Ilay Feingold Discusses Playing Center back
"At the end, I told Pablo [Moreira] that whenever he needs me in whatever position, I will play, and I will do my best in order to help the team to get the results."
Ilay Feingold has become a player that New England Revolution fans have enjoyed thanks to his darting runs up the flank but the defender is willing to do whatever it takes to help his team win.
While New England suffered a 1-0 defeat to the Philadelphia Union, Feingold made his first MLS start at center back. The Israeli traded in getting forward and looking to get the Revs attack for playing lockdown defense and rarely getting past midfield.
Feingold was asked about playing center back and he noted that he had conversations with interim head coach Pablo Moreira about playing the position.
“I spoke with [Revolution Interim Head Coach] Pablo [Moreira] before the game. Being a third center back, it’s something that I did in the past on the [Israeli] National Team and also in my former club in Israel,” Feingold said. “But again, for me, I think being versatile and playing in a different position is very good. At the end, I told Pablo [Moreira] that whenever he needs me in whatever position, I will play, and I will do my best in order to help the team to get the results. Unfortunately, today it didn’t work. But again, we have three more games, and we need to respect ourselves, respect the fans, and to do our best to win those games.”
According to Transfermarket, Feingold has played 15 games at center back. Additionally, Moreira noted that the Revs wanted to utilize Brandon Bye’s aerial ability, which is a strength of Bye compared to Feingold.
With Feingold playing center back, he was tasked with trying to stop fellow Israeli Tai Baribo. The opposing striker didn’t score any goals, which is an impressive feat considering he has 16 goals this season.
“I really like Tai [Baribo]. Of course, we have a really good connection because we’re both Israeli players, and it’s very nice to see him, he does very well in the league so far,” Feingold said. “I’m really happy for him and I wish him the best now in the playoffs. In the end, I did my best in order to stop him. Again, it probably was not good enough, because in the end we lost.”
Feingold is now joined by Israeli striker Dor Turgeman, who arrived in Boston over the weekend. Turgeman is arriving to a team in desperate need of a traditional No.9 and a goal scorer.
The defender is excited to play with his countryman and believes it's important for him to get some minutes under him in order to get used to MLS ahead of the 2026 campaign.
“I’m very happy that Dor [Turgeman] joined us, finally,” Feingold said. “We’ve been waiting for [a long time]. I know him so well, we played a little bit on the [Israel] youth national teams and also on the [senior] national team. He has three [MLS] games [left this season]. I think it’s really important that he came, he can get used to the league, to the team, to the new mentality. I’m sure that he will do very well for the team.”