FLUSHING, NY — Across the Robert F. Kennedy Bridge in the Bronx, a rivalry continued with two New York baseball teams, the Mets and Yankees on the diamond in their Subway Series. At Citi Field, home of the Mets, the Red Bulls and NYCFC, had their 29th edition of the Hudson River Derby.
Yes it was rivalry time also in a MLS Eastern division conference matchup, two teams competing for supremacy in New York. Like the Yankees and Mets of two baseball teams, it’s no different with loyal fan bases of NYCFC and the Red Bulls.
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And as they continued to kick on the pitch there were familiar faces in the cordoned off Mets dugout, a few players including Jesse Winker who got off a team bus after a win over the Yankees and a few mile trip over the bridge. They, too, with 30,804 fans got a close view of this MLS rivalry.
But for NYCFC, eliminated by the Red Bulls last October in the MLS Eastern Conference Semifinals at Citi Field, a win was important. Even at this juncture of their season wins and accumulating points get more attention.
After all this is a rivalry, one team has to supersede the other. One team has to outdo the other also when it concerns the Yankees and Mets. This time though, NYCFC got on the board early Saturday afternoon. They were aggressive, keeper Matt Freese would not allow the Red Bulls to get close.
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NYCFC would not surrender their 2-0 lead with an Alonso Martínez early goal, and Maxi Moralez with a left footed shot to the center of the net in the 50th minute, the 38-year-old midfielder recorded his first goal of the season. He also is the oldest player to score a goal in the MLS this season.
Regardless, NYCFC needed this aggressive approach and at Citi Field (12-3-6 history) seem to respond better to their fan base contrasted to their successful home record at Yankee Stadium. They have said for some reason the crowd is louder and more into their game at Citi Field, perhaps a novel opinion and different from acoustics in the Bronx.
But the results show despite their playoff loss to the Red Bulls and Citi Field works to the advantage for NYCFC. They await their new multi-million dollar home set for an inaugural opening in 2027 across the street from Citi Field.
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“If you look at the first half, I think we should’ve already scored two or three goals, but that’s somewhat of a habit of ours so far this season—missing chances,” said coach Pascal Jansen. “So, I’m happy with the second goal, because it also gave us a bit of rest. But my team was very determined to keep a clean sheet as well, so I’m happy with both.”
He said Martinez was in a lot of situations, the aggression of his team and frustration of a hectic week all eliminated with this win. They forced a very good Red Bulls team to make mistakes.
“One of our principles is forcing mistakes on opponents by the intensity that we play in possession and out of possession,” Jansen said. “When we regain possession, we try to go forward as fast as we can,” referring to the aggressive pressure of Martínez, Moralez, Julián Fernández, and Hannes Wolf.
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The forward Martínez scored his seventh goal and first assist of the 2025 MLS regular season, including three career goals against the Red Bulls. Midfielder Justin Haak recorded his first assist of the season and first against the Red Bulls, setting up Martínez to open the scoring.
But for NYCFC the rigors of a tough week to them did not take a toll. It’s a part of the NYFC and MLS schedule, matches also surrounded with competition in the Leagues Cup where they were quickly eliminated with their inability to score.
Though against the rival conference Red Bulls, a team that fell short of winning a MLS Cup last season, changes the complexion of everything they want to accomplish in bypassing their adversary.
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“We try to play every game the same, to win especially against the Red Bulls,” Moralez said, also saying this was a different game. “We played with more aggression, especially today. Tired but we won, we fight. We know our fans support us every day, we need them. We needed to win for sure today in the Derby. Rest now and go back at it.”
They do get a break with one game in the coming week next Sunday afternoon, May 25th, against Western Conference Chicago Fire FC across the bridge at Yankee Stadium.
“We did well letting them have the ball, then forcing them to go long and winning those duels,” Jansen said. “We executed that really well.”
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“It’s very important,” said Bronx homegrown defender Tayvon Gray about their win against a rival. “We had a few games recently where we should have won, or where a draw felt like a loss because we didn’t get the result. In the past, teams were looking at us like, ‘They’re not really performing or scoring. This is a chance.’”
“I want another one to come,” Gray said about the stretch, “Of course I’m tired it comes with the job. Recovery, stay sharp, and get back at it next week.”
Rich Mancuso is a senior writer and contributor at LatinoSports.com – X: (@Ring786), Facebook.com/Rich Mancuso
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