Giacomo Vrioni's Hard Work Pays Off Against NYRB

"Giacomo [Vrioni] will continue to work hard. He’ll make the runs and he has the ability to score goals as we saw tonight.”

Photo Courtesy of New England Revolution

The 2023 season has been a rollercoaster for Giacomo Vrioni but his hard work appears to be paying off.

Vrioni was the lone goal scorer on Wednesday evening as New England defeated the New York Red Bulls 1-0. It was his sixth goal of the season and he is now only behind Bobby Wood in terms of goal scoring from strikers.

The 24-year-old struggled to start the 2023 season and found himself stuck on the bench. But things have changed as Vrioni managed to make his way into the starting XI heading into Leagues Cup and has kept his spot. With the Gustavo Bou injury, the 24-year-old is now the main man up top and will be relied upon as a main source of New England’s scoring.

Compared to the match against CF Montreal, Vrioni received a lot more service whether it be in behind the NYRB back line or from crosses into the box. While still serving as a sole striker, the Designated Player was joined by Nacho Gil and Tomas Chancalay on the wings in a 4-3-3 formation compared to New England’s traditional 4-2-3-1.

Richie Williams discussed Vrioni’s goal after the match as well as the change in formation.

“That’s important,” the Revolution coach said about the formation change. “The other night in Montréal we didn’t have a lot in the final third. Our entry ball into the final third the other night, we could have gotten in six or seven other times, but we got cut out or we missed the pass, or we just didn’t give him a lot of opportunities or service from wide positions in behind. We did tonight. I think it was Mark-Anthony [Kaye] who played the ball in for him. Giacomo [Vrioni] will continue to work hard. He’ll make the runs and he has the ability to score goals as we saw tonight.”

The striker’s work ethic is easy to see. Beyond constantly trying to break lines and gain possession, Vrioni tirelessly is pressing his opponents along with trying to create turnovers.

While Vrioni’s goal might have looked easy from afar. Center back Dave Romney noted that being all alone and in on goal doesn’t always make for an easy addition to your stat sheet.

“Yeah he’s been running all over the place. He made a really good run, peeled off the outside shoulder of the center back, kind of drifted out wide.” Romney said when asked about the striker. “Some of those breakaways are not easy to finish, you kind of have so much time to think about it and it was also a pretty shitty angle. So for him to kind of calm down after sprinting from half field to there, he did really, really well.”

While teammates such as Romney might be familiar with Vrioni’s skills, recent acquisitions such as Tomas Chancalay are just learning how the striker operates on the field and what he is capable of.

The former Racing forward seems quite impressed as he described the DP as an incredible player.

“I think he [Vrioni] is an incredible player,” Chancalay said. “He helps us a ton. He’s really strong up top. The rest of us are going to do what we can to help him score goals and do the best we can to win games for New England.”

Revolution fans will be happy that Vrioni found the back of the net and that the striker’s hard work is paying off. The 24-year-old will play a major factor in New England’s success with Bou’s absence and with the possibility of the veteran leaving the Revs in the offseason, Vrioni will play a major part in the club’s success in the future.