Sunday at 2 p.m. will be the 2025 MLS NEXT Pro home opener for the New York Red Bulls II as they will host archrivals New York City FC II.
The Baby Bulls are getting ready for their home opener and the first edition of the Hudson River Derby against their archrivals NYCFC II which will take place on Sunday at Sports Illustrated Stadium.
NYCFC II sit in second place in the MLS NEXT Pro Eastern Conference having taken two wins from their first three games. The Baby Bulls come in to this game sitting in seventh place. NYCFC II forward Julien Lacher comes into this game with an assist and five key passes which is tied for seventh in the league. Aiden Jarvis has an assist to his name so far this season, having provided the helper on Tanner Rosborough’s goal in the Baby Bulls’ last game against Philadelphia Union II which they ended up taking a point from but losing on penalty kicks 3:1.
Baby Bulls head coach Ibrahim Sekagya explained the differences in style of play between the Baby Bulls and Baby Blues.
They value a lot of the ball. We know that they’re going to have to play. And for us, we want to keep the tempo of the game. We want to be aggressive going forward. I think this is a good matchup. We have to play our style of play. No one is going to change because the other one is playing different. But we know how they play. We know what they value, and they know us exactly we want to be against the ball, aggressive.
Red Bulls academy product Matthew Dos Santos made five appearances in MLS NEXT Pro last season and is ready to take his next step. Dos Santos signed his first professional contract just days after making his first MLS NEXT Pro start in Red Bulls II’s season opener against Atlanta United II, which ended up in a 1-0 victory for the Baby Bulls. The contract will transition to a Homegrown contract in 2027 and last until 2029 with an option for 2030.
Dos Santos talked about what the transition from the academy to MLS NEXT Pro has been like.
It’s really just the physical part, the physical aspect. Going into 50-50s with guys that are much older than me, much bigger than me. So that was pretty much just the focus going into the transition there.
Dos Santos grew up in Sandy Hook, Connecticut, which makes him familiar with the tri-state area sports scene and the Hudson River Derby between the New York Red Bulls and NYCFC. Dos Santos has played for the Red Bulls from the pre-academy U-12 team to the U-17s where he got his first taste of the rivalry.
However, this will be Dos Santos’ first taste of the rivalry at the professional level, and he described what his expectations are.
I’ve played against NYCFC a lot of times, especially being here since pre-Academy. The rivalry has been the same way ever since U-12. You know it’s going to be that physical game, that transitional, second ball type of game. It’s just being prepared for it and for me personally, this game is kind of like who gets New York. It’s the Hudson River Derby. It’s the most important game of the season. Especially since it’s the home opener.
With Red Bulls II, Dos Santos is reuniting with four players that he played on the 2023 Red Bulls academy team that won the U-15 MLS NEXT Cup; Aidan Stokes, Adri Mehmeti, Julian Hall and Tanner Rosborough.
As a fullback, part of Dos Santos’ job will be to supply the forwards with the ball, and he shed some light on the chemistry he has with Rosborough.
I played with Tanner for all of my U-15 year so I know his tendencies and where he wants the ball. So it’s really nice to be able to play with him now and hopefully this weekend. And I know that he likes [the ball] in the space so that’s where I put it and there’s still other players like Julian [Hall] and [Aidan] Stokes that I’m also getting to play with so it’s just that chemistry that we’ve had ever since then.
This year, Coach Sekagya will have the luxury of coaching eight players who graduated from the Red Bulls academy: Tobias Szewcyzk, Davi Alexandre, Curtis Ofori, Aidan Stokes, Tanner Rosborough, Aiden Jarvis, Adri Mehmeti and Matthew Dos Santos. He will also be able to coach five players who are signed through academy agreement and they are Tim Logan, Copeland Berkley, Jeff Bryjak, Ian Paola, and Christian Gallagher.
Coach Sekagya described why it’s helpful to coach players who come from the academy and are familiar with the Red Bulls style of play.
This is important. I think this is something we can talk about the Red Bull way as we know we’re developing young players from Academy coming to our second team, and the second team goes into the first team, having those players into the team and showing what we are doing. They understand it. We saw Matty (Dos Santos) a long time ago…He is a player who has a lot of potential, and he’s still growing up. And this is so important for us as a club, also seeing young players growing up into our pathway, this is so good.
Streaming for the match is available on the MLS Season Pass on Apple TV.
