Summer Spotlight: Nealis Neutralizes

The New York Red Bulls have qualified for the postseason for 15 straight seasons, but the search for their first MLS Cup lives on. In the latest edition, they came oh so close in a loss in the final against LA Galaxy—a game in which center back Sean Nealis scored one of the 81 goals in MLS Cup history.

After a suboptimal opening 27 minutes, Emil Forsberg whipped a corner kick into the box. Nealis flicked a header to keep the play alive, and Galaxy defender Maya Yoshida attempted an awkward clearance that fell right back onto the chest of Nealis. He let the ball float onto his right foot before volleying it into the bottom right corner to stun the home crowd.

"The goal was awesome, an experience I'll remember forever and hope to tell people for a long time," Nealis said. "I think it was a good growing experience for everybody because if we're in MLS Cup again, I think we're going to win."

The Red Bulls conceded goals in minutes nine and 13, making for a difficult journey back in perhaps the most important game in club history. They did fight back and nearly prolonged the match in front of the 2,200 traveling New York supporters when Forsberg hit the post late on—seemingly a trend in MLS Cup matches played at Dignity Health Sports Park.

"It was a really cool experience, I think if you ask anybody on the team, one of the best parts was when everyone ran out for warmups and we saw all the Red Bulls supporters on the top right," Nealis said. "It just gave us so much energy, so much momentum and so cool to be a part of. Unfortunately, we kind of had two tough moments early on and kind of had to dig and claw out of the hole."

Despite New York's appearance in MLS Cup 2024, no one exactly expected them to be there. Their perennial playoff presence has been overshadowed by first round losses, which was the case in each of the five previous seasons. The Red Bulls finished 11-9-14, hardly avoiding the play-in spots as the No. 7 seed. Sweeping the reigning champion Columbus Crew in the best-of-three series was nothing short of flabbergasting, and it put the rest of the league on notice.

"The first game in Columbus, where we got the lead when Felipe [Carballo] scored, we just felt confident," Nealis said. "When we beat them, we just thought anything was possible. We kind of ran from there, we were so strong defensively and we believed that one of our guys up top would bang a goal in, it was a new guy each game. It was a great run, but not the ending we wanted, but hopefully this year, we'll change that."

The Red Bulls drafted Nealis with the No. 25 pick in the 2019 MLS SuperDraft. The first pick of the second round was used to bring a hometown defender into the team. He spent four years at Hofstra prior to entering the professional realm. Even with the quality players that the draft has produced, like Nealis, there is quite a discourse surrounding it.

"I think it's kind of a shame that they don't really use [the draft] as well as they should anymore," Nealis said of SuperDraft naysayers. "There's a lot of talent in college ... I think the talent in college has grown exponentially since I've played, since before that. There's so many guys that have so much talent and untapped potential that could make a difference at the next level. You can see that with my career, with other guys, with my brother, Patrick Agyemang on Charlotte. I think smart teams will keep using the draft."

Sean grew up in an incredibly competitive household, which included his teammate and brother, Dylan. Dylan is a year and a half younger than Sean, but they also have two older brothers that also played college soccer.

"I think that anything we played, it was a fight, it was a healthy competition where being at practice here is easy compared to what we had to deal with at home," Nealis said. "It was a great experience for all of us and it strengthed our bond through sports and competition, whether it was ping pong, basketball or soccer. There was a great love for that and I wouldn't trade it for anything else."

On Dec. 16, 2021, the Red Bulls acquired Dylan in a trade with Nashville SC, in exchange for $125K GAM. Dylan spent some time with the two 2020 MLS expansion sides, but he wasn't quite finding his place. New York's front office decided to pounce on an opportunity for a family affair prior to the 2022 campaign.

