New England Revolution Neutralize Wilfried Zaha

The New England Revolution recorded yet another clean sheet against Charlotte FC, neutralizing former English Premier League star Wilfried Zaha.

The winger recorded 53 touches while completing 86 percent of his passes. Additionally, he lost possession 16 times, failed to register a shot, and won only two of his 11 duels.

It was an impressive performance for the entire backline but the likes of Will Sands had a particularly good performance defending Zaha. The outside back had 11 defensive contributions and kept Zaha in front of him, as there was not a single instance where an opponent dribbled past him.

Sometimes a player's resume can overwhelm opponents but Revolution head coach Marko Mitrovic noted that he wants his players to play with braveness no matter who they are up against.

“I think Wilfried [Zaha] is a proven player and one of the best players we have in the league," Mitrovic said after the match. "We also speak about how one of our core culture anchors is braveness. Whoever we play against, we have to show that braveness and we have to show respect toward ourselves first. Obviously, we respect every opponent and everyone around. I think that was our approach today. We faced Zaha but it’s actually a great opportunity for Will [Sands] to show himself and to face that challenge. We’re embracing those things in a very positive way. We always say that if you play against someone who is not good, you actually don’t know how good you are. But if you play against the best and you can perform against them, then you really have a value. That’s our tendency, to build that value for our players and our team.”

There was a moment where, yet again, tempers flared between the Revs and their opponent. After Zaha fouled Sands, both sides came together with Zaha even bickering with Mitrovic and goalkeeper coach Kevin Hitchcock.

During the kerfuffle, Zaha decided to go at Brooklyn Raines who he apparently wasn't familiar with.

"Marko has his mottos and togetherness is a big one," Ethan Kohler said in the locker room. "Even when it got a little feisty, we, as a group did a lot better job than them staying together, staying focused on the task at hand. That's really what led us to being successful in the end."

Raines didn't seemed too bothered by the incident postgame. He also credited the togetherness of the team as well as Sands' effort.

"It was a team effort," the midfielder said. "I give a lot of props to Will Sands, just because he was on his side, did a very good job of containing him [Zaha]. I can't speak for the whole team, but for me, I was very happy with how we dealt with it. Marko always talks about being humble, but at the same time wanting to be dominant. Us sticking together and keeping our heads on our shoulders, and then just focusing on getting the goal, I think that's what ultimately led to the win. Big props to the whole team today."

Across the pitch, it seemed like the yellow card and scuffle took Charlotte after the game. Charlotte head coach Dean Smith once again used the opportunity to highlight the perceived poor treatment his star has received and continued to hit out at MLS officials.

The togetherness from the Revs is noticable. The group looks willing to go to battle for one another.

It isn't a coincidence that New England has started the season with five straight wins at home. Mitrovic has the team living up to its potential and potentially even surpassing it due to the collective unit he has built.