NYRB vs NYCFC: Hosts to Improve in Season’s Second Hudson River Derby?
by Bradley Gibbs | by Bradley Gibbs
Can the Red Bulls get more competitive?
Saturday’s game at Red Bull Arena, will be the first Hudson River Derby of the Major League Soccer season, but it won’t be the first time that the pair have met in 2026.
Just a few weeks ago, in the US Open Cup, the pair clashed, and just as it will be on Saturday, it was the Red Bulls who played in front of a home crowd.
Despite getting down to business on home soil against their rivals in the cup, the Red Bulls came up short, losing by three goals to one. The question now is can they improve and get their own back?
Since that US Open Cup meeting, the pair have both lost one and won two, with both Saturday’s hosts and visitors coming into this Hudson River Derby off the back of consecutive wins, so we should see two confident teams take to the field.
New York Red Bulls vs NYCFC key details
As mentioned above, this will be the second time that the teams have played each other at Red Bull Arena this season. In fact, this will be the third renewal of the Hudson River Derby in a row to be played in front of a New Jersey crowd.
Here are the key details ahead of the New York Red Bulls vs NYCFC game:
Date: Saturday, May 16th
Kick off time: 19:30 EST
Venue: Red Bull Arena
Where to watch: Apple TV
Recent history firmly with the visitors
Not only did the men from Yankee Stadium get the better of their Hudson River rivals in the US Open Cup a few weeks ago, but they’ve also been rather dominant in this fixture in general over the last few years.
Towards the end of the 2025 Major League Soccer campaign, the teams faced off at Red Bull Arena, where it was the visitors who had the last laugh, winning by three goals to two, courtesy of second-half goal from Thiago Martins.
Interestingly, in Major League Soccer, the Red Bulls have beaten their NYCFC rivals just twice since 2023. Now that might not sound that bad, but it’s not great given that the pair have met seven times in the league since then.
Let’s take a look at the ten-game MLS history of this fixture:
2025 - NYRB 2 - 3 NYCFC
2025 - NYCFC 2 - 0 NYRB
2024 - NYCFC 0 - 2 NYRB
2024 - NYRB 1 - 5 NYCFC
2023 - NYCFC 0 - 0 NYRB
2023 - NYRB 1 - 0 NYCFC
2022 - NYCFC 2 - 0 NYRB
2022 - NYRB 0 - 1 NYCFC
2021 - NYRB 1 - 0 NYCFC
2021 - NYRB 1 - 0 NYCFC
As we can see above, the NYCFC boys have won three of their last four MLS games against NYRB, though their dominance doesn’t go back much further than that, with the Red Bulls winning four of the last ten renewals of the Hudson River Derby.
What will happen on Saturday?
This is an interesting game. Sure, Pascal Jansen’s visitors will fancy themselves to repeat their recent US Open Cup success over the hosts, but it’s definitely fair to say that the Red Bulls are now in a better place, so don’t be too sure of a repeat.
What’s interesting is the fact that both teams have shown a clear preference for playing on the break in recent weeks, so it could come down to who can soak up the pressure best without the ball, as we know both teams are capable of exploding into life on the counter.
