What goes up . . .

MLS keeps trucking on to the end of the season, as temperatures drop and become more bearable in the south and flirt with frost and freezes in the north. The league released the final twelve-game schedule, keeping matches between teams within a 1-2 hour flight radius. The Canadian teams will play their “home” games in the US, Vancouver using Providence Park (Portland’s stadium), Toronto at UConn’s stadium, and Montreal borrowing Red Bull Arena (which is also hosting NYCFC, whose usual home “field” is Yankee Stadium). The remainder of the Revolution’s schedule involves playing Toronto and the Red Bulls once, and NYCFC, Montreal, D.C. United, Nashville, and the Philadelphia Union twice. It’s a pretty fair schedule. Toronto and Philadelphia are contenders for the top of the east, while United and Montreal have been struggling as of late, and Nashville is an expansion team. By the end of the season, they’ll have played no western conference teams, and only eight of the other thirteen eastern conference teams (no games against Miami, Orlando, Atlanta, Columbus, or Cincinnati). They’ll have faced Nashville, Toronto, the Red Bulls, and the Chicago Fire twice, NYCFC three times, and Montreal, D.C., and the Union four times, giving off strong 1996 inaugural MLS season vibes, when the ten teams played the other teams three or four times each.

Saturday, September 19 vs. NYCFC – 0-0 T – Following their last-minute loss in Philadelphia, the team returned to Foxborough for a rematch with NYCFC. Compared to whatever they were doing a couple weeks prior, they looked much better, but their scoring woes continued (though they did coax six yellow cards for NYCFC out of the ref while earning none of their own). Lee Nguyen made his first start for the Revolution in almost three years, and I’m still trying to figure out if he’s been the team’s missing piece or it’s a coincidence that things are suddenly clicking for New England.¹ The forwards had a few decent looks at goal, and two or three offside goals, and the defense kept NYCFC from too many quality chances, with Matt Turner bailing them out when necessary.

Wednesday, September 23 vs. Montreal Impact – 3-1 W – In a reversal of their usual fortunes, the Revolution had been keeping themselves in playoff contention by tying and winning games on the road, but they had yet to win at home, until this game. Thanks to all the coronavirus weirdness, it had been almost a full year since their last home victory. They started strong, but were unable to get on the scoreboard until a first-half stoppage time corner kick. Nguyen provided the service, and the ball came off of someone’s head before falling to Henry Kessler, who fired a shot into the corner of the net for his first MLS goal. Besides making everyone on the team and Revolution fans really happy, he has the distinction of recording New England’s first goal of 2020 not scored by a player whose last name doesn’t start with B (Gustavo Bou, Adam Buksa, Teal Bunbury, and Tajon Buchanan). Coming out of the half, the Revolution continued to look good, and made something of it when Bou picked up his fourth goal of the season after his blocked pass/shot rebounded back to him, he made some space for himself near the corner of the penalty area, and slotted the ball into the goal. It was his first goal in close to a month, which is non-ideal if you’re one of the team’s leading goal scorers. Substitute Diego Fagundez capped off the scoring for New England with his first goal in over a year (and Buchanan got his first assist), so all around it felt like a game the Revolution needed. Substitutes Cristian Penilla and Buska also looked dangerous, though they didn’t find their way onto the scoresheet. Montreal collected a late consolation goal after both right-sided defenders were caught too far up the field, spoiling the shutout but not the overall result.

Sunday, September 27 at D.C. United – 2-0 W – Similarly to Montreal, D.C. have been struggling to get results (Montreal has lost their last four games, been outscored 14-4, and has something like four red cards in five games; D.C. is winless in five games, four of which they were shut out in). Still, the Revolution themselves haven’t exactly been the paragon of scoring prowess, and they have a unique ability to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. They arrived in the nation’s capital and unusually had the majority of possession, atypical for the visiting team (thanks Nguyen?). The first half was spoiled when Matt Polster got kicked in the head after going in for a slide tackle. Consensus: 1,000% percent concussed, but he walked off the field with the medical staff and by the end of the game was doing better, per Bruce Arena. It was completely accidental, and players from both teams were visibly concerned. They played out the first-half stoppage time and headed into the locker room to regroup. The second half was playing out similar to the first, until Bou scored on a pass from Penilla in the 86th minute. Penilla got the second assist as well, on a Revolution counter after getting the ball to an open Adam Buksa on a Revolution counterattack. Faced with only D.C.’s goalkeeper, Buksa chipped him for his first goal in two and a half months. After surviving stoppage time, the Revolution came away with consecutive multi-goal games, their fifth shutout, and their first back to back wins in 2020.

So a strong eight days from the Revolution puts them in a good position re: playoffs, and several players picked up much-needed goals. Things are looking up, but the season’s far from over. Heading down the final stretch, they have nine games in 36 days, so player rotation and roster depth may become vital, as well as keeping players healthy. Here’s hoping for a good October.

¹Seriously, Lee Nguyen gets back and all of a sudden Bou, Buksa, and Fagundez score again. Kessler and Buchanan get their first goals, and second-year player Buchanan looks like he may have this MLS thing figured out. Penilla isn’t scoring, but he’s picking up assists, and is playing like he could be scoring. The defense is reliable, if occasionally caught napping, and a far cry from the porous mess they were under Brad Friedel. Turner is solid, and has kept the Revolution in games when they weren’t scoring. Scott Caldwell has strung together his best games in literal years, and Kelyn Rowe, Matt Polster, and Tommy McNamara have also looked good in central midfield. And Bunbury continues to do Bunbury things. In the D.C. game, deadlocked at 0-0, Bou dummies a pass to Bunbury at the top of the penalty area. Bunbury does all the hard work to control the ball, shake off pressure from one defender, avoid another, and get the shot off with only the goalkeeper to beat, and goes wide. In the words of the announcer, “oh, no!”