3 takeaways from the Revolution's loss vs. Orlando City

New England’s playoff hopes took another hit.

Dylan Borrero during the Revolution’s matchup with Orlando City. Via New England Revolution

The Revolution lost on the road 3-0 to Orlando City on Saturday night in what proved to be a frustrating encounter for the visitors.

Hoping to jumpstart a faltering playoff push, New England was unable to generate consistent pressure and surrendered two first-half goals despite starting reasonably well. A world-class strike from distance off the left foot of Orlando outside back Rafael Santos and a stoppage time penalty kick via Facundo Torres gave the home team a commanding lead at the break.

In the second half, the Revolution remained unable to find a consistent route to the Orlando goal, yielding another strike in the 74th minute to City forward Duncan McGuire.

With the defeat, New England is six points adrift of the playoff line, and is now once again tied with Chicago for last place in the Eastern Conference.

Here are a few takeaways:

Playoff hopes are sinking.

Despite holding two games in hand, New England has done little to look like a playoff team in recent weeks. Since the return of regular season play following Leagues Cup, Caleb Porter’s team has one win in four games.

Saturday’s game demonstrated that a common refrain from the summer — that the Revolution would be able to make a serious playoff push when new signings came in and injured players returned — may have been slightly overstated.

Despite fielding an optimal front four of Giacomo Vrioni (striker), Dylan Borrero (left wing), Carles Gil (center attacking midfield), and Luca Langoni (right wing), New England once again looked disjointed and bereft of the final pass necessary in the creation of scoring chances.

With midfielder Matt Polster ruled out as a late scratch, Mark-Anthony Kaye was once again called into the starting lineup. Paired with Ian Harkes, the duo were unable to grab control of the game.

Unable to find a rhythm on offense, players like Borrero and Vrioni were guilty of committing multiple turnovers. Several of those led to Orlando counterattacks (and chances on goal).

It was an unfortunate return to a dynamic from earlier in the season in which the Revolution looked slow in possession and vulnerable on the counter.

Orlando once again took advantage of set pieces, albeit in a different (and lucky) way.

The Revolution have consistently struggled to defend set pieces in 2024, and have not scored from one in months.

That trend continued against Orlando, though it was probably one of the more unlucky versions.

In the 22nd minute, following an early period of the game in which New England had been arguably marginally better, Santos took a pass off a corner kick at the top of the box. The Brazilian swiveled and unleashed a perfectly struck shot that curled into the top far corner of the net. Revolution goalkeeper Aljaz Ivacic had no chance.

Of course, as much as Santos should simply be applauded for lashing in such a spectacular goal, it only happened because he was allowed far too much time on the ball in a dangerous position. Another of the Revolution’s bad defense habits (not closing down opposing attackers at the top of the box) once again played a hurtful role.

Alhassan Yusuf makes his Revolution debut.

Possibly the only real silver lining to the game from a New England standpoint was the club debut of midfielder Alhassan Yusuf. Signed from Belgian side Royal Antwerp in August, Yusuf entered in the 72nd minute for Harkes.

The 24-year-old Nigerian made limited contributions in what was by that point a largely decided match. Yet he was able to display some of the qualities that led to the Revolution pursuing him, including his quickness and tackling ability (something that was sorely lacking from New England’s midfield in the first half).

Whether or not Yusuf — like some of the Revolution’s other midseason signings — is able to fully acclimate to MLS in a handful of games remains to be seen. Still, the early returns (brief as they may have been) appeared promising.