Revolution Amputee Soccer Team Secures Second Place
A valiant effort sees New England take home second place in the 2025 U.S. Amputee Soccer Cup
For a second year in a row, the United States Amputee Soccer Association brought the exciting action of the U.S. Amputee Soccer Cup to The Bay State as Weymouth played host to the 2025 edition of the tournament. 2025 saw the Revolution Amputee Soccer Team return, looking to defend their title against Miami, Chicago, Colorado-Columbus, Arena FC (DE), and New York.
Things got started Friday evening when New England took the field to face Chicago. It didn’t take long for New England to get things going. After getting on the end of a clearance from Chicago, Musa Nzirimwo cut the ball back to Nico Calabria who one-timed a shot on frame that zipped past the keeper and into the net to give New England a 1-0 lead three minutes into the match.
New England had a chance to double the lead in the fourth minute when an excellent cross from Musa fell to Kamal Kimo yards outside the box, but Chicago’s keeper was there to deflect the ball out for a corner. The Calabria-Musa connection proved dangerous again in the sixth minute as the pair executed some give-and-go passes that resulted in Musa maneuvering around the keeper and slotting the ball home to give the Revs a 2-0 lead.
A counter-attack opportunity led New England to success in the 11th minute. It started with goalkeeper Corey Laycock leaping into the air to catch Chicago’s corner kick and quickly distributing the ball to Calabria. Calabria darted up the field before dishing it forward to Musa, who then dished it to Vincent Fischer. Fischer got off a quick shot that deflected off the right goal post and ricocheted into the net to give New England a 3-0 lead.
Gavin Johnoson kept New England’s offense rolling in the 15th minute when he received a pass from Kimo, turned toward goal, and lasered a shot that deflected off the Chicago keeper and crossed the goal line to give New England the 4-0 lead.
Chicago drew one back in the 36th minute when a poor mistake out the back, preventing the clean sheet for New England.
New England’s final strike of the night came in the 42nd minute when a free kick opportunity led to Kimo darting down the field. While his initial attempt deflected off Chicago’s keeper, it fell right back to Kimo, who got onto his own rebound and slotted it home to secure the 5-1 victory for New England in their opener.
Saturday’s festivities began with Miami securing a dominant 6-1 win over Arena FC. The second match of the day saw Colorado-Columbus secure a 3-0 shutout victory over Chicago. Miami’s dominance continued as they secured a 4-0 shutout win over Metro New York.
The Revolution’s next match saw them square off against Colorado-Columbus.
Their first big break came in the ninth minute when Colorado-Columbus’ goalkeeper wrapped his arm around Kelvin Jimenez and brought him down as the referee awarded New England a penalty kick. Nico Calabria stepped to the spot and delivered as he rocketed a shot to the upper-left corner and in to give the Revs a 1-0 lead.
Laycock came up big in the 19th minute as his kick save prevented Colorado-Columbus from finding an equalizer.
Musa came close to doubling the lead in the 22nd minute when a quick restart led Laycock to chuck the ball upfield to Musa. Musa received the ball and shielded off his defender as he raced forward. Colorado-Columbus’ keeper came up big as he came off his line to deflect the ball away from Musa.
Musa made up for his earlier unfinished chance moments later when he got on the end of a pass from Nico Calabria and slotted the ball home to give New England the 2-0 lead.
New England's final strike of the game came in the 32nd minute. After maneuvering around his defender, Nico Calabria slotted a ball into the box that found Vincent Fischer, who slotted it home to make it 3-0.
Colorado-Columbus wasn’t going down without a fight as they drew one back to avoid the shutout loss in the 37th minute, as the Revs held on to secure the 3-1 victory.
After wins over Chicago and Colorado-Columbus, New England secured itself a spot in Sunday’s semifinal, facing Metro New York.
It was a hard-fought 25 minutes of action, but neither side found the back of the net in the first half.
Once again, the Calabria-Musa connection paid dividends. After chasing the ball downfield and preventing it from rolling out for a goal kick, Musa slotted the ball back to an open Calabria inside the box. Calabria slotted it home to find the opening goal and give New England a 1-0 lead in the 36th minute.
New York found the equalizer in the 40th minute as an attempted clearance fell right to Metro NY, who slotted it home to level the match at one apiece. With neither side pulling ahead in regulation, this semifinal match headed to overtime.
Despite good chances from both sides, neither side inched ahead in overtime as this semifinal match headed to a penalty shootout.
Vincent Fischer stepped to the spot first for New England and delivered as he sent a shot to the left side of the net and in. Metro NY leveled things to end the first round as they sent a shot into the right side of the net.
Musa started things in the second round and delivered by ripping a shot to the bottom-right corner and in. Corey Laycock came up big for New England to end the second round as he prevented Metro NY’s penalty from finding the back of the net, as New England entered the third round with a 2-1 lead.
Nico Calabria added to the lead atop the third round when he lasered a shot into the upper half of the net to give New England a 3-1 lead.
Metro NY looked to reduce the deficit, but came up short as their attempt to the bottom-right corner sailed wide. Gavin Johnson stepped to the spot with the opportunity to send New England to the Amputee Cup Final. Like Metro NY, Johnson attempted to find the bottom-right corner and put it just wide of the post.
New York kept themselves in the game when they ended the round by sending the ball into the right side of the net. Kimo stepped to the spot with his chance to send New England to the finals and did so by sending a shot to the upper-right corner and in to give the Revs a 4-2 shootout victory.
On the other side of the bracket, Miami's rampage continued as they secured a 3-0 win over Colorado-Columbus to book their ticket to the final.
Before we could get to the third-place and championship matches, we saw a new addition to the Amputee Soccer Cup festivities as two teams of some incredibly talented women competed in the U.S. Amputee Women’s Championship match. A thrilling affair that saw the Blue Team secure a 3-0 victory over the White Team.
Unfortunately, it wasn’t New England’s day as Miami glided to a 3-0 victory to secure their second straight Amputee Cup title, as the Revolution secured second place. While it didn’t end in a title, Revolution Amputee Soccer has to be proud of the effort they put up in this competition.