New England Revolution
The Revolution's nightmarish 2024 season ended with a 6-2 away loss to Inter Miami on Saturday night. Lionel Messi made a relatively transient cameo (he got here within the 57th minute), but his presence unsurprisingly triggered an avalanche of goals and ended the 2-2 draw.
Four goals within the second half – three of which were scored by Messi – clearly gave Caleb Porter's side the end result of their loss on decider day.
Of course, the “decisions” New England faced on the league's annual final day were purely historical: The Revolution had already been eliminated from the playoffs and were just hoping to stop Miami from surpassing its 2021 regular season points record.
In the tip they failed as Messi and Co. overcame a multi-goal deficit with six unanswered goals. In the ultimate minutes, Miami scored circus-like goals seemingly for show, and the gang rejoiced at every further highlight from Messi.
The offseason is now upon us for the Revolution, closing the book on considered one of the worst seasons in club history (the loss, New England's twenty first of the yr, ties the team record for a single season).
Here are a couple of insights:
The game was a fitting farewell for a struggling team.
With the sport being played in Miami and particularly given the stakes – a victory that secured the very best regular season in league history – the Revolution were at all times able to tackle the role of the Washington Generals against Inter Miami's Harlem Globetrotters on Saturday night play.
At first, nevertheless, New England appeared to go off script when one other Argentine – Revolution winger Luca Langoni – scored in the primary 90 seconds:
Incredibly, New England wasn't done yet. Alhassan Yusuf (more on him in a moment) was once more central to the great play, cutting inside and finding winger Dylan Borrero alone within the box.
Borrero's finish was removed from perfect, however the ball fortunately wound its way through the legs of Miami goalkeeper Drake Callender:
After 34 minutes, it seemed as if the Revolution had saved all their luck for the ultimate game of the season. And it gave fans a transient moment of hope, perhaps dreaming of keeping the points record.
Still, this game was destined to be considered one of Revolution 2024's biggest successes: missed probabilities, poor defending (particularly on set pieces) and only a general lack of consistency throughout the sport.
Each of those traits, proven in New England's near-bottom-of-the-table performances this season, was on display one final time.
Facing a 2-0 deficit, Miami turned to its stars, with Luis Suarez scoring twice in quick succession and equalizing before halftime. Especially with the second goal, he was given far an excessive amount of space to receive the ball in midfield and switch towards the goal.
And within the second half, Messi's effort immediately led to Miami's breakthrough. His perfectly weighted shot brought Inter left-back Jordi Alba into play and allowed the Spaniard to cross for a cross from Benjamin Cremaschi.
Messi's subsequent trio of goals became increasingly impressive. Accordingly, New England gave the impression to be melting while Miami grew in importance with every goal. In the ultimate rating, a real masterpiece (with Suarez particularly providing a highlight-reel assist), the Revolution players hardly appeared to react.
And yet it was also a game of missed opportunities for the revolution. Despite a plethora of defensive errors, it must be noted that striker Giacomo Vrioni particularly had several clear probabilities that were missed.
“They could have easily scored six goals tonight,” Apple TV+ commentator and former Revolution scorer Taylor Twellman remarked across the seventieth minute in the course of the broadcast.
The combination of defensive errors and missed probabilities – plus a touch of poor midfield positioning – ensured it was an ideal encapsulation of the problematic 2024 revolution (which, fittingly, resulted in one other defeat).
An uncertain path forward.
The game ended with Miami scoring a series of elaborate goals, having fun with the glamor and elegance that accompanies any team with its former Barcelona contingent.
They scored for fun, with New England having little influence on the sport in the ultimate 20 minutes.
The query arises as to where precisely the revolution will go from here. It is obvious that the team management is now facing a crucial offseason. Some priorities stand out:
Clean up the defense: The Revolution had considered one of the worst defensive records in MLS history in 2024 with 74 goals. New England got here dangerously near breaking the record for worst league defense (a tie between the 2024 Earthquakes and 2019 FC Cincinnati with 75 goals allowed). There will probably be changes (probably within the centre-back grouping).
Fixing the front position: Vrioni's contract runs through the 2025 season, however the club must sign one other striker no matter what happens with the mercurial Designated Player. Vrioni hasn't shown nearly consistently enough what a winning MLS team needs from its center forward. Given that this was already an obvious problem within the preseason, a number of the blame for this must also lie with the front office.
Add a defensive midfielder: As was shown once more on Saturday in Miami, the midfield tandem of Matt Polster and Yusuf could also be unnecessary as each players naturally attack box-to-box. This often creates gaps between the defense and midfield – Suarez used the space for his second goal. Fixing this will probably be an interesting task for New England and can likely require the addition of a more disciplined, defensive centerfielder.
Yusuf looks like a high quality addition.
Aside from Langoni — one other truly quality player New England acquired during a difficult season — Yusuf stood out because the Revolution's most consistent impact player in the sport.
He led the team in touches and passes and ceaselessly appeared anywhere on the sector where his teammates needed him.
Most importantly, he was directly involved in each of New England's goals, including a good looking shot from Miami center back David Martínez within the lead-up to Borrero's admittedly fortunate finish.
In a lost season, Revolution fans can take some solace within the undeniable fact that the club managed to secure a couple of decent signings in 2024. Whether they will construct on the signing of players like Yusuf in 2025 stays to be seen, however the Nigerian's energy and quality appear to be a pleasant image for New England fans to concentrate on until next season.
image credit : www.boston.com