Post Game Notes RBNY 2-1 Orlando

By Anonymous (not verified), February 21, 2026

Post-Game Notes: Red Bulls Defeat Orlando City SC, 2-1, in 2026 Season Opener

 

Red Bull New York 2, Orlando City SC 1

2026 MLS Regular Season – Game 1

Saturday, February 21, 2026 – 7:30 p.m. ET

Inter&Co Stadium | Orlando, FL

  

Box Score:  https://www.mlssoccer.com/competitions/mls-regular-season/2026/matches/orlvsrbny-02-21-2026/stats

 Scoring Summary:

NY – Julian Hall 1 (Forsberg, Cowell) 8’

NY – Julian Hall 2 (Mehmeti) 40’

ORL – Tiago Souza 1 (Taifi, Angulo) 90’+6

 

Misconduct Summary:

ORL – Tyrese Spicer (caution, foul) 45’+2

NY – Justin Che (caution, foul) 49’

NY – Adri Mehmeti (caution, foul) 63’

Red Bull New York: Ethan Horvath; Matthew Dos Santos (Omar Valencia, 65’), Dylan Nealis, Justin Che, Jahkeele Marshall-Rutty (Juan Mina, 65’) , Adri Mehmeti (Gustav Berggren, 76’), Ronald Donkor, Emil Forsberg ©, Jorge Ruvalcaba (Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting, 76’), Cade Cowell, Julian Hall (Tanner Rosborough, 87’)

 

Unused Subs: John McCarthy, Robert Voloder, Andy Rojas, Rafael Mosquera

TOTAL SHOTS: 24; SHOTS ON GOAL: 13; FOULS: 15 ; CORNER KICKS: 9; SAVES: 4

  

Orlando City SC: Maxime Crepeau; Adrian Marin, David Brekalo, Iago Teodoro (Nolan Miller, HT), Griffin Dorsey (Zakaria Taifi, 86’), Braian Ojeda, Wilder Cartagena, (Colin Guske, 14’), Martin Ojeda ©, Tyrese Spicer (Tiago Souza, 76’), Marco Pasalic (Ivan Angulo, HT), Duncan McGuire

Unused Subs: Javier Otero, Tahir Reid-Brown, Yutaro Tsukada, Justin Ellis

 

TOTAL SHOTS: 18; SHOTS ON GOAL: 7; FOULS: 7; CORNER KICKS: 5; SAVES: 11

 

Referee: Rubiel Vazquez

AR1: Jose Da Silva

AR2: Andrew Bigelow

4th Official: Marcos de Oliveira

VAR: Jorge Gonzalez

AVAR: John Krill

 

  • Red Bull New York (1-0-0, 3 pts.) defeated Orlando City SC (0-1-0, 0 pts.), 2-1, on Saturday night at Inter&Co Stadium.
  • RBNY opened the scoring in the eighth minute of play after winger Cade Cowell played midfielder Emil Forsberg through into Orlando’s eighteen-yard box, who dribbled the ball past the goalkeeper and played forward Julian Hall a cross, who then tapped the ball in the back of the net.
  • New York scored their second goal in the 40th minute of action, when midfielder Adri Mehmeti challenged for a ball in Orlando’s eighteen-yard box and delivered a low cross and found the foot of Hall, who placed it in the top of the net.
  • Orlando brought the match within one in the 96th minute, when Zakaria Taifi played a ball across to Tiago Souza, who placed the ball in the bottom left corner of New York’s net.
  • Hall scored his first and second MLS goals of the season and the fourth and fifth of his MLS career.
  • The Manhattan, N.Y. native recorded his first career MLS multi-goal game. He is the fifth player in MLS history to score multiple goals in a single game at 17 years or younger.
  • His eighth minute goal is the third fastest goal by New York in a season opener, only trailing Dave van den Bergh (2008) in the first minute and Andreas Ivan (2019) in the sixth minute.
  • Hall also became the 31st different player in 31 seasons to score the first goal of the season in franchise history.
  • The forward also became the fourth player in franchise history to record a brace in the season opening match and the first since Carlos Rivas in 2018.
  • Forsberg tallied his first MLS assist of the season and the 17th of his MLS career.
  • The midfielder has recorded an assist in back-to-back MLS regular season matches.
  • Cowell recorded his first MLS assist of the season in his Red Bulls debut. He has now tallied 16 career MLS assists.
  • Mehmeti tallied his first career MLS assist and became the second youngest player in franchise history to tally an assist at 16 years, 321 days old.
  • In tonight’s match, Jorge Ruvalcaba, Matthew Dos Santos, Ethan Horvath, and Mehmeti all made their first career MLS appearances and starts.
  • Mehmeti became the second youngest player in franchise history to make an MLS start at 16 years, 321 days old.
  • The Staten Island, N.Y. native also becomes the fifth youngest player in franchise history to make his MLS debut.
  • Dos Santos became the ninth youngest player in franchise history to make an MLS start at 17 years, 261 days old.
  • This is the first time in MLS history three players age 17 or younger started for a single club in the same game (Hall, Mehmeti, & Dos Santos).
  • Forward Tanner Rosborough and defender Juan Mina made their MLS debuts as well in tonight’s match.
  • Rosborough became the 13th youngest player to appear in a match for the club at 17 years, 337 days old.
  • The Red Bulls won their opening match of the season for the first time since 2022.
  • Head Coach Michael Bradley won his first career MLS match in the charge of the club and became the fourth head coach in franchise history to win their first match in charge of the club.
  • Following Saturday’s match, New York will host the New England Revolution for their 2026 Home Opener at Sports Illustrated Stadium on Saturday, February 28. Kickoff is set for 2:30 p.m. ET with coverage on Apple TV in English and Spanish, and Red Bulls Radio in English via the Red Bull New York app and NewYorkRedBulls.com.

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