MLS<\/a> history that a team had ever started three players 17 or younger in the same match, and it paid off.\n<\/p>\nHall\u2019s first-half brace, which featured an assist on his second from Memheti, paced Red Bull to a season-opening 2-1 victory over Orlando City on Saturday night \u2014 as good a start as the Bradley era could have had.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re all really grateful for the coaching staff trusting us,\u201d Hall said. \u201cMe, Adri, and Matty came through the academy and fought so hard to get to this position. It was an amazing opportunity, and we\u2019re happy to get the three points.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hall opened the scoring in the eighth minute after captain Emil Forsberg received a pass from Cade Cowell on the right wing, cut through the Orlando defense into the box, and got around the keeper practically onto the goal line well to the right of the near post. His centering ball found an open Hall in the middle, who tapped it in.<\/p>\n
In the 40th minute, off a corner that was deflected away from the left post, Mehmeti haphazardly stuck a leg out and sent the ball straight up, and somehow, he got his head on it. As it bounced around the feet of Orlando defenders, he came away with it and sent a low ball to the left post, where Hall was able to redirect it into the roof of the net.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Right place, right time for both. But it takes a certain instinct to get to the open space near the goal in the first place.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n
\u201cJulian is a really talented young player,\u201d Bradley said. \u201cIt\u2019s easy to forget how young he still is because he\u2019s been a professional for a few years. But he has really big qualities, and we\u2019ve gotta keep pushing him so he can take the next step. Tonight was a really good start for him\u2026 We were all really excited for him to take a good preseason and turn it into a really strong performance right away.\u201d<\/p>\n
Both Hall and Choupo-Moting stand to greatly benefit from Bradley\u2019s new vision for Red Bull. Cowell and fellow winger Jorge Ruvalcaba, both of whom are new acquisitions from Liga MX, lived up to the hype of the speedy, dynamic playmakers they were billed as.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe felt like it was a game that set up well for us,\u201d Bradley said. \u201cWe knew that it was going to be a real challenge in every way, but we also felt that our way of playing, our speed, our football could challenge them. The part of taking advantage of Cade, of Jorge, of Julian, their movement, their speed, that part was important.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMichael did a great job of setting me up in the system to be as much of a threat as possible,\u201d Hall added. \u201cThe feeling is amazing.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
Consider this a first statement of intent from a Red Bull team that has significant questions still surrounding it. A new-look roster features an incomplete back line and a midfield spot or two up for grabs alongside Forbserg. But goals should be plentiful, and Hall is poised to add a nice punch with Choupo-Moting this season.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re kind of a newer team, but the main thing is we\u2019re coming out to show who we are and what Red Bull are,\u201d Hall said.\n<\/p>\n
For more on Red Bull New York, visit AMNY.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Feb 21, 2026; Orlando, Florida, USA; New York Red Bulls forward Julian Hall (16) kicks the ball past…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":164977,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[5692,139,141,140,49823,78630,2062,110],"class_list":["post-164976","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-orlando","tag-mls","tag-orlando","tag-orlando-headlines","tag-orlando-news","tag-red-bull-new-york","tag-red-bulls","tag-soccer","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/164976","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=164976"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/164976\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/164977"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=164976"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=164976"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=164976"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"Julian](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/2026-02-22T014120Z_573141422_MT1USATODAY28307890_RTRMADP_3_MLS-RED-BULL-NEW-YORK-AT-ORLANDO-CITY.jpg\" "\\"Red")
\t\t\t<\/p>\n