"After his second year, in Nashville, I think he was having a tough go there, wasn't getting too much time," Nealis said. "The GMs here, Kevin [Thelwell] and Denis [Hamlett] at the time, kind of asked me how he would fit here, how would he do. I told them, 'Frankly, I think he'd be a success here.' They went and made the move for him and I think it's paid dividends, he's been great and he's grown as a player, as a person at this club and I think he'll continue to grow at this club."

The Red Bulls have deep local roots with a handful of the players on the roster hailing from places in close proximity. The focus on buying young players from abroad often takes the spotlight and distracts from the importance of developing players in-house and scouting local talent. They have certainly done that with various regular contributors to the side. They serve as examples for the next generation of young New York talents.

"I think it's awesome to see [Dylan], myself and some of these other local guys, like Peter [Stroud] and Daniel Edelman take off here and grow and learn," Nealis said. "I think it's cool for some of the younger kids to see, 'Hey, these local guys can make it pro and make it big time.' I think it's just awesome to be a part of this club."

Nealis has now been defending in MLS at a high level for years, but it's not always smooth sailing from the get-go. Athletes often talk about their "Welcome to the League" moment, and Nealis' came 272 minutes into his career. The Red Bulls substituted him into a game in which they were nursing a 2-0 lead over the Philadelphia Union at halftime. Less than half an hour later, the result was flipped on its head into a 3-2 loss, led by known skiller Ilsinho.

"Ilsinho, who was the the Philly super sub back in the day, he came on and killed us, he scored two goals, he burned me a couple times," Nealis said. "It was like I got to kind of got to reset, refocus and put some some work in because these guys are a different level here, and he was certainly a different level when he came on ... He was a cheat code."

The Massapequa, N.Y., native has come a long way since then, including serving as captain during the 2023 season. He has taken on a leader role, even since Forsberg came in to become the new captain, and has now amassed 174 total appearances for the first team.

"It was a huge honor, I think if you look at the list of Red Bull captains throughout the years, there's a lot of top guys, there's a lot of quality," Nealis said. "I just tried to lead the best way I could, I was more of a lead by example guy and over the past couple years, learning more to be a vocal voice in the locker room. I think that's just as important and that's something I lacked and I've kind of learned to develop it."

Currently, the Red Bulls sit in the eighth position within the Eastern Conference and are poised to qualify for the playoffs in a 16th straight season past the halfway point of the season. The season has been a bit of a roller coaster as far as results go, but the biggest moments of the season came in an MLS Cup rematch against LA Galaxy in May. New York proceeded to match their own MLS record—from the famed 7-0 Red Wedding win over NYCFC—for largest margin of victory ever.

An MLS match has been won by seven goals a total of six times across its 30 years of existence, and now a third of those belong to the Red Bulls. Forsberg and Eric Choupo-Moting were the stars of the show, combining for four goals and two assists. Nealis played all 90 minutes in the shutout and earned a booking along with his two interceptions and four blocked shots.

"That was kind of going through my head beforehand, I wanted to get some revenge on these guys, some of us were still pissed off from the final because it's a once in a lifetime opportunity to hold that trophy and they took it from us," Nealis said. "It was great to get the beatdown in front of our home fans. After the game, just walking around the stadium clapping the fans, you saw every fan having such a big smile on their face. That was such a great feeling, such a great moment at home, to experience it with our fans, some of them that didn't get to travel to MLS Cup, to see us kind of put a beatdown on them was great."

Despite the historic victory, the Red Bulls lost the next two games on the road. They regained their momentum in late May, though, with a three-game winning streak containing eight goals and two clean sheets. Austin FC ended that run of form in a tight game, but things are still looking up for the 8-7-3 Red Bulls.

"I think we had to go through some growing pains early on in the year, everything wasn't going to be perfect," Nealis said. "We had a long year last year and there was maybe some fatigue mentally, physically for some guys, including myself. I think we just had to kind of grow up a little and learn from our mistakes that happened early on in some games we should've won, or we think we should've won. We're feeling good now, we have a lot of depth on the team. Knock on wood, we've got everyone kind of back healthy, so we're feeling really good going into the middle part of the year and we want to make a run."

