New England Revolution Yet to Win in Preseason
But we got to watch this match!
New England Revolution fans got to watch their team play for the first time this year but the Revs were still unable to secure a victory.
Henrich Ravas got the start in net while DeJuan Jones, Andrew Farrell, Dave Romney, and Nick Lima made up the back line. Matt Polster and Mark-Anthony Kaye served as defensive midfielders and Carles Gil served in his familiar No. 10 role.
Finally Giacomo Vrioni was the lone striker flanked by Tomas Chancalay and Esmir Bajraktarevic on the wings.
There wasn’t a whole lot of action as Ravas wasn’t truly tested until the 18th minute when he made a save. He added another stop to his tally in the 25th minute.
Bajraktarevic had a chance early on off a glancing header from Vrioni, but the USMNT winger was stopped by Union goalkeeper Andre Blake. Vrioni himself had a chance in the 24th minute but Blake made a diving save.
Philly nearly broke through after New England struggled playing out of the back but the shot was just wide in the 28th minute. While important to note that it is still preseason, the Revs had too many giveaways in their own half of the field which gifted some chances to the Union.
Jack McGlynn picked up the first yellow card of the match 29 minutes into the preseason friendly. McGlynn tested Ravas with a powerful shot in the 36th minute but Ravas would smack the shot out of play. New England’s new keeper made another big stop in the 38th minute.
The first half ended with no goals being scored. New England did a good job absorbing pressure when defending and was also able to create some chances on the attack.
Caleb Porter clearly wanted to build the fitness of his players as no changes were made to his side as the second half began.
It was another impressive half for Ravas who made a point-blank save on a Mikael Uhre breakaway early on in the second half. The Union nearly scored a goal off of a free kick in the 65th minute as McGlynn served up the ball for Kai Wagner but his shot reverberated off the crossbar and without entering the net. Ravas had an impressive match and after some highlights didn’t paint the goalkeeper in the best light, he looked like he could be a quality starter in MLS.
New England made its first change soon after as Vrioni was replaced by Bobby Wood. The Revs made another change in the 71st minute as Ian Harkes replaced Kaye.
Throughout the match, it appeared that New England struggled to play out of the back. The Union were able to force the Revs to commit turnovers with their pressing and damper New England’s ability to get forward.
New England plays its last preseason match tomorrow as they face FC Cincinnati for the second time this preseason.
So 0-0 final score?
I thought the Revs were better in the 2nd half and probably more threatening than PU. That said, they were lacking in the final pass and their crosses significantly lacked precision.
And Philly still managed to crunch Carles yet again, pre-season or not.