Jurgen Klopp Eyes ‘Next Level’ New York Red Bull Project prior to Derby Defeat

Jürgen Klopp was present at the Sports Illustrated Stadium in Harrison, New Jersey, for the collision of the New York Red Bulls with New York City FC on Saturday evening, and although he will be entertained by a dramatic game, it was not the result he would like to see in his role as Red Bull employee.

After leaving Liverpool in the summer of 2024, Klopp started a new jobStarting in January 2025, as head of Global Soccer at Red Bull, the Multi-Club ownership group that includes the Major League football side as part of its sports portfolio.

With the United States in the spotlight of the football world prior to a FIFA World Cup there in 2026, and the recent FIFA Club World Cup, and Copa America, plus the presence of Lionel Messi in MLS, it could be expected that the New York Franchise of Red Bull would receive more attention.

This has partly manifested itself in a brand new ultramodern training facility, which will be opened in 2026 in Morris Township, New Jersey.

“I am very impressed,” Klopp said last week when visiting the facility. “This is excellent. It is something you can never really dream of. This is completely the next level, it is really, very cool. It is really well thought out. They are so many opportunities.”

With regard to the regular season matches of MLS, a pretty meaningful was on Saturday evening.

The nature of MLS, with the emphasis on play -offs about the competition table, means that competitions begin to mean much more in this phase of the season. It also meant that it was a fairly important edition of the Hudson River Derby, with a lot at stake.

For the Red Bulls it was an essential competition in their search to pick up points and continue the longest play -off streak in professional sports of North American men.

For all the ups and downs of the team, a constant for the past 15 seasons has been the ability to qualify for the play -offs.

Qualification for a post season offers hope for fans, regardless of what came before in the regular season. The Red Bulls showed just as much last year when they finished 16th in the general MLS classification, but the seventh placed place in the Eastern Conference saw them scraping in the play-offs for the 15th consecutive season.

Once there, the team was coached by Sandro Schwarz on an impressive run and defeated the versatile Columbus crew in the opening round, earlier See New York City in a memorable derby victory And then beating Orlando City to win the final of the Eastern Conference.

The Red Bulls eventually lost in the 2024 MLS Cup final of a La Galaxy side that had an even more impressive run in the West, but the progress after the season, despite the relatively average regular seasonal performance, showed the importance of Playoff qualification.

To be on such a 15-year-old run, in itself deserves a lot of credit, but since winning a third supporters’ Shield title for the at the top of the general MLS classification in 2018, the regular seasonal versions of the Red Bulls have not been inspiring.

If the Playoff -Streak would end this year, the run of the recent competition finish of the 12th, 13th, 14th, 6th, 18th, 16th and what position the team will be in the spotlight in this season. In addition, before that run to the final last year, the previous five Playoff performances had ended in the defeats of the first round.

Klopp became a key figure in the rise of the urgent match in football and changed his Borussia Dortmund and Liverpool teams in outfits that did not look forward to an opposition team, their intensity was in defense.

The opening goal on Saturday evening came from such a proactive pressing and a quick closure of Justin Haak in New York City. The resident of Brooklyn won the ball in midfield before he rode forward and set up Nicolás Fernández Mercau for the opening goal within two minutes.

For New York City, this game was a chance to dent the Red Bulls, which is part of the rivalry story, but also an opportunity to strengthen its own place at the top of the table, who have already secured the Play -OFF -qualification this season.

City, under the Dutch head coach Pascal Jansen, had won seven of the previous 10 games that go in this Derby match and is currently third in the Eastern Conference. There were a few turns and turns before it could make eight victories in 11.

The first equalizer of the Red Bulls was a quick break through the NYCFC defense, ended by Julian Hall, but City recaptured the management a few minutes later through a loop head of Andres Perea.

Een ondertekening van Red Bull Marquee, Emil Forsberg, die arriveerde van een van de andere partijen van de groep, RB Leipzig, vóór het seizoen 2024, scoorde de tweede equalizer, maar het was de eigen kapitein van de stad en aangewezen speler, Thiago Martíns, die de winnaar scoorde, die de bal in de linie draaide na Carlos -coronel, brilly to kept a perea buyer.

The Red Bulls have two more games this season and are currently in the 10th of the 15 teams in the Eastern Conference, five points behind the Chicago Fire, which currently occupies the last qualifying place after the season.

The fire also has an extra game to play, so it probably looks that the play -off streak of the Red Bulls will end and they will not qualify for the late season for the first time since 2009.

With a new training complex in the making and the additional focus on the region, much of Klopp’s focus can be on working out the improvement of the MLS outfit of Red Bull in the coming months. The fans who have regularly attended the Sports Illustrated Stadium in recent years will certainly hope that this is the case.