Preview: New York Red Bulls vs Real Salt Lake - prediction, team news, lineups

Making their first visit to New Jersey in over six years, Real Salt Lake will resume their MLS campaign on Sunday when they take on the New York Red Bulls at Sports Illustrated Stadium.

A 1-0 defeat at the Chicago Fire in their last league fixture dropped New York down to 10th in the Eastern Conference, while Claret and Cobalt are up to eighth in the West following a 2-1 win over the San Jose Earthquakes.

Match preview

With nine regular-season games to go, the Red Bulls’ run of 15 consecutive playoff appearances is in real jeopardy of ending later this year.

As things stand, they are two points below the Chicago Fire for that final post-season berth in the East but are coming off a solid Leagues Cup campaign where they exited in the group phase, failing to lose a single game in 90 minutes.

Sandro Schwarz’s side, however, have claimed just one win in their previous eight league fixtures, while losing three of those last four games.

Down the stretch of August, they have a good chance to make up some ground in the standings though, with three of their final four league contests this month occurring at Sports Illustrated Stadium, where eight of their nine domestic victories have occurred this year.

They have found the back of the net in each of their 2025 regular-season home outings, with 31 of their 39 goals scored in this competition taking place in Harrison.

The Red Bulls are unbeaten in their previous four home meetings versus RSL, failing to concede a single goal in those last three encounters.

While the New Red Bulls have descended the table in recent weeks, it has been the opposite story for Real Salt Lake, who have made a move in the West.

Pablo Mastroeni’s men have suffered just one normal-time defeat in their last 10 competitive fixtures, putting them two points above the post-season line with 10 matches remaining.

Three of their next four league fixtures take place away from home, and this team have collected at least a point in three of their last four regular-season games played outside America First Field.

They have drawn first blood in four consecutive matches played across all competitions but failed to win two of those previous three in normal time, both of which were in the Leagues Cup.

They have a 100% domestic record away from home this year when netting multiple times but have only done so on two occasions thus far.

Claret and Cobalt have not won an away match in this competition versus a New York-based club since beating New York City FC 3-2 in 2016, while they have not beaten the Red Bulls in New Jersey since 2011 (3-1).

New York Red Bulls Major League Soccer form:

New York Red Bulls form (all competitions):

Real Salt Lake Major League Soccer form:

Real Salt Lake form (all competitions):

Team News

Thigh issues may keep Serge Ngoma and Lewis Morgan out of the Red Bulls lineup once again this weekend, while Wiktor Bogacz is questionable with a sore toe and Cameron Harper is still recovering from a knee injury.

Meanwhile, a yellow card in the latter stages of their match against the Fire will force Swedish defender Noah Eile out of this contest.

In their victory over the Quakes, RSL were without Mason Stajduhar due to a sore hand, Zac MacMath was sidelined with a shoulder problem, Javain Brown had a knee issue and Matthew Bell sat out because of a hamstring strain.

Jamar Ricketts of San Jose netted an own goal to draw them level in their previous league fixture, before Braian Ojeda scored the winner nine minutes from the end.

New York Red Bulls possible starting lineup:

Coronel; Duncan, D. Nealis, Hack, Valencia; Carmona, Edelman, Donkor, Sofo; Forsberg, Choupo-Moting

Real Salt Lake possible starting lineup:

Cabral; Caliskan, Glad, Quinton, Junqua; Eneli, Ruiz; Gozo, Luna, Goncalves; Agada

We say: New York Red Bulls 1-1 Real Salt Lake

There is a lack of familiarity between these sides, and we expect that may take away the intensity from a match which could mean something big to these teams when the regular season concludes.

For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.