It was a wonderful start for Michael Bradley in his MLS head coaching debut, having secured an MLS Next Pro title last season thanks to a penalty shootout in the title game buoyed by a strong offensive output in the playoffs.
The New England Revolution will be looking for a significant improvement from their opener as they head to Sports Illustrated Arena today for a 230pm kickoff on Apple TV against the New York Red Bulls.
Seth Macomber
It appears that Bradley has honed that same direct play style in the top flight with an impressive output - 24 total shots, 13 on target, and 4.4 xG created according to MLS dot com. Watching the highlights, it's easy to see why the numbers are that staggering and quite frankly it was absurd RBNY didn't score more in that first half and that it took Orlando until stoppage time to score. That opener could have been a 5-3 scoreline and still could have slightly underwhelmed due to the quality and quantity of chances being generated.
While playing fairly wide open gave RBNY plenty of chances going forward, and while they took advantage of a lot of sloppy giveaways from the Lions, this style is exactly what the Revs should be doing a lot more of. Turnovers become immediate counter-attack chances against backpedaling defenders and overwhelm backlines who can't recover.
Now, I've already lamented at the Revs’ less than stellar opener, so I won't bore you with another thousand words on that again. Head coach Marko Mitrovic has said the Revs want to be a more progressive and attacking side and they should have plenty of opportunities to do so while also being mindful of any turnovers the Red Bulls are looking to quickly send toward Matt Turner. They were too conservative in Nashville and likely can't do that again if they want a result before a long week off thanks to the Revs home opener being postponed after heavy snow.
But on paper, this is a mirror match right down to the youthful personnel both sides have brought in, new head coaches, USMNT keepers and all-league legends at the #10 spot. But only one team sparked any kind of confidence going forward during matchday one, both figuratively and literally.
17-year-old striker Julian Hall notched a brace and has already doubled his goal output from a year ago when he mostly featured off the bench. 16-year-old midfielder Adri Mehmeti got an assist in the opener but it was talisman Emil Forsberg setting up the opener in front in the early minutes when he fed Hall for a tap in before the ten minute mark. So while the Revs were on the back foot in their opening match a few minutes in, RBNY was able to press their advantage and probably should have had three or four in the opening half.
Sam Lattof
So while the Revs have added Griffin Yow and Brooklyn Raines among others to their squad, RBNY was not to be outdone with former Quakes and FC Dallas homegrowns Cade Cowell and Justin Che returning to MLS. It's very easy to get excited about the potential and upside of both of these teams, not just as potential playoff teams, but also in terms of them returning to the top of the East.
All that remains is to get the Revs on a similar attacking level. This could be a very fun and very wide open, up-and-down affair in Harrison, NJ. But in order to have a confident attack, it would help if the Revs could simply have a settled in backline for longer than a week.
New England should have starting centerback duo Brayan Ceballos (leg) and Mamadou Fofana (paperwork) as both are off the availability report for this week. Leo Campana does find his way there with a possible late week injury along with Will Sands who was subbed out with a possible concussion in the opener. Ethan Kohler is also questionable with a head injury while Peyton Miller is still ruled out from a preseason injury.
That's a lot of fullbacks injured for the Revs currently, both on the left back depth chart. The Revs have Dor Turgeman up top for cover but defensive depth chart woes continue for the Revs early on. This almost certainly means Ilay Feingold should start at one of those spots but could mean a Tanner Beason/Andrew Farrell spot start out wide.
Joining us as always is our good friend Michael Battista from the red side of the Hudson this time with Red Bulls Nation of the Sports Nation NYC family. Be sure give him a follow and to check out all of his coverage over on their site.
Josh Nye
TBM: We all know the legend of MB90 the player, but this is a very fast rise to head coach at the MLS level. What were your thoughts on his hiring and has he brought over the same style of play from the title winning RBNY II team to the MLS side already?
MB: I am not afraid to say I was not a 100% fan of Red Bull New York / New York Red Bulls (I hate that though) hiring Michael Bradley as first team head coach. His timing in joining Red Bulls II seemed to be lining him up to take over for Sandro Schwarz after the 2026 season. That would have given him a year and a half to develop as a head coach.
