control things, make some chances. Generally, they struggled to get out of their end, and then right before halftime, when we need to be able to deal with a set piece so that we can just get ourselves into the locker room at one-zero, we can’t do it, and so you come in at two-zero, and obviously that is a bigger challenge in the second half.

Yeah, we pushed pretty good, made some big chances, got back to two-one, had some big chances for two-two, and couldn’t quite do it. So it is a frustrating night for sure, but we continue to understand that this time of year, the margins are tight, and when you play big games, you have to be at your best in every way, and so tonight, in some key moments, we came up a little bit short, and now we have to be ready to regroup quickly, and get ready for a big home match on Saturday night,” said Michael Bradley

ERIC MAXIM CHOUPO-MOTING: Scored his fifth goal of the season, his 22nd career MLS Goal

EMIL FORSBERG: Earned his eighth assist of the season, his 24th career MLS Assist

RONALD DONKOR: Earned his ninth assist of the season, his 13th career MLS Assist

Red Bull New York Lost to a ten-man D.C. United side in midweek action