New York Red Bulls star winger Lewis Morgan will not appear in each of his club’s final two regular-season matches as he continues to deal with a lingering quad injury, head coach Sandro Schwarz confirmed on Thursday.
The 28-year-old Scotland international has been sidelined since June with the injury and nearly made his return mid-September, but it ultimately never materialized.
“It’s hard to see because how hard he’s working to be back and how good he is when he’s back,” Red Bulls captain Emil Forsberg said. “It’s been hard for all of us… There’s not much we can do, but I know how hard he’s working and wanted to be back.”
Morgan’s 2025 MLS season was limited to just three matches in total. He suffered a knee injury that required surgery following the first game of the season, then appeared just two more times before injuring the quad.
It appeared as though Morgan was on the other side of his injury issues, mainly a rare hip injury that limited him to just five matches during the 2023 campaign. Last season, the healthy winger won the MLS Comeback Player of the Year Award by scoring 13 goals with seven assists in league play.
He was rewarded with a contract extension through the 2026 season, with options for 2027 and 2028.
His absence was one that the Red Bulls ultimately could not recover from. They were eliminated from the MLS playoffs earlier this week, ending a then-North American sports record of 15 straight postseason appearances.
It has put a strange, even dour feeling heading into their penultimate game of the season against FC Cincinnati at Sports Illustrated Stadium having already been eliminated.
“It was not the best atmosphere, everyone was disappointed,” Schwarz said. “We had a meeting about the situation right now. What I can say is I can find so many reasons that it makes sense to be successful on Saturday. Not only because we’re professionals, but because it’s our last game in our home stadium. We have to give everything for our club, for our crowd in the home stadium.”
“It’s been a big disappointment not making the playoffs,” Forsberg added. “In that way, we have to show a reaction in these last two games coming off. It’s not about nothing. It’s about pride, it’s for our fans, it’s for us.
“I’m mad at us, but at the same time, we didn’t do good enough.”
