New England Revolution
Despite an electric start, New England quickly fell back to earth as Messi and Miami soared.
The Revolution lost 4-1 to Lionel Messi and Inter Miami on Saturday night in front of a club record crowd (65,612) at Gillette Stadium. It was an entertaining game for the neutral fans — with Messi tallying two goals and adding an assist to Luis Suarez — but it amounted to yet another defeat for New England.
The game got off to an incredible start, with the Revolution going ahead in the first minute through a spectacular Tomas Chancalay chip from a tight angle. But after settling down, Miami began to gain control over the proceedings, and Messi notched the equalizer in the 32nd minute as the delighted crowd erupted.
The second half, despite remaining even for 22 minutes, resulted in a runaway for the visitors. Messi managed a second goal, and nearly added a third (which was promptly tucked away by Benjamin Cremaschi on the rebound), before closing with an assist to Suarez.
Here are a few takeaways from a memorable night at Gillette Stadium:
Messi created a buzz, but it was the Revolution that started with a bang.
After speculation in the buildup to the game over whether or not Messi would play (given the usual concerns over international stars playing on the artificial turf at Gillette Stadium), the World Cup winner lived up to his earlier assurance that such a factor wouldn’t deter him.
Named in the Starting XI, Messi’s mere presence caused an excited stir in the capacity crowd (itself largely a creation of his star power).
Yet it was another Argentine who started the game with something special. Chancalay, New England’s 25-year-old Argentinian Designated Player, scored his first MLS goal of the season after less than a minute, latching onto a hopeful Carles Gil through-ball and applying a skillful chip over Miami goalkeeper Drake Callender.
The crowd, briefly stunned by the home team upsetting the expected narrative of Miami dominance, roared their approval.
Miami settled in and worked a nice equalizer via Messi magic.
Despite getting off to a perfect start with the early goal and simultaneously showcasing a defensive energy that has been lacking at times in 2024, New England was unable to hold onto the lead for more than half an hour.
Much like his team’s collective approach, Messi grew into the game after the initial Revolution surge.
New England head coach Caleb Porter’s plan appeared to emphasize clogging the middle of the field to deprive Messi of space. The Revolution tried to surround him at all times, tasking multiple players with the impossible assignment of marking the soccer god.
Yet as Porter noted prior to the game, it’s simply unrealistic to expect any team to completely shut down Messi.
In the 30th minute, Miami forward Robert Taylor snuck a quality pass into Messi in the New England box. The World Cup winner didn’t squander his opportunity, calmly tucking the ball into the corner of the goal:
Once behind, New England never regained the initiative.
In the second half, the Revolution were able to battle Miami for possession in the midfield at times, but created very little in front of goal. To that point, the only recorded shot on goal for New England throughout the game was Chancalay’s goal in the opening minute.
Miami, meanwhile, were perfectly comfortable to move the ball around the field methodically for much of the night.
This slower tempo was interrupted by small moments in which Messi — idle for much of the game — burst to life seemingly out of nowhere. This phenomenon, coupled with the years-long chemistry he has with fellow former Barcelona teammate Sergio Busquets, resulted in the second Miami goal.
The two longtime teammates connected to sneak behind the Revolution defense, as Messi timed his run perfectly to Busquets’ pass, applying a tidy finish to make it 2-1.
Now trailing, New England had no response. The game from that point on felt increasingly like a foregone conclusion, with the third and fourth Miami goals carrying what almost felt like a sense of inevitability.
This was not helped by the fact that Nacho Gil had to exit the field with an injury following the last Revolution substitution, meaning New England had to finish the final few minutes down to 10 players.
The Revolution lineup was disrupted by a pregame illness.
Added to the challenge of facing Messi, Suarez, and the rest of Miami’s talented roster was the fact that multiple New England players were also battling the flu.
According to Porter, five players were ruled out do to flu-like symptoms.
“It was a tough 24 hours for us,” said Porter.
“We lost two guys in the starting lineup,” he added, noting that newly-acquired goalkeeper Aljaž Ivačič and midfielder Esmir Bajraktarevic were scratched late from the lineup.
Porter explained that the circumstances were still “no excuse” for the performance, but praised both Mark-Anthony Kaye and Matt Polster for managing to play despite also being sick.
“Matt Polster, he’s just tough,” said Porter. “He was able to push through it. For him to go I think 60 minutes, he was in the [emergency room] from three in the morning until seven in the morning. For him to play the game with essentially nothing in his system, in his stomach, says everything about him.
“Mark got it a little sooner. He got it on Friday, but he was still a [game-time decision].”
A (minor) positive was the combination of Chancalay and Gil.
While it’s far from a significant takeaway amid a 4-1 defeat, two of the Revolution’s best players showed a possible path forward for New England’s attack.
Chancalay, normally deployed on the left wing, showed his attributes as a center forward with the early goal. That it came on a pass from Gil was not surprising: The two players were able to connect on multiple occasions.
Most of the Revolution’s best team moves with the ball resulted (at least partly) from some combination between Gil and Chancalay. Their quick interchanges and give-and-gos happened at a higher tempo than New England has been able to achieve for much of the season.
And while the duo fell far short of what would’ve been necessary to pull back a result against Miami — though that felt like a truly impossible task against Messi— this could be a small feature that Porter will hope continues to grow in the coming weeks.
One addition component was the long-expected return of winger Dylan Borrero, ruled out since last April with a torn ACL. The Colombian international was substituted in during the second half. And while he wasn’t able to make a strong impression, Borrero’s slow return to fitness will be a huge boost for Porter and New England.
Now 1-7-1, the Revolution head into next week’s game in Chicago desperate for a positive result. Chancalay featuring as a center forward — with Borrero on the left wing — could be a building block for Porter in his ongoing quest to get the team to turn a corner following the worst start to an MLS campaign in club history.
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