New England Revolution assistant coach Michael Morris urged his team to “respect ourselves a bit more” as they look for their first win of the MLS season against the New York Red Bulls.
The Revs have endured a disappointing two seasons, missing out on the playoffs in both 2024 and 2025, with the latter resulting in Caleb Porter’s dismissal.
And their hopes of a brighter 2026 got off to a torrid start as they suffered a heavy 4-1 defeat to Nashville SC and scored with their only shot on target.
While Morris was keen not to put too much weight on the result, he wants to see more belief from New England going forward.
“One of the things that’s important is your last result sometimes emotionally feels like it defines you, but it doesn’t,” Morris said.
“Our collective work so far is what we’ve been looking at.
“I think we really want to respect ourselves a bit more. And in terms of the way that we want to play, I think we can build pressure with a little bit more intensity and clarity on the opponent when they’re building up.”
Built in the blizzard pic.twitter.com/dDmQ3X67Ks
— New England Revolution (@NERevolution) February 25, 2026
The Red Bulls, meanwhile, sit third in the early standings, after a 2-1 victory over Orlando City SC last time out, having dominated their opponents.
They had 22 shots in that game, with 16 of those on target, as 17-year-old Julian Hall netted the goals to get Michael Bradley off to a winning start.
And the head coach was thrilled with all of the youngsters he brought into the line-up, starting three players under 18, heaping particular praise on Hall.
“Julian is a really talented young player,” Bradley said.
“I think sometimes it’s easy to forget how young he still is because he’s been a professional for a few years, but he has really, really big qualities.
“We’ve got to keep pushing him so that he can take the next step.”
PLAYERS TO WATCH
New York Red Bulls – Julian Hall
Hall scored both goals for the Red Bulls in their win over Orlando in the season opener.
At 17 years and 334 days old, Hall became the fifth-youngest player to score multiple goals in an MLS match, with two of the four younger players also doing so for New York (Jozy Altidore, Eddie Gaven).
Snow day scenes. #RBNY | @RWJBarnabas pic.twitter.com/MojdzFvdPx
— Red Bull New York (@NewYorkRedBulls) February 25, 2026
New England Revolution – Carles Gil
Carles Gil set up Leonardo Campana for New England’s only goal against Nashville SC on Saturday.
The Spaniard has been involved in the Revs’ first goal of the season in four of the last six years, dating back to 2021 (one goal, three assists), and he will be keen to make an impact once more.
MATCH PREDICTION: NEW YORK RED BULLS WIN
This will be the 102nd all-time meeting between New York and New England in all competitions, with the home team winning each of the last five. Neither team has recorded a road win over the other since a 1-0 win for the Red Bulls in April 2022.
New York opened their season with a 2-1 win over Orlando. The Red Bulls have opened a season with consecutive wins just once since 2019, recording victories over the San Jose Earthquakes and Toronto FC to begin the 2022 season.
Meanwhile, with their 4-1 defeat to Nashville on Saturday, New England have lost 13 of their last 20 matches dating back to the end of last season (W3 D4). The Revolution have also been defeated in their last four away games, conceding four goals in each of the last two.
OPTA WIN PROBABILITY
New York Red Bulls – 57.5%
Draw – 22.1%
New England Revolution – 20.4%