If you're wondering why I never write about the New England Revolution, there is a perfectly reasonable explanation for that: for years the team has been a pathetic mess since their loss in yet another MLS Cup way back in 2014 (they are 0-5 all-time in those which seems almost impossible). The club finally started to turn things around in 2019 as they hired Bruce Arena to be their head coach midway through the season after Brad Friedel was a complete disaster. Perhaps most importantly, they signed some big-time designated players (midfielders Gustavo Bou and Carles Gil) who have been great from Day 1 with the Revs. After six long seasons, the team finally won their first playoff match since 2014 with a thrilling 2-1 victory over the Montreal Impact tonight at an empty Gillette Stadium. With that result, they advance to the first round of the playoffs and they'll go to Philadelphia (the top team in MLS this season) next Tuesday night (8, ESPN).
Wouldn't you know that Gil (finally healthy after missing much of this season with a foot injury) and Bou (who has also battled injuries in 2020 as well) were the two main heroes for New England? 10 of the 14 teams in the Eastern Conference qualified for the postseason in this Covid-19 campaign and Montreal finished ninth so that should tell you most of what you need to know about a team with no players that anyone has ever heard of. However, they are coached by one of the best players of his generation-French striker Thierry Henry-so that's really the only reason to watch them. Talk about a coaching mismatch too since that was Arena's MLS record (by a wide margin) 33rd career playoff victory.
You don't need a full tedious recap from an MLS play-in playoff game but the Revs took a 1-0 lead late in the first half (38th minute) as Gil volleyed a perfectly weighted chipped pass from Bou. It was a beautiful play and goal, the likes of which we rarely see in MLS. The Impact had a -10 goal differential in the regular season (that's awful for a playoff team) so they had their work cut out for them trailing 1-0 at halftime. After controlling play for much of the first 45 minutes, the Revolution started to ease up which allowed Montreal to tie it at one in the 61st minute. The Impact had a free kick outside the box and something called Rudy Camacho headed it to Romell Quioto (surely your favorite soccer player in the world) who deposited it into the far corner of New England's net past goalkeeper Matt Turner with a header of his own. Ugh.
I was convinced at that point it would go to overtime then penalty kicks where the Revs would no doubt lose in their typical epic fashion. New England striker Adam Buksa hit the crossbar in the first half with a header and similarly in stoppage time of the second half, he saw another one of his headers glance off Montreal goalkeeper Clement Diop's outstretched hand and then off the post. That felt like the Revolution's chance to win it in regulation. Not so fast my friends, thanks to a more than generous amount of stoppage time (over 5 minutes), the Revs were able to get it done as fullback DeJuan Jones was able to get the ball to Bou at the top of the box and he unleashed a rocket into the bottom left corner for an incredible goal that was No. 2 on SportsCenter's Top-10 plays this evening.
Would you believe that this will be the sixth meeting of the season between the Revs and the Union? Even more shocking than that is the fact that New England is still looking for their first win against Philly who went 14-4-5 in the regular season including 4-0-1 against the Revolution. The Revs have lost their last three matches with Philadelphia including a 2-0 loss at Subaru Park on Decision Day (the last day of MLS regular season). Obviously, you'd be stupid to bet against the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference and Supporters' Shield winner for the best record in the entire league but I will say that I like two simple factors in the road team's favor: 1) while it is a short break between playoff games for New England, Philly figures to be rusty in their first live action in over two weeks plus all the pressure and expectations are on them and 2) aren't the Revs long overdue to beat the Union at some point in 2020? I realize this probably isn't enough to convince you to watch this matchup on Tuesday but then again, we are still in a serious pandemic and winter is just about to begin, so what else could you possibly be doing?
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