Marked for Mohammed Sofo
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad23 Nov 2026
Gianluca Busio and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
Tim Parker is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Cameron Harper has written the date down.
Market23 Nov 2026
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Julián Bazán’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
Mohammed Sofo knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at New York Red Bulls, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market16 Nov 2026
Julián Bazán hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what New York Red Bulls can pretend not to have heard.
Squad16 Nov 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at New York Red Bulls this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jorge Ruvalcaba was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
Mohammed Sofo has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at New York Red Bulls will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Mohammed Sofo has had enough of the bench
“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and New York Red Bulls will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
Market16 Nov 2026
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Jahkeele Marshall-Rutty signs something — a contract at New York Red Bulls or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at New York Red Bulls, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
From our football correspondent
Steady
The dugout9 Nov 2026
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” New York Red Bulls may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Robert Voloder and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Market9 Nov 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Gio Weah has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Words at New York Red Bulls training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jorge Ruvalcaba is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
The manager makes an example of Elliot Panicco
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market19 Oct 2026
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Jahkeele Marshall-Rutty and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Words at New York Red Bulls training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Justin Che is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Loan watch19 Oct 2026
“I did not go to Derby County to sit and watch. I want to come back to New York Red Bulls and fight for my place.” 2 appearances in 6 matches say the rest.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
Dylan Nealis asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
Market19 Oct 2026
The Julián Bazán talk will not go away
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. New York Red Bulls know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Squad19 Oct 2026
The shrug has gone, the language is coming, and he now argues in training like somebody who expects to be here next year. Half a signing's value is this and none of it appears on a fee.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 25. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Robert Voloder and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Match19 Sep 2026
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 6 matches without defeat is a foundation New York Red Bulls did not have in the autumn.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.64 on the card, and the New York Red Bulls support went home talking about one name.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Christian Aaronson after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
Somebody else is better right now than Cameron Harper
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
Match19 Sep 2026
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Atlanta United FC? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
Mohammed Sofo has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at New York Red Bulls will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Looking ahead21 Sep 2026
Philadelphia Union next, and one man in the New York Red Bulls dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
At 37 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 8.50, and nobody on the pitch better.
Match12 Sep 2026
3 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
The terraces14 Sep 2026
He is 23 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Market14 Sep 2026
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Daniel Steffen has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Market14 Sep 2026
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Matt Turner is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Match12 Sep 2026
A 1‑0 win over Charlotte Football Club, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Words at New York Red Bulls training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jorge Ruvalcaba is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Squad14 Sep 2026
100 games in the shirt. Nobody sets out to build a record like that; it happens to a certain kind of player at a certain kind of club, and this town knows what it has.
Squad14 Sep 2026
12 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
In brief
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The dugout
The view from the dugout
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The dugout
Emil Forsberg has become a man the manager trusts
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The dugout
Mohammed Sofo gets it from the manager
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.46 at 37, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 22. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Jahkeele Marshall-Rutty was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The dugout7 Sep 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ethan Horvath, and the manager let it.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.18, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Words at New York Red Bulls training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Justin Che is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Somebody has moved past him. It is not a dropping and it is worse than one, because a dropping is about a Saturday and this is about where he stands.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Julián Bazán makes the team of the month
Four or five weekends of consistency, measured against everybody else in the division. A quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.