With the New York Red Bulls fresh off an impressive win over Orlando City, the New England Revolution have a tough test in a stadium where they have struggled to get wins.
In club history, New England has 11 wins, 10 draws, and 27 losses when facing Red Bull on the road in MLS play. The Revs last road win against New York was in 2021.
After the rivals' impressive win, Revolution head coach Marko Mitrovic is expecting an intense battle.
“If we speak purely about them [Red Bull], it’s a young group of players, but very determined," Mitrovic said. "They play with very high intensity, very direct in terms of advancing the ball forward and finishing the attack. Also, they’re on the front foot when they defend. I think they play a game that is very intense from the very beginning until the very end. Against Orlando, they sustained the intensity throughout the whole game. We have to be ready to match that intensity from the very beginning until the very end, and to try to go above that.”
New head coach Michael Bradley started his MLS head coaching career with a bang. Along with the win, he benched Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting while inserting three players under 18 into the starting XI.
The move seemingly paid off with New York securing three points.
New York was busy in the offseason. Red Bulls added Cade Cowell, Ethan Horvath, Justin Che and Jahkeele Marshall-Rutty.
Cowell is someone who Mitrovic is familiar with. While serving as head coach of the U23 U.S. squad for the Olympics, Cowell was called up by Mitrovic on multiple occasions.
The New England head coach believes that due to his previous experience in MLS, the adjustment to the league will be minimal after spending time with Club Deportivo Guadalajara in Liga MX.
“Cade [Cowell] is a consistent threat," Mitrovic said. "I think a couple years ago he was the fastest player in MLS. I believe he’s still one of the fastest players in the league. When you have those very direct players and when you have those attributes, you have to be consistently aware to defend Cade. He knows the league. He’s still a young player. He has, now, some international experience, but coming back to the league is not something that is unknown to him. He’s going to be a good challenge for us.”
If the Revolution are to defeat New York, they will need a complete defensive effort. With the likes of Emil Forsberg and Cowell, one mistake can prove costly.
Leo Campana discussed the role he plays up top in New England's defensive efforts.
“The defensive part starts with us, the forwards," he said. "In modern football, I think even if you’re an attacker you need to defend. So that’s why Carles [Gil] and I, if you see our numbers they’re really high in terms of running and high intensity. I think it’s just modern football. We just need to follow what Marko [Mitrović] says to us. Hopefully we can do a really good job on Saturday and get the three points.”
Campana could have scored a hat trick against Nashville and the Revolution still would have lost. New England needs to start defending well if it is going to start winning games. The return of Mamadou Fofana and Brayan Ceballos will serve as a big boost to the Revs' backline.
No club wants to start its season with two straight losses. Very quickly, unlucky results can become a theme of a regular season. Against New York, the Revolution have the opportunity to either ease the concerns of fans or have them worried that the struggles of the last two seasons will continue in 2026.
