The New York Red Bulls will host their first playoffs match since 2018 on Saturday at 12 PM ET.
Head Coach Gerhard Struber will deploy Elias Manoel up top, fresh off a brace on Decision Day.
This will be the 10th meeting in league history between New York and Cincinnati and it will be the first ever postseason meeting between the clubs. The Red Bulls lead in the overall series with a 4-2-3 mark and are unbeaten against Cincinnati in their last four matches against the club. Cincinnati are coming off a 5-2 win against D.C. United on MLS Decision Day as the club finished fifth in the Eastern Conference with 49 points.
Lewis Morgan and Luquinhas start the match for the Red Bulls. Omir Fernandez gets the nod, as well. Frankie Amaya and Daniel Edelman lock down the defensive midfield.
John Tolkin, Aaron Long, Sean Nealis and Andrés Reyes work along the back line. Carlos Coronel stars in goal.
Coronel recorded his eighth clean sheet of the season against Charlotte and now has tallied 12 clean sheets at Red Bull Arena during his New York career. Coronel tallied six saves in the match, which is tied for his season-high (July 17, vs. New York City FC). The Brazilian goalkeeper passed Jonny Walker for seventh place in franchise history in saves with 160 in his Red Bulls career .Coronel has recorded two shutouts in four career starts against FC Cincinnati and has posted a 2-0-3 mark against the club.
Off the bench, Struber will have Dylan Nealis, Kyle Duncan, Hassan Ndam, Dru Yearwood, Wiki Carmona, Serge Ngoma, Tom Barlow and Patryk Klimala available. Ryan Meara will serve as backup goalkeeper.
Kickoff is set for 12 p.m. ET with local coverage on MSG, MSG GO, and New York Red Bulls Radio in English and Spanish via TuneIn, the New York Red Bulls app and NewYorkRedBulls.com, while national coverage will be on UniMas and TUDN.
Coverage on MSG begins at 11:30 a.m. ET with the Red Bulls Pregame show. Steve Cangialosi will have the primary play-by-play responsibilities and will be alongside Shep Messing and Michelle Gingras.
New York Red Bulls Radio begins at 11 a.m. ET with Countdown to Kickoff, presented by Honda, hosted by Matt Harmon and Steve Jolley. Stefano Fusaro will carry the Spanish play-by-play responsibilities, beginning at 11:30 a.m. ET.
