New England Revolution at Columbus Crew: 3 Thoughts

One match remains

Photo by J. Alexander Dolan

The New England Revolution returned to play on Saturday evening to face the Columbus Crew and former Rev DeJuan Jones. Columbus got the better of New England once again as Jones’ new club secured a 4-0 win.

New England’s starting XI featured plenty of changes due to international duty and Carles Gil being out for the season. Aljaz Ivacic started in net behind the back line of Will Sands, Tim Parker, Dave Romney, and Brandon Bye.

In the midfield Mark-Anthony Kaye started alongside Matt Polster while Ian Harkes was in his familiar No. 10 role. On the wings, Luca Langoni and Dylan Borrero were on the wings while Giacomo Vrioni was the lone striker up top.

But what do you need to know about the match? Here are three thoughts.

1 - Go DJ

I understand this is a website that covers the Revolution but DeJuan Jones scored a beautiful goal against his former team. He curled a shot past Ivacic within the first few moments of the match in a moment that seemed written in the stars by the soccer gods.

Jones hasn’t been receiving a ton of playing time as the Crew has a much deeper roster which is quite a shame. He clearly showed his skill which made him a fan-favorite in New England. If Jones was still in a Revolution uniform, he would be one of the best players on the roster.

At the time of his departure, the moved seem like a poor one even considering the cap relief it provided. Jones clearly proved that Columbus won the trade and that Jones is in a much better situation compared to the one in New England.

2 - Digging A Hole

The New England Revolution dug themselves a hole for the second straight game on Saturday evening. Similar to the match against D.C. United, the Revs allowed two early goals that made getting any points from the match.

New England is 0-16-2 when giving up the first goal. With the current roster, the team seems incapable of fighting back and earning a point never mind a win.

The recent trend is a bit of an anomaly compared to the majority of the season. Usually, the Revs have started out strong and fallen asleep as the game progressed. In the last two matches, the Revolution have struggled throughout.

With how New England started the match, it is clear that the club is far away from being anywhere close to contending for an MLS Cup. Even a playoff position might be out of reach if the Revolution play as they did on Saturday evening in 2025.

3 - Poor Performances

Saturday evening was a night of poor performances for New England throughout the squad.

Ivacic can be directly blamed for the second goal as his poor distribution led to a turnover and Alexandru Matan’s goal. The goalkeeper continued to struggle in the second half as Matan ended up securing a hat trick.

Then there was Borrero who continues to appear disinterested and failing to make an impact. Considering how he has performed since returning from injury, it wouldn’t be all that surprising if the Miami match has the potential to be his final in New England.

In addition to these two players, Bye seemed out of sync with his teammates and didn’t look like the player he was before he suffered his serious injury in 2023. He struggled defending and was unable to make an impact sending in crosses to his teammates.

From front to back, it was a poor performance for the Revolution. The performance leaves you with little hope that things will change in 2025.

New England closes out the season against Lionel Messi and Inter Miami next weekend. Considering how the Revs played against a shorthanded Crew, a depressing end to the 2024 season seems more likely than not.