Hudson River Blue has learned that New York City FC II will face Red Bulls New York II in the Second Round of the 2024 US Open Cup on Monday, April 2 or Tuesday, April 3. The official announcement will be made later this afternoon.
UPDATE: New York City FC announced today at 4 pm ET that the game will be held on Tuesday, April 2 at 7:30 pm ET at Belson Stadium in Queens. Tickets will go on sale Tuesday, March 26. In addition, New York City season ticket holders will get complimentary tickets to the game.
The Baby Blues advanced to the second round after last night's comfortable 0-3 win over FC Motown of the National Premier Soccer League. A young and technical NYCFC II sliced apart the more experienced Motown, exposing a talent gap between the two sides.
New York City took 34 shots, 12 of which were on target. Motown goalkeeper David Greczek made eight saves, but he couldn't hold back the flood that was the NYCFC attack. New York City's three goals came from 21-year-old captain Taylor Calheira (21), 17-year-old Drew Baiera, and 16-year-old Maximo Carrizo.
Now NYCFC II will face their MLS NEXT Pro rivals in the Hudson River Derby Jr. The Red Bulls advanced after defeating the Hudson Valley Hammers 5-1 on Wednesday. The Hammers, a USL League 2 side established by United States national men's team captain Tyler Adams, played with 10 men after a red card was shown to Dylan Evande in the 12th minute.
This is NYCFC II's first time playing in the US Open Cup. Last month, Major League Soccer announced that in a break with tradition, only eight Senior Teams will participate in the tournament, and that nine clubs will field their MLS NEXT Pro sides instead. Both NYCFC II and RBNY II are a part of that group.