Revolution II 3 - Fire II 2: Three Thoughts
Three thoughts following Revolution II's win over Chicago Fire II at home!
Richie Williams and Revolution II found themselves in the win column for a second-straight match after handing Chicago Fire II a 3-2 victory despite once holding the 2-0 advantage. Here are three thoughts.
1 - Too much play out of the back
Playing out of the back isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but I felt Revolution II relied on it heavily on Saturday.
While it did allow them to switch the ball from side to side, there were times early in the first half when it nearly bit Revolution II. The biggest example coming in the first ten minutes when generating out of the back led to the ball becoming trapped in the bottom right corner surrounded by a sea of Chicago jerseys, which forced Revs II to just dump the ball out for a Chicago throw in.
For the most part, Revs II has been above average at building out of the back, but I would have liked to see Revs II find other avenues to move the ball besides persistently building out of the back.
2 - Attack building chemistry
Saturday showed how well the Revs II attack has gelled in recent weeks. It reached its peak during Alex Monis’ 38th-minute goal, where Marcos Dias and Gevork Diarbian combined to usher the ball to Monis.Â
With plenty of season left, I’m genuinely excited to see how much more the trio of Dias, Monis, and Diarbian can mesh together and how that will play a role in 2024’s success.
3 - Parabéns, Marcos!
Marcos Dias’ goal not only secured Revolution II the three points but etched his name into New England Revolution II history as he became the club’s all-time leading scorer with his 18th goal for Revs II.
Since arriving on loan in 2022 to becoming a permanent fixture in 2023, Marcos Dias has been a consistent presence in the Revolution II attack and, as the record shows, has provided a ton of production.
Hopefully, Marcos’ attacking skills bear fruit for Revolution II throughout the rest of 2024 and beyond.