By Daniel Feuerstein | Harrison, NJ | November 7th, 2026
On the final match of the 2026 Regular Season, Red Bull New York hosted Atlanta United on Decision Day to remain in tenth place in the Eastern Conference. This match was played for pride, and it was also the send-off match for Tim Parker, who announced his retirement on Friday, as the club once again took care of business against Atlanta and refused to give them any chance of beating them or scoring a goal. Once the final whistle blew on the Red Bulls’ season, they went on a positive and got the win as they took the result with a three-nil victory.
Mehmeti gets several chances and in
Red Bulls were looking to unlock their big chance to get the opening goal, and it finally happened just past the half-hour mark. AS Ronald Donkor received the ball in the middle of the field, he made the quick pass to Adri Mehmeti, who was in an advanced position and was onside. As he ran with the ball and had a defender on him, his original shot was saved by Jayden Hibbert, but he got the rebound and tried a second time, which was blocked, but the third chance was the charm as he smashed it into the open net in the 31st minute.
Cowell scored in front of a crowd.
The match entered the second half, and the Red Bulls were looking to get more, and got it. As they were harassing Atlanta United on their end of the pitch, Donkor got the ball and attempted to recycle the attacking run. He gave it to Sekou Kone, and in a flash he made a hard pass towards Cade Cowell, who stayed onside when the pass was made. He got to the ball and was stopped by Hibbert, then two defenders came to surround him, and he took the shot. Cowell’s chance was slightly deflected off the Atlanta defender, but he converted the chance in the 54th minute.
Big Smasher from the set piece
One last big goal to put the nail in the coffin as the Red Bulls wanted to earn a big chance. There was a foul just outside the Atlanta area along the far side. Both Jahkeele Marshall-Rutty and Rafael Mosquera were standing over the ball, having a conversation to see who wanted to play it. When the whistle blew. Mosquera made a dummy move to go past the ball, and it was Marshall-Rutty who took the free kick and smashed it hard inside the back post to convert his first goal as a member of the club. Three-nil was the score, and that was the exclamation point in the 83rd minute.
Tim Parker’s Final minutes
When the match clock hit the 90th minute, Michael Bradley subbed in Tim Parker for Sekou Kone into midfield and gave him his sending-off in the final moments of the match, in second-half stoppage time. The home fans gave Parker a very loud standing ovation as the Hicksville, NY, native from Long Island trotted out on the pitch for the very last time. And when the final whistle blew, the Red Bulls, while not going into the playoffs, will have a long offseason to think about the next season with the Sprint Schedule, and then play in the new international calendar season like the rest of the world.
“There are a lot of emotions, and I feel like they probably all haven’t hit me yet. Super thankful is the first thing. Everyone who has reached out over the last couple of days, all the messages that I got a lot of good advice too in terms of how to take in this moment. As the people that I played with texted me and as I saw guys pop up on that video board that I played with, it was just about thinking about the memories that I had with those guys, taking in the stadium for the last time and being with my family for the last time as a player. So being out there was just really cool,” said Tim Parker
Michael Braley’s Post-Game Comments
“Yeah, I’m proud of the group. Really, really proud of the group, and I told them that after the game, these aren’t easy weeks. You know, the days like today are not easy when you have to step on the field and play a game in a different context under a different pretense than what you had hoped for all year long, and you learn a lot about a team and players on days like today because again it’s not what we all wanted, but there’s still a big responsibility to step on the field and play in the right way, to play in a strong, proud way, and we did that from the first second. So, in the end, it’s good to finish with a win like that. I thought we played really well. A lot of good football, some really good goals, and yeah, in the end, it it doesn’t get us doesn’t get us what we really wanted, but there the alternative today would have been would have left everybody walking away with a really bad taste in their mouths. So, from that standpoint, we did what we needed to today, and that’s easier said than done sometimes. So, I’m really proud of the group.”
ADRI MEHMETI: Scored his second goal of the season
CADE COWELL: Scored his fourth goal of the season, scored his 14th career MLS goal
JAHKEELE MARSHALL-RUTTY: Scored his first goal of the season and his first goal as a Red Bull; scored his second career MLS goal
SEKOU KONE: Earned his second assist of the season
RONALD DONKOR: Earned his 12th assist of the season, earned his 16th career MLS Assist
Red Bull New York finishes off the 2026 Regular Season with a win over Atlanta United
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