Revolution II @ Carolina Core: Three Thoughts
Revolution II @ Carolina Core: Three Thoughts
Three thoughts following Revolution II's latest road outing.
New England Revolution II’s woes continued on Sunday when they traveled to Truist Point in High Point, North Carolina, to face MLS NEXT Pro newcomers Carolina Core FC.
Things got off to a good start when Alex Monis netted his eighth goal of the season to put Revolution II up 1-0 just 16 minutes in but it all went downhill from there. Just four minutes after Monis' goal, Javaun Mussenden received a second yellow card and saw his night end 20 minutes in. Despite standing tall for the majority of the match, the numbers game came back to haunt Revs II in the closing five minutes as Facundo Canete found the back of the net in the 85th minute to level the match before scoring again in the first minute of stoppage time to propel Carolina to a 2-1 victory at home.
Here’s three thoughts.
1 - Collapse In Carolina
After getting off to a hot start with an early goal, things came crashing down when Revs II found themselves down a man for the remaining 70 minutes. Despite the obstacle, they stayed in the game for a lot longer than many expected.
That’s also part of the reason the loss stings. They stood tall for 64 minutes before seeing their 1-0 win disintegrate in the closing five minutes.
The stats show it. When you go down a man, so do the chances of coming away with the win, yet considering the early lead they got plus their ambition, I truly believed we’d see Revolution II’s recent run of poor results come to an end. Yet, Carolina capitalized on the man advantage.
2 - Seeing Red
To piggyback off the first point, 2024 has seen Revs II become well acquainted with the referee’s book.
Mussenden’s second yellow ejection saw the club's red card accumulation rise to five on the season. That's now the most red cards Revs II has seen in its five seasons. The previous record came in 2022 when Revs II saw four red cards.
At 58 yellow cards this season, they’re only nine away from tying the record for most in club history, which also came in 2022 when Revs II saw 67 yellow cards.
In the five games they saw red in 2024, Revs II have only managed one win. Yet the red came when Revs II was already up 3-1 against Inter Miami II on April 28th.
With six games left, Revs II needs to keep its cool and end the 2024 season on a high note.
3 - Youthful Influence
While 2024 has been horrid results-wise for New England Revolution II, the one thing fans can find solace in is that we’ve seen so many prospects make their professional debuts.
17-year-old Sage Kinner added his name to the list on Saturday when he started at center back. Kinner joins the likes of Moshtaba Al-Hasnawi, Hesron Barry, Liam Butts, Gevork Diarbian, JD Gunn, Damario McIntosh, Cristiano Oliveira, and Alex Parvu as names who’ve made their professional debuts with Revolution II in 2024.
With playoffs beyond the horizon, I’d like to see the remaining six games focus on getting young prospects the most minutes possible ahead of the offseason.