The Revolution Re-Signed Star Forward Gustavo Bou To A Two-Year Contract Extension

 

    By any measure, it's been a spectacular year thus far for the New England Revolution (22-5-7): on Sunday night, they just wrapped up the best regular season in MLS history (73 points!) and they earned the first Supporters' Shield in franchise history. For all that, they get to endure perhaps the most absurd break in sports: they won't play another real game again until November 30 (7:30, FS1) when they host an Eastern Conference semifinal match at Gillette Stadium vs. the winner of NYCFC (14-11-9) and Atlanta (13-9-12). It is all set up perfectly for them to win their long-awaited first Cup since they would also host the Eastern Conference Final and the MLS Cup should they reach it. This being the cursed Revs, we will sadly believe it all when we actually see it happen. Keeping the good vibes going though, the team shared some great news this morning as they announced that they had re-signed one of their star forwards Gustavo Bou to a two-year contract extension which will keep him in a Revolution uniform through the 2023 campaign.  

    The 31-year-old Argentinian has been here for three seasons now and he will continue to occupy both a Designated Player and an international roster slot. In 30 games this season (25 starts), Bou put up 15 goals (2nd to Adam Buksa's 16) and nine assists (2nd to Carles Gil's 18). This is no question the best team that the Revolution have ever fielded with other greats like goalkeeper Matt Turner (who has morphed into one of the USMNT's top options), defender Andrew Farrell (former No. 1 overall pick) and midfielder Tajon Buchanan (one of the top players on Canada's national team) in addition to Bou, Buksa (rising Polish star) and Gil (expected to be named the MLS MVP this season). Plus they are led by head coach Bruce Arena-the all-time winningest coach in league history and a former U.S. men's national team head coach. In other words, they'll never have a better chance to end their 25-year championship drought than during this postseason. 

    Like the other Revs players that I just mentioned, Bou is so good that in the back of your head you always wonder how much longer he will choose to play here and not take his talents elsewhere to better leagues and more prestigious clubs. However, I guess that given his age and nomadic career before he came to MLS, maybe he is happy to settle down with the Revolution and he sees the makings of something special these next few years. You have never really lived anyway until you spend a winter in the Foxborough, MA area. In his brief time with the club, Bou has already solidified his place as one of the best to ever play for New England. In 62 regular season games, he has notched 29 goals and 14 assists. He also proved to be a stud in the playoffs as well last season as he scored three goals and added an assist in four games as the Revs reached the Eastern Conference Final. It will take all of these guys and many others to win the Cup but honestly, how can you bet against this group in 2021?

The Best Player On The Revs-Carles Gil-& One Of MLS' Top Stars Is Staying Here Until At Least 2024

 

    You probably did not even realize it but today was a great day for the New England Revolution and they have actually had a bunch of those lately. This morning, it was announced that they signed their captain and midfielder maestro Carles Gil to a contract extension that goes through the 2024 MLS season. Since he joined the Revs in January 2019, Gil has quickly developed into one of the league's top playmakers and this move for the designated player is awesome to see from a club that historically has not had many stars like him before. In fact, he is the rare talent that makes you want to tune into all the Revolution games and there are only a few guys in club history (Clint Dempsey, Charlie Davies, Lee Nguyen and Taylor Twellman all come to mind) that I feel like you can honestly say that about and I love soccer more than most Americans.

    A native of Valenica, Spain, the 28-year-old Gil has the pedigree of someone that you do not expect to find in Major League Soccer healthy and in the prime of his career: Valenica (La Liga) and Aston Villa (Premier League) are his most notable stops before he ended up calling Gillette Stadium home. Usually, it's the other way around as many top players use MLS as a stepping stone to bigger and better things (like Dempsey) or a last stop on a decorated career (think David Beckham). For those reasons alone, it makes you wonder what Gil likes so much about his situation with New England that he wants to see where it goes for the next three seasons (not including this campaign). 

    After missing the playoffs for three straight years, it is no coincidence that things turned around for the Revs as soon as Gil joined the team. Last season, they reached the Eastern Conference Final for the first time since 2014 and this season, they are off to a wonderful start as they own the best record (4-1-2) in the Eastern Conference. In his first season with New England, Gil started in all 34 games and had a team-leading 10 goals and 14 assists which earned him the team's Golden Boot honors, the 2019 MLS Newcomer of the Year award, an MLS best XI spot and the title of Revolution MVP. Injuries limited him to only six regular season matches last season but he came alive in the postseason with two goals and three assists in four games as New England made an unexpected deep run. So far in 2021, he has started every game and played in every minute with four assists (tied for the most in MLS) and a goal (on a clinical penalty kick) to his credit. 

    One of the main reasons that New England has never brought home the MLS Cup is that they are not a sexy destination for free agents like a New York or Los Angeles. That is why it's so refreshing to see a guy like Gil choose to remain here for a long time as the club tries to bring home its first title in franchise history. With him in the fold along with other very good players like forward Gustavo Bou, defender Andrew Farrell and goalkeeper Matt Turner to name a few along with sporting director and head coach Bruce Arena (arguably the best to ever do it in MLS), you have to like New England's chances to finally get it done at some point in the next few years. One of the league's original clubs was a disaster for awhile but they have clearly gotten their mojo back in the last few seasons and when it's all said and done, I'm confident that we will look back at signing Gil-already one of the greatest players ever on the Revs-as a major turning point along with the hiring of Arena.

Who Had The New England Revolution Being The Feel-Good Story Of The Year In Boston Sports?

 

    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. 

Revs Win Their First Playoff Game In Six Years (!) Thanks To A Clutch Wonderstrike By Gustavo Bou

 

    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?