Red Bulls Hard-Pressing Defeats Inter Miami

By Daniel Feuerstein | Harrison, NJ | October 24th, 2026

Red Bull New York was prepared to take on Inter Miami for the second time this season at Sports Illustrated Stadium. For the entire 90 minutes, the Red Bulls pressed, put their opponents in difficult situations, frustrated them, and forced them to cough the ball up multiple times. The young guns continued their waves of attacking runs and forced Miami to make mistakes in their end of the pitch. After the final whistle blew, it was a full three-point win as the Red Bulls earned a huge result with a final score of two goals to nil.

Miami helps the Red Bulls take the lead

The opening goal came very early in the match when the Red Bulls got possession and worked the ball on the attacking run. Ronald Donkor and Adri Mehmeti worked the ball around with a couple of quick passes, but it was Mehmeti who unlocked the attacking run, finding Mohammed Sofo. A quick turn and a quick pass to Cade Cowell going down the far side, and when he made the cross toward both Julian Hall and Jorge Ruvalcaba, it was Casimiro who put his left foot out and accidentally scored the own goal in the 7th minute to give the Red Bulls the early lead.

Inter Miami created multiple unforced errors

Throughout the first half and a little into the start of the second half, Inter Miami looked frustrated and lost. Not just because Lionel Messi didn’t start the match coming back from Spain, earning the Princess of Asturias Award for Sports, but also because of the pressing and taking their space away. But when they tried to start an attacking run, they continued to give the ball away to the Red Bulls, which led to multiple attacking runs. The Red Bulls were able to reach Miami’s area, but they couldn’t put the ball away. Either missing the net or Dayne St. Claire making the save. Messi did enter the game in the 57th minute, and their play finally got back to where it was in the last three games.

“It’s great. I mean, you watch these guys on TV when you’re younger, obviously, and you aspire to play them, obviously one day. And to do that is a great feeling for us. And obviously, our team, you know, all the coaching staff and players were so committed today. Yeah, we went out today, fearless. We did what we had to do. We played our football with our idea, so it was a great, it was a great game. But we’re looking to do more in the next one, the next three finals we had,” said Adri Mehmeti

Big saves made by Horvath and the Woodwork

Inter Miami finally got a big chance to dent the scoreboard and put themselves level. When the initial shot came, Ethan Horvath was positioned perfectly to make the save, but the shot was so hard he left a big juicy rebound that rolled just at the top of the Red Bulls’ area. Then the rebound shot was delivered, and the ball rose toward the net, hit the crossbar, and ricocheted away. That moment, when Inter Miami was going to level the score, was a huge relief for the Red Bulls in the 84th minute. They continued to play a strong defensive game and helped out their goalie.

Big goal from the Captain

The match was heading for second half stoppage time, and since Messi was subbed into the match, the unforced errors stopped. But one more was created by Inter Miami, and the culprit was their goalie, Dayne St. Claire. His distribution missed his target and rolled towards Ronald Donkor. As he ran towards the ball, he found Cameron Harper and started to make a run down the near side. He had two targets to make the pass, and when he saw Emil Forsberg, who was onside, Harper made the pass, and a quick touch from Forsberg to bunt the ball into the open net in the first minute of second half stoppage time, before the four minutes were posted.

“We did a great game. The guys put a shift on today. So, 3 points, 3 important points for us, but now we focus. Game, very big game on Wednesday, so that’s the focus. Of course we can enjoy this tonight. I think the guys deserve it, but big game on Wednesday,” said Emil Forsberg

Big win for Michael Bradley and the club

Since Lionel Messi came to MLS in the back end of the 2023 season, the Red Bulls haven’t had a win against Inter Miami. In 2024, during a rainy game at Sports Illustrated Stadium, Messi was playing for Argentina, as the match was during the March International Break. Lewis Morgan had a hat trick, and Wiki Carmona scored the goals. In four games with Messi as a starter or a substitute, the Red Bulls haven’t earned any points until this season. A two-goal draw at the Nu Stadium on April 11th and now a two-goal clean-sheet victory as Michael Bradley and his squad earned four out of a possible six points in these two games, and you could argue they should’ve won in Miami back then. These are big results for Michael Bradley in his young head coaching career.

“We wanted to try to go after them in every sense, put them on their heels, not give them time to do anything they wanted. And as I said, I thought from the first second until the last second, we pushed the game in a really strong way. I thought we played really good football. We pressed really well,” said Michael Bradley

EMIL FORSBERG: Scored his fourth goal of the season, scored his 24th career MLS Goal

CAMERON HARPER: Earned his 2nd assist of the season, earned his 9th career MLS Assist

RONALD DONKOR: Earned his 10th assist of the season, earned his 14th career MLS Assist

Red Bull New York defeats Inter Miami for the first time since Lionel Messi arrived in MLS

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