2020 has been a nightmare for everybody and just the latest example of the sports world being turned upside down as well is the fact that the Patriots (4-6) are slogging through their first rebuilding campaign in 20 years while the other (and for good reason often forgotten) club that also calls Gillette Stadium home-the Revolution-are giving us all something to be happy about when we needed it the most. With less than zero expectations coming into this postseason, the No. 8 seed New England followed up Friday's thrilling 2-1 victory over the No. 9 seed Montreal in the play-in game at Gillette with a much more unexpected and therefore mighty impressive result tonight: they went to Subaru Park in Chester, PA and knocked off MLS' top team-the Philadelphia Union-by a score of 2-0. With the win, the Revs advance to the Eastern Conference semifinals on Sunday afternoon (3, ABC) at No. 4 seed Orlando City SC.
Above all, there are two primary reasons that make this latest triumph so impressive for New England: 1) The Union won the Supporters' Shield-given to the team with the best record in the league-so needless to say, nobody and I mean nobody was expecting Philly to lose their first playoff game after such a dominant regular season; 2) The Revs were 0-4-1 against Philadelphia in 2020 including three straight losses coming into this matchup. Furthermore, dating back to the last few seasons, they hadn't actually beaten the Union in their last nine meetings. So yeah, to say this was an upset is a bit of an understatement.
The best part for the Revs is that this was far from a fluke result. They scored twice in the a four-minute span in the first half then smothered any hopes of a Union comeback in the second half with an air-tight defensive effort. Philadelphia's excellent Jamaican goalkeeper Andre Blake (2 saves) earned the Goalkeeper of the Year award in MLS this season but this evening, he was simply outplayed by New England's Matt Turner who made four saves to notch the clean sheet. Granted Turner didn't have to deal with hardly any real dangerous chances but that's besides the point. The Fairfield University alum and New Jersey native should soon find himself in the mix with the U.S. men's national team, he's become that good over the last few years of his rapid development with the Revs.
I think we can conclude that New England's midfield maestro Carles Gil is back to full health as he completely controlled this entire match. He not only set up both goals but he nearly added a strike of his own with a beautiful chip early in the second half that ricocheted off the crossbar. Another sign that this isn't your typical middling Revs team is that both of their tallies were beautiful in their own right: Polish striker Adam Buksa headed in the perfect free kick from Gil in the 26th minute for a 1-0 Revs lead. Before the Union had a chance to catch their breath, it was 2-0 and basically game over as fullback Tajon Buchanan (who is normally a forward) took a pass from Gil, beat his defender then blasted a low shot into the far side past a helpless Blake.
Looking around MLS and particularly in the East, it's predictably clear that home field and seeding has meant little in this bizarre postseason. Most stadiums are devoid of fans because of the local Covid-19 protocols or they choose to let very few in-like the poor souls who watched the Union get beat tonight-so any previous home field advantage is thankfully for the Revs' sake nullified. Playing in their first season in the league, the No. 7 seed Nashville shocked heavyweight and No. 2 seed Toronto (MLS Cup winner in 2017 and runner-up in 2019) 1-0 in extra time earlier tonight in Hartford (Toronto can't play in Canada during the pandemic) so they are also in the Eastern Conference semifinals and they'll meet the No. 3 seed Columbus on Sunday night (8, ESPN). In the Western Conference the semifinals are the defending champions and No. 2 seed Seattle vs. the No. 6 seed Dallas next Tuesday (9:30, FS1) followed by top-seeded Sporting KC taking on the No. 4 seed Minnesota on Wednesday (9, FS1).
It's hard not to look ahead with the Revolution and dream about two more wins bringing them back to that elusive MLS Cup where they are a mind-numbing 0-5 all-time. Still, let's sit back and relax a bit over the Thanksgiving break and enjoy these first two tastes of playoff wins by the Revs for the first time in six long years. Who could forget that their 2014 playoff run of course ended in the MLS Cup with a crushing 2-1 loss in extra time to the Galaxy. Haha I'm not still bitter about it though! After being a laughingstock for years, Bruce Arena-who is unquestionably the best head coach in league history-has quickly brought them back to relevance and soon perhaps the ultimate glory after all these years of misery and irrelevance. I make fun of the Revs and MLS all the time but this is genuinely a fantastic story that could not come at a better time with the Pats floundering, the Celtics and Bruins at least a month away from returning to action and the Red Sox fading from everyone's radar more every year.
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