Orlando City vs. New York Red Bulls: Preview, How to Watch, TV Info, Live Stream, Lineups, Match Thread, and More

Welcome to your match thread and preview for a Saturday night Eastern Conference matchup between Orlando City (6-9-2, 20 points) and the New York Red Bulls (6-7-4, 22 points) at Sports Illustrated Stadium (7:30 p.m., Apple TV). This is the second of the two scheduled meetings between the teams this season after the sides kicked off the season against each other in February.

Here’s what you need to know ahead of the match.

History

The Lions are 8-11-5 in 24 league meetings with the Red Bulls in the all-time series (9-12-5 in all competitions), with a record of 4-6-2 on the road. Orlando City is not in a good run of form against New York, having gone 0-3-3 in the last six meetings.

The Lions and Red Bulls met in Orlando on opening day back on Feb. 21, with Orlando City unable to overcome a terrible first half in a 2-1 loss. Julian Hall scored a first-half brace, and the Lions were unable to hit the net until deep in stoppage time, when Tiago scored his first Orlando City goal to spoil the shutout.

The teams split the points in both meetings a year ago, playing to a 0-0 draw in Orlando on April 12, 2025. That wasn’t a bad result for the Lions, considering Rodrigo Schlegel was sent off early in the second half after receiving his second yellow card of the game. It was Orlando’s second consecutive scoreless draw out of three straight, and four 0-0 affairs in five matches during a particularly dry patch for the Lions’ offense.

These two sides met less than a month prior to that game, playing to a 2-2 draw at Sports Illustrated Stadium on March 15. Martin Ojeda’s strike put Orlando up early, but it was canceled out by a controversial penalty by Eric Choupo-Moting just 11 minutes later. Marco Pasalic restored the Lions’ lead before the break with a stunning strike. However, Dennis Gjengaar was left unattended in front just two minutes after the restart, and he scored the tying goal.

The two teams faced each other in the 2024 Eastern Conference final at Inter&Co Stadium on Nov. 30, 2024, with an Andres Reyes set piece goal all that separated the sides in a 1-0 New York win. It was the first-ever playoff meeting between the two clubs.

The teams met in New Jersey on June 1, 2024, with the hosts coming away with a 1-0 win on a set piece goal from John Tolkin. Orlando City wasn’t in the best run of form at the time, and it was the third shutout the Lions suffered in a five-game span. The first meeting of the 2024 season came at Inter&Co Stadium on March 30, with the two sides playing to a 1-1 draw. A Kyle Smith foul in the box allowed Lewis Morgan to put the visitors ahead, but a late own goal by Noah Eile resulted in a stalemate.

Orlando City got the sweep in 2023 and did not concede a goal in the series, winning the last meeting of the year 3-0 at the stadium then known as Red Bull Arena. Facundo Torres scored twice — once from the spot — after Ivan Angulo opened the scoring for an easy road win. The two sides met in Orlando on opening day of 2023, with Orlando City winning 1-0 on a Torres penalty kick on Feb. 25. Sean Nealis’ handball allowed the Lions to start the season with a victory.

Orlando City won at Red Bull Arena 1-0 on Aug. 13, 2022, thanks to a Torres goal. That allowed the Lions to split the regular-season meetings and take two of three against New York in all competitions in 2022.

The Lions scored five unanswered goals to turn a 1-0 deficit into a 5-1 romp in the U.S. Open Cup semifinals on July 27, 2022 at Exploria Stadium. Cesar Araujo scored his first two professional goals on set pieces, while Mauricio Pereyra, Torres, and Benji Michel also found the net. Morgan scored New York’s lone goal.

The win in August had allowed the Lions to snap a four-game winless streak (0-3-1) in the regular-season series. The last of those non-wins came on April 24, 2022, when the Lions were walloped 3-0 at home on goals by Luquinhas, Cristian Casseres Jr., and Morgan, and Orlando City failed to get any of its measly three shot attempts on target.

The Red Bulls swept the season series in 2021. The teams met at Exploria Stadium on July 3 of that season with New York taking home a 2-1 win. Casseres opened the scoring just six minutes in, but Chris Mueller pulled the Lions level early in the second half. Fabio’s late goal lifted the visitors. Pereyra’s poor penalty was saved by Carlos Coronel, which cost Orlando City a better result.

The Red Bulls also handed Orlando City its first loss of the 2021 season, a 2-1 affair at Red Bull Arena, on May 29, 2021. Nani was suspended for that match and it showed, as the Lions were sloppy in possession and lacked composure on the ball. New York took the lead on goals by Caden Clark and Casseres, before Silvester van der Water pulled one back late. The Dutchman had a golden opportunity to tie the match moments later but skied his shot well over the bar.

