CF Montreal Humbles RBNY 3-0 At Sports Illustrated Stadium

The honeymoon is over.

Red Bull New York lost for the first time under Michael Bradley, a 3-0 defeat at the hands of last-place CF Montreal at Sports Illlustrated Stadium on Sunday, Mar. 8.

Wiki Carmona did not score in all 34 of RBNY's MLS regular season matches in 2025. He scored twice in his return to Harrison, NJ to deflate Bradley's youth movement.

The day started with an opportunity for New York to win the first three matches of the season for the first time in club history. It ended with a nightmare performance zero points against a CF Montreal side that had been outscored 8-0 in its first two matches.

Both sides made changes to their starting elevens, with Bradley opting to go for in-form forward Julian Hall at central midfield with Ronald Donkor unavailable and Robert Voloder in for the injured Dylan Nealis at center back. Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting made his first start of the season at the striker position.

Marco Donadel changed his formation and defensive approach for the match, opting for a back-five, introducing Luca Petrasso and the aforementioned Carmona to the lineup. Dagur Dan Thorhallsson was dropped back to his more familiar wingback role, while Brayan Vera joined Efrain Morales and Tomas Avilés in his more natural role as one of the three center backs. Prince Owusu was joined by Ivan Jaime up top while Carmona was tasked with man-marking Adri Mehmeti in front of Victor Loturi and Matty Longstaff.

These changes paid dividends in the match for Montreal, as Mehmeti was effectively taken out of the game and Owusu was able to use Jaime as an outlet in behind the New York to combine with his dominant hold-up play.

Owusu opened the scoring in the eighth minute with a spot-kick after Justin Che tripped Jaime in the penalty area. After a lengthy VAR review, the decision was confirmed and the Montreal captain buried his penalty, the start of a frustrating evening for the Red Bulls.

New York managed to register two shots in the first half, the most notable being off the left foot of Emil Forsberg in the ninth minute, but they otherwise looked toothless in the attack.

And to make matters worse, Montreal had the last laugh in the opening 45, with Carmona haunting his former club by scoring a narrow-angle free kick in the 44th minute. The Venezuelan midfielder drove the shot along the pitch and it managed to ellude every player's legs, fool Ethan Horvath and find its way into the back of the net.

After the match, Bradley noted the unfortunate timing of the goals his side conceded.

"Giving away bad goals at bad times, early in the game against a team that has not had a particularly good start to the season, to give them even a little bit of hope, that is not the way you want to start," the RBNY manager said. "Hard lesson today, but an important one and we will use it in the right way."

No changes were made for either side at the start of the second half, and the match didn't change much either as a result.

New York continued to have the majority of possession and created a few decent chances, but nothing that really threatened Thomas Gillier.

And for the cherry on top of the nightmare sundae, Carmona found his brace in the 68th minute. Horvath elected to take a short goal kick while Montreal were pressing aggressively, immediately putting Che and Mehmeti in trouble. The former Red Bull easily dispossessed the 16-year-old holding midfielder and tucked it past a hopeless Horvath to cement the victory.

A brilliantly managed and executed performance from the visitors, their first win after what has been an atrocious start to the 2026 campaign.

As for RBNY, it's back to reality. After two solid performances and a jump-start to the top of the Eastern Conference table, they finish Matchday 3 in fourth, looking up at bitter rival New York City FC in the top spot with seven points, following their 5-0 rout of Orlando City on Saturday.

Some questions about Bradley's lineup decisions have been asked (particularly about his reluctance to use TAM player Gustav Berggren in central midfield) and folks have begun to notice the lack of production from wingers Cade Cowell and Jorge Ruvalcaba.

As for now, the defeat is a painful and potentially season-altering lesson for New York's young squad to learn.

The Red Bulls will have a chance to get back on the right track when they venture north of the border to take on Toronto FC on Saturday, Mar. 14. The Reds are coming off of an impressive 1-0 away win over perennial MLS Cup contenders FC Cincinnati.

Toronto's newest Designated Player, U.S. National Team striker Josh Sargent, could be available for the match.