Lewis Morgan is one of those crucial returners from injury. He scored 13 goals and assisted seven for New York last season, and scored another 14 in 2022, but his injury-riddled time with the team has been challenging. He played 34 minutes in the match against Austin—his first appearance in 112 days.

The run to the cup and the recent success has been largely orchestrated by the now-captain Forsberg. He came over after a decade with Germany's RB Leipzig and registered nine goals alongside five assists in 2024. He currently sits at five goals and assists apiece and has been a much-needed addition to the attacking midfield.

"Now we have [Forsberg] as the captain and he's done a great job helping us get to MLS Cup last year and he keeps the level high both in practice and games," Nealis said. "He's our guy now and we love having him as the skipper."

Along with the 16 regular season games left to play, New York finds themselves in two other competitions as well. After defeating the USL Champion Colorado Springs Switchbacks and squeezing past FC Dallas in penalties, the Red Bulls are headed to the quarterfinals of the US Open Cup. A midweek match against Philadelphia Union is next up in that competition in early July, as they look to make right on their two Open Cup final losses in 2003 and 2017.

They will also compete in the new Leagues Cup format, which is designed to pit Liga MX and MLS teams against each other more consistently. Facing Chivas Guadalajara, Monterrey and Juarez will not make advancing out of the first phase an easy task.

"I think to just stay hungry," Nealis said of what his team needs to do down the stretch. "We have a lot of guys that play at a top level and I think it's natural some guys will get mad if they're not playing. But, just to know that we have a lot of matches, have a lot of opportunities in these different leagues, whether it's Leagues Cup or Open Cup. I think the opportunity will be there for guys to just be ready and to stay hungry both in practice and the games and I think we'll have some success this year."

Being a defender is certainly one of the more difficult aspects of soccer, especially when it comes to MLS—a league where the majority of cap space is reserved for high-octane attackers. Nealis' favorite road trip to Miami has been hampered by the arrival of Lionel Messi, as Miami has won 6-2 and 4-1 in the two home matchups since his arrival. As is the case with likely most defenders in current-day MLS, Messi is the most difficult attacker Nealis has ever had to defend, but before that, it was Josef Martinez during his Atlanta United days.

"I think early on in my career, I would say Josef Martinez was so good before his couple of knee injuries," Nealis said. "He was just so smart in his movement, especially in the box, he was a killer back when he was in Atlanta."

For these reasons and more, center backs have to truly love defending and everything it entails to have success at a high level. When Nealis watches a game of soccer, he sees the sport through a defensive lens, with eyes glued to the backlines instead of the location of the ball. When it comes to fellow central defenders that he has modeled his game after, his picks are some of the best to ever play the game in recent years.

"A couple guys that I really enjoyed watching, I wasn't a fan of any specific team, but I enjoyed watching certain players defend, like Pepe when he was on Real Madrid, Vincent Kompany when he was on Manchester City [and] Ramos when he was on Madrid," Nealis said. "There's certain guys that I just watched and I saw that they loved defending and I kind of tried to emulate them as best I can ... It's kind of just like an innate love that I have for the art of defending."

The 28-year-old has now posted 6.5 seasons with his hometown club and has played well over 2,000 minutes in each of the last four. The Red Bulls have been on the brink of trophies since the outset as the New York/New Jersey MetroStars back in 1996. The three-time Supporters' Shield champions have a chance to turn their 0-4 record in major finals around with various competitions spanning throughout the summer and beyond.

Nealis has become a steady presence at the heart of the Red Bulls' defense—a player that is composed and committed to the badge. From a local second-round draft pick to a future captain and leader, he is the epitome of what it means to be a New York Red Bull. Nealis is more than just a hometown success story, but the kind of player that can be relied upon in pursuit of winning. With the club still chasing its first MLS Cup, and getting closer than ever before, Nealis aspires to turn defense into destiny.