From New York Red Bulls
News and Notes
• The Red Bulls have posted a 16-8-1 mark in their opening matches of the U.S. Open Cup, including a 3-1-1 mark in their last five.
• Forward Mohammed Sofo scored his second MLS goal of the season in New York’s match against Inter Miami CF on May 3.
• Sofo has scored two goals and tallied one assist in two career appearances in the U.S. Open Cup.
• Defender Omar Valencia tallied his fourth MLS assist of the season on Saturday, which ranks tied for the most among active MLS defenders this year.
New York Red Bulls Head Coach Sandro Schwarz
On 2025 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup matchup against Colorado Switchbacks FC…
First of all, it is a new competition. But what I said I was clear to analyze directly after the game, after the Inter Miami game, what we have to improve, especially our moments when we win the ball, or when we have our build up moments to create more situations in the final third. But now is a new competition for tomorrow. We analyzed four games of Colorado Switchbacks. It's a very good team. It's very tough team, very physical team, and we need our basic behavior, first of all, in our defense, to be very active and then to find our moments, and to find our moments with the ball, and especially in our transition.
On mindset entering cup play…
I have a lot of experience when I was a player and also when I was a coach in different countries. I played one final in this type of competition and so many games. It's not everything new. Now for me in this country it's new because now we are allowed to play in this year's Open Cup. But at the end, it's from the mental side, to be ready at first to play on turf and to play against a good team that we have to be ready, and not to think about that we can win this game with 60 or 70% that will be not enough. That's the first part. And then to play very clear, very clean, this is what I said. And at the end, it's a great competition. It's a new competition. Now it's our first game. We will have some rotations, but we will have a starting lineup that is able to win this game, and this is our expectation as well.
On Colorado Switchbacks FC…
We know that at the end the result especially in these competitions, are the most important thing, especially in the first round. This is my experience as a player and also as a head coach. First round is always not so easy, especially against Colorado, because what I have seen is a really, really good team. Clear direction, a lot of crosses in the box, a lot of deep runs from each positions, striker, eight position, winger, all these high full backs. So it's tough to play against them, but we have to be ready from the mental side and also from our performance.