Michael Bradley Says Red Bulls Will "Compete like crazy until the final whistle blows"

 

Red Bull New York Head Coach Michael Bradley on Wednesday afternoon. Photo by Jason Schott.

Red Bull New York will have a very familiar face at the helm, Michael Bradley, when they open the MLS season at Orlando City this Saturday night.

Bradley, 38, a Princeton, New Jersey, native, is the second permanent Head Coach in franchise history to have previously played for the team, which he did in 2004 when they were still the MetroStars. 

Last season was, Bradley's first with the Red Bulls organization when he coached RBNY II, and he led them to their first MLS NEXT Pro Cup championship.

At Red Bull New York Media Day at Sports Illustrated Stadium on Wednesday, Bradley said of the vision for what the team will be in his first year at the helm, "The expectations are that we have a group that steps on the field every single weekend and goes for it, goes after the opponent no matter who we play against, no matter where, that we step on the field with a strong mentality, try to play our football, try to play the game on our terms, compete like crazy until the final whistle blows, and when that game ends, we will use it as a way to learn and to get better, and then we're going to get ready to do it again and again, 34 times over again," referring to how many MLS matches they play.

"And I feel strongly that, if you can create that mentality, if a group can have that starting point, that identity, that the results come, that at the end of the year, when we're counting points to see who's in the playoffs and who's not, and who's in the top few places and who's not, that we're going to be in a good spot. The work is every day, and the focus is on one game every weekend, 34 times over again."

Bradley was selected with the 36th overall pick in that year's MLS Super Draft when he was just 16 years old. That started a 20-year playing career, which saw him play in Europe, starting with when he joined Dutch Eredivisie team SC Heerenveen in 2005, where he spent three seasons before stops at Borussia Monchengladbach, Aston Villa, Cievo, and AS Roma. He came back to the MLS in 2014 when he joined Toronto FC, where he played for 10 seasons, and led them to the 2017 MLS Cup and Supporters Shield, as well as four Canadian Cups.

Most notably, Bradley was a member of the United States National Team, which he debuted for on May 26, 2006, against Venezuela. He made 151 appearances, third-most by a player in team history, and he scored 17 goals and notched 11 assists. He played for his father, Bob, as a member of the USMNT at the 2010 World Cup.

Before that, he was an assistant coach for the Canada Men's National Team for their Canadian Shield Tournament in June. His coaching career began as an assistant coach for Norwegian team Stabaek, which is coached by his father, Bob Bradley, and the team had a record of 16-12-10.

"I've been very lucky to share the game with my Dad since I was very young, and whether I even realized it or not, I was always learning," Bradley said when asked of his father's influence on him. "I was always picking things up, always trying to understand how he saw things, understand how he sees the game, the way that he connects with his players, the way he talks about certain things, and so that part, I'm lucky I've always been around that, and then the part when I then actually had the chance to go work for him, yeah, that, the light shined in, in a different way, and so to see behind the scenes, up close, every single day, how he works, the rhythm of a morning to get ready for training, how he puts together, you know, how his brain works in terms of what we did in training and how, you know, the video we were going to show on any given day, and so, yeah, as a young coach, to have that opportunity to work for him, to be in a staff with him every day, that set me up in a really good way for the beginning of my coaching career."

The scale of the Red Bull football operation around the world is proven by the fact that Jurgen Klopp, the renowned former Liverpool and Borussia Dortmund manager, is the Head of Global Soccer for Red Bull, and Mario Gomez, former German National Team star who played for teams including Bayern Munich and Stuttgart, is the Technical Director of Red Bull International. They both had a big role in promoting Bradley to the top club in New York.

"I have very good relationships with both Jurgen and Mario," Bradley said. "I'm here thanks to a lot of people, and they are two of them, so when I was done as an assistant coach in Norway in November of 2024, the first person I spoke to at Red Bull was Mario, and it was not long after Jurgen had gotten the job as Head of Global Soccer, and it wasn't anything official at that point on my end, but it was a chance to connect with Mario, and hear a little bit from him about where things were headed, and then in January of last year, I started having more discussions with Jochen (Schneider) and Julian (de Guzman) at Red Bull New York, and then in February when Mario and Jurgen and Pete Kravitz, came through New York as they were giving Jurgen kind of his initial look at all the Red Bull clubs, I got the opportunity to spend the morning with those guys, and what an opportunity that was. 

"So, for me, as a young coach, the part of how Jurgen sees the game, his vision for Red Bull football going forward, and how he wants to take the essence and the fabric of what Red Bull football has always been in terms of the intensity, the pressing, the counter-pressing, the aggression, and how he wants to combine that with football, with ideas of creating chances of scoring, of playing in a way that's even more entertaining and more exciting. That fits to a T with how I see the game, and with my ideas, so I wouldn't be here if it weren't for them and the vision they have for Red Bull football going forward."

The home opener for Red Bull New York is on Saturday, February 28, at 2:30 p.m.