Dave Romney and Henry Kessler a Dangerous Duo Against Charlotte FC

Kessler "woke up feeling dangerous" but his center back partner had a great performance as well

Photo Courtesy of New England Revolution

After scoring the game-winning goal for the New England Revolution and securing an opening night victory, Henry Kessler tweeted postgame that he “woke up feeling dangerous.” Revolution fans will hope that feeling stays with the center back throughout the 2023 season.

“Yeah, I woke up feeling dangerous today, so I just kind of had a feeling that I was going to be in the thick of it, and so that's the best feeling I had and I think it was accurate,” Kessler said.”

In reality, Kessler was just one part of a dangerous back line duo. Both Kessler and Dave Romney impressed in the 1-0 win over Charlotte FC.

After a 2022 season, that saw New England’s defense crumble at times, both Kessler and Romney stood strong. Kessler completed 92 percent of his passes while registering 45 touches, eight clearances and two blocks.

Romney was equally impressive with 58 touches, four clearances, and an interception. The veteran center back also won 83 percent of his total duels.

After the win, head coach and sporting director Bruce Arena told media that he was impressed with both Romney and Kessler.

“Very good,” Arena said when asked about Romney. “[Dave Romney] played a real solid game. He made a couple plays in the second half with [Henry] Kessler that were really good and broke up a bunch of plays. As I said, our center back pairing was very good today.”

Kessler was also pleased by his own performance as well as Romney’s.

“Yeah, I thought Dave played really well. I thought the partnership was pretty good. The times that [Dave Romney] released, I'm covering and vice versa, so I thought it was pretty solid. I think we limited their chances for the most part, so I think it was pretty good.”

New England’s back line will be something for fans to keep an eye on. With Andrew Farrell recovering from a right leg injury, Kessler and Romney could get plenty of playing time.

But what happens once Farrell is at full fitness? Will one of these players head to the bench? Will Farrell be a bench player in 2023? Could we see three center backs in the Starting XI? Arena will have quite the headache when picking a starting XI.

Romney and Kessler did everything that was asked of them and more against Charlotte. New England could become quite the dangerous team if the back line continues to stand strong as they did in the season-opening win.