New England Revolution
The Revolution earned a 1-0 victory over the New York Red Bulls on Saturday night at Gillette Stadium. It was New England's second win in as many weeks, even though it was not quite enough to lift the team out of last place within the Eastern Conference.
The difference in the sport was made by the attractive volley shot by substitute Emmanuel Boateng after a cross by Carles Gil within the 81st minute:
Here are some takeaways from one other positive consequence for Caleb Porter’s team:
Revolution was capable of win against a physically strong opponent.
The defining feature of the Red Bulls' style lately has been a consistent commitment to a high-pressure, vertical approach to play. New York's physicality is an inherent trait given their defensive strategy of putting pressure on the opposition.
This was very true in every week where New York was missing several key players, including attacking midfielder Emil Forsberg (absent resulting from national team duty). The substitutes the Red Bulls have brought into the starting lineup seem much more intent on a more aggressive style.
The Revolution also lacked players for international play, with Ian Harkes sliding right into a less familiar role as right midfielder as Esmir Bajraktarevic was originally on the U.S. Men's Olympic Team roster.
Whether that was due to that or a mixture of another aspects, each teams looked a bit uncoordinated for a lot of the evening. New England made several unforced errors (multiple turnovers within the Revolution half) while New York posed little threat on offense. Of the Red Bulls' 15 attempts/shots, only 4 got here contained in the box.
Amidst an inconsistent game, New England was capable of control 59 percent of the possession and create the higher probabilities of either team.
Not surprisingly, Carles Gil was involved in a lot of the Revolution's best plays. The New England captain led the sport with seven “created chances” (an admittedly imperfect statistic that nonetheless underscores Gil's importance as a playmaker).
His clever pass to striker Giacomo Vrioni within the thirty first minute must have given the Revolution an earlier lead, however the Italian-born Albanian continues to struggle in front of goal. His shot wasn't bad – and went towards the far post – but Red Bulls goalkeeper Ryan Meara made a robust save.
Gil was again centrally involved when Boateng scored the opening goal. Both players found space on the wings and every had the needed quality to convert the possibility right into a goal.
It was one other solid defensive performance.
Given the rating, it's obvious that Porter was pleased along with his team's defensive performance, but that is the second week in a row that New England has held a one-goal lead under pressure.
New York desperately tried to attain a last-minute equalizer, but New England just managed to maintain the sport clean sheet. In addition, the Revolution's defense allowed the Red Bulls few real scoring opportunities (as mentioned above, lots of the visitors' shots were taken from distance).
Special recognition goes to center backs Xavier Arreaga and Dave Romney (who began for the second consecutive game after an extended period on the bench).
Romney provided more defensive stability with 68 passes, which was the best of the sport. Arreaga also provided good positioning and coverage, but remained calm when in possession.
Case in point: Arreaga stepped up and played a wonderfully weighted through ball down the suitable wing to Gil in front of goal. His ability to make good passes from the middle back position makes a critical difference against teams like New York, who often lack space within the midfield.
Has New England turned things around?
With two straight wins, the Revolution have now doubled their total variety of wins within the 2024 MLS season of their final two games. It's actually too early to say definitively that Porter's team has turned around a really miserable begin to the season.
Still, it's encouraging to see New England get a lead to a game where the margins were so close. It felt like a game that might have been a tie at best earlier within the 12 months.
As the Revolution continues to regulate to Porter's system, the players seem more confident and relaxed when moving the ball (though given the variety of misplaced passes throughout the evening, that is clearly a piece in progress).
The return of winger Dylan Borrero also made a decisive contribution.
Borrero's dynamism on the wings, coupled along with his growing ability to drift inside and play passes with Gil, offers New England each an option when under pressure and a dangerous attacking option.
However, with each victories being close by one goal, progress still seems uncertain and a poor result could raise all the intense questions that plagued New England just two weeks ago.
However, if New England can proceed to construct on their results – the Revolution currently have two games lower than 14th-place Chicago – there's no reason Porter's team can't climb out of the underside of the standings. Whether they will fight their way back into the playoffs still seems a bit uncertain.
image credit : www.boston.com