Bright lights. Big city. Big game.
It’s Rivalry Week for Major League Soccer with three marquee matchups set for the weekend. But Saturday’s Hudson River Derby between the Red Bulls and NYCFC has been grabbing much of the attention.
The rivalry is new, started when NYFC joined the league in 2015, but geography made it a hit with fans. Hype around the game at Red Bull Arena was already underway Tuesday when representatives from the league and both teams sounded Nasdaq’s closing bell.
Many teams are fond of dubbing these rivalry meetings ”just another game.” That’s not the case here, according to Red Bulls striker Bradley Wright-Phillips, who certainly knows a thing or two about rivalries from his time at Manchester City.