New England Revolution
New England will play New York City FC on Friday as the knockout round begins.
The Revolution secured a spot in the knockout round of the Leagues Cup with a 1-1 home draw against Nashville SC on Tuesday night. New England technically won the game on penalties, but had already clinched the top spot in the three-team group.
An early goal from Bobby Wood — his first since June of 2023 — gave the Revolution the lead, but New England was unable to fully leverage a fast start. Just before halftime, Nashville made the home team pay for resting on the one-goal advantage.
Sam Surridge leveled the scoreline for the visitors, and the ensuring deadlock would only be separated by spot kicks after the final whistle.
With the penalty kick win (after a regulation draw), the Revolution secured a Round of 32 matchup at home against New York City FC on Friday (Aug. 9) at 7:30 p.m.
Here are a few takeaways:
The Revolution were unable to capitalize on early success.
As has been the case for the last several weeks, Caleb Porter’s team was bereft of their best attacking options. All three of the team’s Designated Players remain out, with a few potential difference-makers (including recently announced signing Luca Langoni) also unavailable.
In their place, Porter named a makeshift squad that featured an amalgamation of academy graduates and veterans. To their credit, the group started well despite the patchwork nature of the Starting XI.
Between the natural attacking talent of young players like Esmir Bajraktarevic and Jack Panayoutou (who assisted the first goal) along with the pressing capabilities of Wood and Ian Harkes (filling in as the team’s central attacking midfielder), New England’s attack cobbled together a plethora of early chances.
The opening goal resulted from Harkes’s vision, Panayotuo’s spacing (and crossing), combined with Wood’s natural finishing. It was as seamless a piece of play as Porter’s team showed all night:
Yet after the early breakthrough, the Revolution were unable to push on. While the defensive press created a number of first half issues for Nashville, who committed multiple turnovers, it failed to result in any additional New England goals.
The wastefulness of the early dominance would be something the Revolution would come to regret.
A direct counterattack spoiled the lead, signaling a Nashville resurgence.
Having all but completely blocked Nashville’s path to goal for the first 45 minutes, the visitors suddenly found an equalizer in the flash of a single long ball just before halftime.
New England center back Dave Romney was unable to reach the lobbed pass forward, with Nashville’s Jacob Shaffelburg pouncing on the ball between the home team’s midfield and defense.
Shaffelburg shepherded the ball down the left wing before whipping a cross to the back post. And while the Revolution defended reasonably well for much of the game, in that instant New England was caught with one fewer defender than was needed.
Nashville’s Patrick Yazbek found himself unmarked on the far side. And having made an intelligent run to the far post, he then made an equally adept move to redirect the ball back across goal where Surridge was waiting for the easy tap-in.
The Revolution got the important result in the end, but remain undeniably limited with so many players out.
In the second half, Nashville became the protagonist for much of the remaining 45 minutes. But despite a flurry of corner kicks — Nashville finished the night with 15 in total — B.J. Callaghan’s team produced no additional magic in front of goal.
From a Revolution standpoint, the team displayed a level of poise amid the deluge of set pieces, remaining solid and not conceding a second goal.
Yet without much in the way of bench options, Porter and his squad were unable to significantly change the game. New England were fortunate to have goalkeeper Aljaž Ivačič, who made multiple diving saves to preserve the 1-1 scoreline.
Looking beyond Tuesday, it’s clear that if the Revolution have any chance of potential advancing farther in the tournament (or, indeed, salvaging the MLS season when play resumes later in August), it will require at least some of the talent currently not available to return.
As admirable as Harkes’s performance may have been in his center attacking role (and as promising as Bajraktarevic and Panayotou have looked at times), New England appear to have a pronounced ceiling so long as the likes of Carles Gil, Dylan Borrero, and Giacomo Vrioni remain out.
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