Instead, he took a team that was already in first place when he took over, led them to a first-ever MLS NEXT Pro championship, and crucially the first team had a change at the top when head of sport Jochen Scheider returned to Europe to be with his ill wife and Schwarz left after taking the team to the MLS Cup Final and then breaking a 15 year playoff streak the next year. If they didn't hire Bradley, they risked losing him. He's a risky head coach, but players have seemingly come around to him and his press conferences have shown a lot of passion, tactical knowledge, and planning.
That planning is high attack football, something he did quite well at at Red Bull II (this is a team that scored 15 goals in the four-game run to the cup, including 10 in the first two rounds). You saw that in the first game too. The first half was high offense against an Orlando City team that, let's be honest, did not look prepared. It will have to be seen if it continues the rest of the season or is just good against certain teams.
Seth Macomber
TBM: Okay, let's talk about all these darn kids you have running around - Julian Hall and Matthew Dos Santos in particular - but there's other younger new faces around, what was the offseason like and just how improved is this squad?
MB: The 2025-26 offseason has to be one of the biggest I've seen at Red Bull since I started covering the team in 2019. Something like 14 players out including pillar players like goalkeeper Carlos Coronel, midfielder Lewis Morgan, and long-time fan favorite Sean Nealis to name a few. But a lot of those players, quite frankly, deserved to be cut. Morgan had injury tendencies, S. Nealis took a noticeable step back in 2025, younger guys like Daniel Edelman and Peter Stroud weren't playing at a high enough, consistent level. The only one who could have stayed was Coronel and leaving was his choice to go to Brazil.Instead, the team is looking to go younger.
It's exactly what Bradley and new head of sport Julian de Guzman have talked about since they joined. The latter even said as much at Bradley's introduction presser;“It’s important we start to go young and fresh and bring some top energy,” de Guzman said. “Cade Cowell, for me, is a great example as to the direction we want to go and you see a player like him, and what he’s been able to do, in his earlier career at San Jose, go to a top club like Chivas in LigaMX. He wants to play football, but he also fits the identity that we have here at Red Bull. This is the type of guys that we want to start to continue to invest in, but also open up the doors for (younger players).”So the team brought in players like Cowell, 22-year-old Justin Che, officially signed 21-year-old Nehuén Benedetti from Argentina after having him on loan with the reserves last year.
Has it improved the squad? Hard to say. The team still lacks a lot of defensive power and that's probably why you saw Matthew Dos Santos get the start last week while on a short term loan. Those are issues that will need addressing, especially getting a natural center back. But if you just hold the ball and don't let the other team attack... you don't need a defense, right?
TBM: Very impressive win in Orlando on opening week - 24 total shots and 13 on target, is level of output going to be the norm for this team because there was a lot of quality in those chances as well? How high can this team finish in the East if the attack remains that potent?
MB: I dunno. How can I know? How can anyone? This is a team where MLS pundits ranged from 12th place finishes in the Eastern Conference to finishing 4th. What I do know is that RBNY are at three points after one game, and have a realistic chance to have nine points after three weeks.
However, let's flashback to last season where a young Mohammed Sofo looked like the next big thing at forward, having like a month of great performances, and then went quiet for half the season. Young players are raw talent so it's tough to think the team will be that consistent, as in beat up teams like they did Orlando every week.
Lineup/Injuries/Predictions/Etc.
Projected starting lineup: Ethan Horvath; Omar Valencia, Dylan Nealis, Justin Che, Jahkeele Marshall-Rutty, Adri Mehmeti, Ronald Donkor, Emil Forsberg ©, Jorge Ruvalcaba, Cade Cowell, Julian Hall
If Matthew Dos Santos is called up again, swap him and Valencia. But it's hard to predict that because he only has so many call-ups in one year.
Probably no change from last week with injuries. Cameron Harper - Knee (Out); A.J. Marcucci - Knee (Out); Mohammed Sofo - Ankle (Out)
Prediction: Overall I think New York can do well against the Revolution on Saturday. It might even be the team's first clean sheet of the year. Put me down for a 2-0 win at Sports Illustrated Stadium for Red Bull New York.
