Physical Play Won't Stop Carles Gil: “Yeah, He’s a Warrior on the Field"
After being fouled five times against Inter Miami, Carles Gil once again proved that physical play won't stop him from scoring
When opponents look at the New England Revolution roster, they know that they have to try and stop Carles Gil. The easiest option is to chop him down with fouls and try to ruin his ability to get into a rhythm but time and time again, Gil has shown that won’t stop him.
Saturday’s 2-1 loss to Inter Miami was yet another example of Gil’s ability to play through physicality. Even though he was fouled five times on the night (most of any player), Gil was arguably the best player on the pitch and scored the lone goal for New England.
After the match, head coach and sporting director Bruce Arena stated that playing through this type of play is what great players do. Gil certainly falls into that category.
“Carles, obviously, had an outstanding game,” Arena said. “That’s what athletes do in any sport. The good ones can play when they’re tired, when they’re a little bit hurt, whatever. Carles is one of those athletes.”
Dave Romney has also been impressed by his teammate. The center back described Gil as a warrior and commended his ability to lead by example.
“Yeah, he’s [Carles Gil] a warrior on the field,” Romney said after the loss. “I mean it was I think, the 25th minute in the game, 30th minute where the ref literally signals to Miami, next one who fouls Carles is getting a yellow card. So, that early in the game, there was already a presence of them kind of getting chippy on Carles and he just fought through it the whole game. He keeps battling, he keeps working for the ball everywhere, honestly. So, it's always nice to see your captain kind of lead by example and have that energy the entire game. He's getting kicked a lot, he’s getting two-footed late in the game and he's still bringing the energy, so it's always kind of nice to rally around that and it’s nice to see from your DP.”
While there have been some occasions when Gil has let his frustration towards officials get the best of him, against Miami he put his head down and helped New England gain a man advantage along with tallying his third goal of the season. With Gustavo Bou injured and Giacomo Vrioni struggling to get starts, Gil will be relied on to help create chances and score goals.
That also means that opponents will key in on him and attempt to get him off his game. If he plays as he did against Miami, that will be a difficult accomplishment for opponents.