The Lions fought to a road draw on Oct. 18, 2020, with Brian White equalizing deep in stoppage time in a 1-1 match. Nani had put the Lions ahead in the second half with a penalty kick goal and Orlando clinched its first ever MLS playoff spot despite spilling those late two points. That was the last match in the club’s record 12-match unbeaten streak in MLS play.

Orlando got the better of New York at Exploria Stadium on Oct. 3, 2020, winning 3-1 on goals by Daryl Dike, Junior Urso, and Antonio Carlos. Florian Valot scored for New York.

The teams split 1-0 road wins in the 2019 season series. White scored the only goal in Orlando on July 21, and Sacha Kljestan’s goal was the difference at Red Bull Arena on March 23. Before that game, the home team had won each of the previous five games in the series, splitting a pair of matches during the 2017 and 2018 seasons.

The teams split two meetings in 2018, with the Red Bulls grabbing a 1-0 result in the 2018 season finale to capture the Supporters’ Shield and the Lions pulling off a 4-3 home victory on March 31, 2018. Each team won at home in 2017 to split the two-game series, with New York winning 3-1 on Aug. 12, and Orlando City opening the season series with a 1-0 win on April 9 behind Servando Carrasco’s goal.

The teams met three times in 2016, with New York going 2-0-1. The teams split two games in 2015, with the road team winning both times, including Orlando City’s 5-2 win in New Jersey behind a Cyle Larin hat trick.

Overview

Orlando City restarted the season after the World Cup break in better form than anyone could have expected. Going up against two of the three best teams in MLS in just a four-day span, the Lions picked up a big 4-0 road win at San Jose before returning home to beat MLS Supporters’ Shield-leading Nashville 1-0 a week ago. Antoine Griezmann joining the team helped a lot with that, but despite missing several critical players, Orlando put together a pair of complete performances and shut down two good offenses. Whether it was a matter of catching teams complacent after a long layoff or a developing trend, we’ll have to wait and see.

The Lions enter tonight with a poor road record in 2026 of just 2-6-1, but one of those wins was a beatdown of the Earthquakes in the last away match.

Meanwhile, New York has lost 3-1 and 2-0 since the restart. The Red Bulls are 3-3-2 at home, and they are led by Hall’s nine goals and four assists for 13 total goal contributions. Jorge Ruvalcaba has been a nice pickup by New York, chipping in seven goals already this season, although he’ll be out tonight with a suspension. Emil Forsberg has added a goal and six assists to go along with Ronald Donkor’s one goal and five assists and Cade Cowell’s two goals and five assists. So, despite only scoring one goal since the restart, the Red Bulls have plenty of weapons.

The Lions will need to continue playing the kind of defense they showed against Nashville a week ago to get a road result heading into the Leagues Cup break.

Orlando City will be without Martin Ojeda (thigh), Nolan Miller (knee), Colin Guske (international duty), and Clovis Archage (international duty), while midfielder Joran Gerbet (knee) has been upgraded to questionable. New York will be missing A.J. Marcucci (knee), Adri Mehmeti (suspension), Ruvalcaba (suspension), Omar Valencia (suspension), and Rafael Mosquera (thigh).

Match Content

• Our Intelligence Report provides more background on tonight’s opponents, courtesy of Mark Fishkin of the Seeing Red podcast.
• The most recent episode of the PawedCast includes our key matchups and score predictions for the match.
• Our David Rohe provided his three keys to an Orlando City victory over the New York Red Bulls.

Projected Lineups

Orlando City (4-4-2)

Goalkeeper: Maxime Crepeau.

Defenders: Adrian Marin, Robin Jansson, David Brekalo, Griffin Dorsey.

Midfielders: Ivan Angulo, Braian Ojeda, Eduard Atuesta, Tiago.

Forwards: Antoine Griezmann, Justin Ellis.

New York Red Bulls (4-3-3)

Goalkeeper: Ethan Horvath.

Defenders: Matthew Dos Santos, Julian Bazan, Justin Che, Dylan Nealis.

Midfielders: Emil Forsberg, Gustav Berggren, Ronald Donkor.

Forwards: Mohammed Sofo, Julian Hall, Cade Cowell.

Referees

REF: Filip Dujic.
AR1: Kathryn Nesbitt.
AR2: Oscar Mitchell-Carvalho.
4TH: Pierre-Luc Lauziere.
VAR: Carol Anne Chenard.
AVAR: Craig Lowry.

How to Watch

Match Time: 7:30 p.m.

Venue: Sports Illustrated Stadium — Harrison, NJ.

TV/Streaming: Apple TV.

Radio: AM 810 FOX Sports Radio Orlando (English), Mega 97.1 FM (Spanish), Nossa Rádio 1160 AM-WRLZ (Portuguese).

Social Media: For rapid reaction and live updates, follow us on Bluesky Social at @themaneland.bsky.social or follow Orlando City’s official Twitter (@OrlandoCitySC) or Bluesky (@OrlandoCitySC) feed.

Enjoy the match. Go City!