SPIELBERG, AUSTRIA – JUNE 28: Jurgen Klopp ahead of the Formula 1 Austrian Grand Prix at Red Bull Ring in Spielberg, Austria on June 28, 2025. (Photo by Jakub Porzycki/Anadolu via Getty Images)
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Jürgen Klopp was in attendance at the Sports Illustrated Stadium in Harrison, New Jersey, for the New York Red Bulls’ clash with New York City FC on Saturday evening, and though he will have been entertained by a dramatic game, it was not the result he would have wanted to see in his role as a Red Bull employee.
After leaving Liverpool in the summer of 2024, Klopp took up a new job, beginning in January 2025, as head of global soccer at Red Bull, the multi-club ownership group that includes the MLS side as part of its sporting portfolio.
With the United States being in the spotlight of the soccer world ahead of a FIFA World Cup there in 2026, and the recent FIFA Club World Cup, and Copa America, plus the presence of Lionel Messi in MLS, it might have been expected that Red Bull’s New York franchise would get a little more attention from the multiclub ownership group than usual.
This has manifested itself partly in a brand new state-of-the-art training facility, which is due to open in Morris Township, New Jersey, in 2026.
“I’m massively, massively impressed,” Klopp said on visiting the facility last week. “This is outstanding. It’s something you never really can dream of. This is completely next level, it’s really, really cool. It’s really well thought through. It’s so many opportunities.”
14 January 2025, Austria, Salzburg: Jürgen Klopp laughs during his presentation as the new Head of Global Soccer at Red Bull Hangar-7. Photo: Jan Woitas/dpa (Photo by Jan Woitas/picture alliance via Getty Images)
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As far as Major League Soccer regular season games go, Saturday night’s was a pretty meaningful one.
The nature of MLS, with its emphasis on playoffs over the league table, means that matches begin to mean much more at this stage of the season. It also meant that it was a fairly significant edition of the Hudson River derby, with plenty at stake.
For the Red Bulls, it was a vital match in their quest to pick up points and continue the longest playoff streak in North American men’s professional sports.
For all the team’s ups and downs, one constant for the past 15 seasons has been its ability to qualify for the playoffs.
Qualification for a post-season offers hope for fans regardless of what came before it in the regular season. The Red Bulls showed as much last year when they finished 16th in the overall MLS standings, but the seventh-placed spot in the Eastern Conference saw them scrape into the playoffs for the 15th consecutive season.
One there, the team coached by Sandro Schwarz went on an impressive run, defeating the much-fancied Columbus Crew in the opening round, before seeing off New York City in a memorable derby win and then defeating Orlando City to win the Eastern Conference final.
The Red Bulls eventually lost in the MLS Cup final to an LA Galaxy side that had been on an even more impressive run in the West, but the postseason progress, despite the relatively average regular season performance, showed the importance of playoff qualification.
To be on such a 15-year run deserves plenty of credit in itself, but since winning a third Supporters’ Shield title for topping the overall MLS standings in 2018, the Red Bulls’ regular season performances have not been inspiring.
If the playoff streak were to end this year, the run of recent league finishes of 12th, 13th, 14th, 6th, 18th, 16th, and whatever position the team ends up in this season, would come further into the spotlight. On top of this, before that run to the final last year, the previous five playoff appearances had ended in first round defeats.
Klopp became synonymous with the rise of the pressing game in soccer, turning his Borussia Dortmund and Liverpool teams into outfits that no opposition team looked forward to facing, such was their intensity in defense.
The opening goal on Saturday night came from such proactive pressing and some quick closing down from New York City’s Justin Haak. The Brooklyn native won the ball in midfield before driving forward and setting up Nicolás Fernández Mercau for the opening goal within two minutes.
For New York City, this game was a chance to dent the Red Bulls hopes, which is part of the rivalry narrative, but also an opportunity to cement its own place at the upper end of the table, having already secured playoff qualification this season.
City, under Dutch head coach Pascal Jansen, had won seven of its previous 10 games going into this derby match, and is currently third in the Eastern Conference. There were a few twists and turns before it was able to make it eight wins in 11.
The Red Bulls’ first equaliser was a quick break through the NYCFC defense, finished off by Julian Hall, but City retook the lead a couple of minutes later through a looping header from Andres Perea.
A Red Bull marquee signing, Emil Forsberg, who arrived from one of the group’s other sides, RB Leipzig, ahead of the 2024 season, scored the second equalizer, but it was City’s own captain and designated player, Thiago Martíns, who scored the winner, turning in the ball on the line after Carlos Coronel had done brilliantly to save a Perea header.
HARRISON, NEW JERSEY – SEPTEMBER 27: Thiago Martins #13 of New York City FC and teammates lift the Hudson River Derby Trophy after their 3-2 victory over the New York Red Bulls at Sports Illustrated Stadium on September 27, 2025 in Harrison, New Jersey. (Photo by Jordan Bank/Getty Images)
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The Red Bulls have two games remaining this season, and currently sit in 10th out of 15 teams in the Eastern Conference, five points behind the Chicago Fire, which currently occupies the last postseason qualification spot.
The Fire has an extra game to play, too, so it is looking likely that the Red Bulls’ playoff streak will end, and they will fail to qualify for the postseason for the first time since 2009.
With a new training complex in the works and the additional focus on the region, much of Klopp’s focus could be on working out how to improve Red Bull’s MLS outfit in the coming months. Those fans who have regularly attended the Sports Illustrated Stadium in recent years will certainly hope this is the case.
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