The New York Red Bulls begin the month on the road Sunday, July 3 against Sporting Kansas City. Kickoff is set for 8:00 p.m. ET at Children’s Mercy Park with 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.
Get to know who the Red Bulls will be playing in their upcoming matchup.
How they’re doing
Sporting is off to a rough start to the 2022 season, picking up just 16 points from 18 matches to sit third from the bottom of the league.
The team has lost its last two home league matches to the Vancouver Whitecaps and the New England Revolution. It’s lost 10 matches in total this season, picking up just four wins.
Sporting did manage to knock off Nashville SC, which is in position for a Western Conference playoff spot, on the road on June 19. The club is also alive in the U.S. Open Cup, having advanced to the semifinals for the first time since it won the tournament in 2017.
Averaging less than a goal a game and having given up 32 this season, Kansas City has a league-worst -16 goal differential.
Head-to-head history
Kansas City holds the slight edge all-time against New York, winning 23 meetings to the Red Bulls’ 22, with 14 draws between the two original MLS sides.
The three most recent meetings dating back to 2018 have been split, with the teams posting a 1-1-1 record. Sporting won the lone match last year, coming from behind to earn a 2-1 victory in Red Bull Arena.
The Red Bulls have lost just twice in eight league meetings with Sporting at Children’s Mercy Park, but the club has not won on the road in Kansas City since 2014, when Bradley Wright-Phillips scored twice on the final day of the regular season to tie the then MLS single-season record for goals and clinch New York a playoff spot with the 2-0 win.
Player to watch – Forward Johnny Russell
The Scottish designated player has seven goals and an assist across all competitions for Sporting Kansas City this season.
Russell, who’s been with the club since 2018, scored four of those goals during a two-week stretch in May, helping Sporting advance in the U.S. Open Cup with both tallies in a 2-1 victory over Houston.
He was named the team’s captain in 2021 and has 50 goals in more than 150 appearances for the team during the past five seasons.
He arrived in Kansas City after long stints with Dundee United of the Scottish Premiership and Derby County in the EFL Championship. He’s been capped 14 times with Scotland’s national team, scoring his lone international goal back in 2019 against San Marino.
