Know Thy Enemy: Revs vs Orlando Shrugs More Injuries Edition

Just when we thought the New England Revolution had cleared up the bulk of their injury list, they're adding more names to it again this week ahead of their home matchup against Orlando City tonight (7:30 PM EDT, AppleTV).

Winger Jack Harrison and holding mid Alhassan Yusuf are both set to miss several weeks of action, and while missing two starters again for a significant length is always bad, this is nothing new for the Revs in 2026.

Forward Leo Campana has missed the bulk of the year, winger Luca Langoni and fullback Ilay Feingold have both missed significant time this year, and the Revs are still cruising along in third place in the East and are just two points back of Inter Miami for second.

Now surely this time I'm going to be really worried about these injuries in the midst of a great turnaround season, right? Nope. Not a chance. Although we absolutely need to mention the quiet Team MVP status that Yusuf has brought all year which included a month of playing half left wing/half left center attacking mid.

Would I like to have Peyton Miller playing at fullback with Ilay Feingold, both of who are going to be international callups in a week or so, absolutely. Would I like to have some consistency at winger which the Revs haven't really had all year, also absolutely.

But it hasn't mattered for about six months at this point so what's another six weeks at this point. New England has been getting results with Miller at wing, Polster at right back, and Yusuf at whatever position that was in the first half of the year. Mitrovic touting the ability of this roster to step up and perform isn't just coach speak, it's quite literally facts based on what this team has already accomplished this year.

Are we going to be big mad at MLS in a few weeks when the Revs are going to play a game missing four internationals? You bet we are, but we're going to hold off on that conversation for now.

In the meantime, the Revs are going to do what they usually do and just keep going. What the Harrison/Yusuf injuries mean in the short term is a lot more minutes for Daniel Gazdag and Luca Langoni up front and probably a lot more Jackson Yueill and Matt Polster in midfield. Assuming Ilay Feingold is good to start at right back...which if you're healthy enough to get an international call up, you should be healthy enough to start but that's just me.

Brooklyn Raines might have to be the midfielder who steps up more in the attacking half in his partner's absence and I would love for him to have a breakout finish to the year especially if he has a memorable senior USMNT camp.

Yueill and Griffin Yow haven't been getting a lot of opportunities but I expect both are going to have significant roles down the stretch as both starters and off the bench. Hopefully Langoni is healthy enough to contribute in a similar manner though he's been on and off the injury list since returning from his long absence.

Then you have other regular subs like Cody Baker, Wilson Harris who I expect to get a start or two in this stretch and youngsters Joshua Wynder, Tylon Smith, and Judah Siqueira who should be getting more than cameo minutes late in games. As always with a young team that has an ethos of playing and developing their kids, more minutes for the bottom of the depth chart is never a bad thing.

New England's depth will be tested during this late season stretch into the playoffs, but it's been pretty much tested all year and it hasn't phased Mitrovic or the Revs one bit. I am however begging the head coach to please use his subs like 10-15 minutes earlier to help manage this dreadful homestretch because it gets really gnarly after the international break.

Anyway, as always we are joined by our good friend Ben Miller from The Mane Land to talk all things Purple Lions and Florida weather because Orlando's defense can be just as brutal as mid-summer humidity. Be sure to head on over to their site for my answers to Ben's questions and all of their game coverage.

Can the Revs continue their winning streak against an Eastern Conference foe coming off a gut punch Open Cup semi loss? We'll find out tonight.

TBM: There's no question. Just discuss Antoine F Griezmann and his apparent hatred of Florida humidity.

BM: You know it's funny, until last Saturday's 3-0 win over Toronto, Griezmann had played the full 90 in all but one of his Orlando City appearances. That San Diego game certainly wasn't a cool one (I was in the stands sweating my ass off), but he's been finding ways to impact the game regardless of whether he's seeing double out there or not. Regardless, it looked like a Victorian child being exposed to the heat of a thousand suns, I can't tell you how many people I had sending me that image.

TBM: Orlando was on the wrong end of a lot of big scorelines early, but it seems the defense is coming around a bit. What's been the big change since the World Cup break outside of that guy we just talked about above?

BM: By and large...nothing. Bernardo Rhein is now the first choice left back ahead of Adrian Marin, but otherwise nothing has really changed. Maxime Crepeau has been in excellent form after a good World Cup showing and that's helped, but this defense is still extremely vulnerable. There have been some good results post-WC but frankly I think this team has benefitted from playing a slightly softer part of its schedule lately. OCSC still gives up too many soft goals and makes too many unforced errors, but now they're usually scoring enough goals to paper over those areas. The nights that the team isn't scoring usually coincide with dropped points.

TBM: The Lions were in great form right up until the Open Cup loss midweek. How much of a bummer is that loss and how would you grade the season overall with a midtable Leagues Cup and semifinal Open Cup loss added in?

BM: Terrible loss. Even worse than some of those lopsided scorelines from earlier in the year, and those weren't exactly fun to sit through, I can assure you. Orlando played a mostly good first half aside from a bad defensive breakdown and a failure to put away some great chances, but then played a terrible second half. Griezmann exiting early with an injury concern didn't help, and when he left the team just looked completely different.

Given that I don't think this team has the defensive acumen to make a deep playoff run, I think blowing a chance to host a Cup final and get your hands on some silverware has me right around a D. Especially because this team has enough attacking pieces to hurt some people, but the unwillingness to seriously address the defensive issues means that this year is almost certainly going to end up being a big "what if".

TBM: Orlando is currently in 6th place, a ways back of Chicago in 5th (Fire with a game in hand as well) and Philly rocketing up the table right behind you...is this a team that can hold onto their current playoff spot the way they've been playing?

BM: Suffice it to say, I have my doubts. The remaining schedule isn't going to be easy, with trips to New England, Philly, Toronto, Chicago, and Charlotte all still to come. Of Orlando's nine remaining fixtures, only three are against teams below the playoff line, and one of them just knocked the Lions out of the Open Cup. As I said earlier, while the team has been getting results lately, its shown itself to be fragile, especially on the road. Seven goals conceded in the last three road games in all competitions, and all three of those teams (Minnesota, Atlanta, Columbus) are currently below the playoff line. I'd love to be pleasantly surprised, but don't be shocked if the results start looking less pretty than they have lately.

Lineup/Injuries/Predictions/Etc.

BM: Adrian Marin should still be out with a leg issue and Braian Ojeda is definitely still out as he recovers from surgery for a Jones fracture. We haven't heard anything official about an injury from Griffin Dorsey, but he was held out of last Saturday's game as a "precaution" and then quietly wasn't in the matchday squad at all for Wednesday's loss to Columbus, so I have my suspicions. We also don't have any official word on Griezmann after he exited the Columbus game early with some sort of knock/injury, but I'm going to guess that he won't be ready for this one.

Best stab at a lineup is: Maxime Crepeau; Bernardo Rhein, David Brekalo, Robin Jansson, Zakaria Taifi; Ivan Angulo, Joran Gerbet, Luis Otavio, Justin Ellis; Martin Ojeda, Daryl Dike.

This is a team on short rest, with a suspect defense, that hasn't been good on the road this year and has a history of struggling up at Gillette Stadium. I've got alarm bells ringing about as loud as they possibly can. New England convincingly takes this 4-1.