In the latest installment of the 2020 MLS season, the league released a set of six games for each team against teams in their general geographic area so that the away team can take charter flights to and from the game on gameday itself. One more funny thing to add to the absurdity that’s already been the 2020 season so far is that because crossing the US/Canada border is currently restricted, the three Canadian teams (Toronto FC, the Montreal Impact, and the Vancouver Whitecaps) can only play each other right now. The majority of teams (all except FC Dallas, Sporting Kansas City, Orlando City SC, and Real Salt Lake1 is what I’m finding online) have not had any fans present, though the Revolution had socially-distanced drive-in viewing parties in Gillette during the Returnament2, which were a big hit based on what I’ve seen. After these six games, the league is planning for twelve more games before the playoffs, ending up in a 23-game season – the 2 games played before the season was postponed, the 3 group stage games at the Returnament, these 6 regional games, and the final to-be-released 12 games.
So far in the season, the Revolution have at times looked pretty good, and at others been uninspired. However, uninspired is miles better than last year’s “how do I play soccer” team under Brad Friedel, so I’ll take it. Here’s how New England did in their most recent set of games:
Thursday, August 20 vs. Philadelphia Union – 0-0 T – Following their return from Florida, the Revolution resumed training in preparation for their rematch with the Union, their first game at Gillette since March. The broadcast wasn’t too bad – the crowd noise wasn’t too overpowering, but they put fake virtual tarps over the empty seats that block the ball in the air. Otherwise it was soccer as usual, with a couple twists. Five substitutions per team allowed at a maximum of three different stoppages plus halftime, and hydration breaks at the referee’s discretion if it’s above 82 F, but we’re talking about New England at the end of summer going into fall so we’re more likely to need the orange snow ball than water breaks. Without the injured Carles Gil, the team at times struggled to create chances on goal, but they had a few decent attempts, and the defense was solid. Matt Polster, acquired during the tournament, looked pretty good as their defensive midfielder; Andrew Farrell and rookie Henry Kessler might be the team’s best center back pairing right now; and Matt Turner continued making saves when he needed to.
Tuesday, August 25 at DC United – 2-1 W – In this trip to the nation’s capital, New England opened the scoring after Gustavo Bou collected a missed corner kick clearance for his second goal of the season. Shortly after, the game was put on pause for a lightning delay. Upon its return, Teal Bunbury scored a header off an Alexander Buttner corner kick, which turned out to be the game winning goal when DC was awarded a penalty kick in the middle of the second half. Based on how much the Revolution weren’t arguing the decision, it was probably a pretty blatant handball in the box. Again, not a bad performance from the Revolution, but this was their first multigoal game of the season, and a lot of questions remain. (Their last weather-delayed game before this one was their July 4th game in Colorado last year. They also won that game 2-1 as part of their climb out of the basement of the MLS standings, Teal Bunbury had the game-winning goal there as well, and Matt Turner was in goal making great saves. Maybe they should install lightning rods at all the other teams’ stadiums.)
Saturday, August 29 vs. New York Red Bulls – 1-1 T – During the week, new Revolution players Tommy McNamara and Kekuta Manneh joined the team after 10 days of quarantine. McNamara and allocation money were acquired from Houston for Wilfried Zahibo plus a temporary international roster slot while Manneh was a Cincinnati player traded for another temporary international roster spot. So the Revolution gave up a player who wasn’t getting many minutes and international roster slots they weren’t/aren’t using for two players and money. Say what you want about the front office’s penny-pinching ways; their stockpiles of allocation money and roster flexibility do occasionally come in handy. As for the game itself, it wasn’t terrible. In the first half, the Red Bulls scored by breaking down the Revolution defensively, but the Revolution equalized minutes later on a goal from Bou, assisted by Bunbury and Cristian Penilla. The second half was less eventful until the final minutes, when New England pushed for a goal, but it wasn’t enough to scrape out a win. Kessler and Turner continued to look solid, though Andrew Farrell had a bit of an off night; and McNamara saw some minutes and looked okay.
This got longer than I thought it would, so I’ll stop here and return with the final three games of this six-game stretch. Believe it or not; things get ever weirder.
1So generally teams from states that could be said to not have taken coronavirus as seriously as they should have. (Though it looks like Inter Miami FC and the Houston Dynamo, who share states with Orlando and FC Dallas respectively, aren’t having fans at games.) Maybe also worth noting that FC Dallas was one of the two teams who didn’t play in the Returnament because of positive COVID-19 tests, the other team being Nashville SC, which again plays in a state that falls more on the “what’s the big deal?” side of the coronavirus matter.
2To the (non)surprise of most Revolution fans, New England was knocked out of the Returnament round of 16 by the Philadelphia Union, ending their time in Florida.
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