Revolution II @ Chicago Fire II: Three Thoughts
Three thoughts after Revs II wrapped up a three-game road trip with a wild match in the Windy City.
New England Revolution II wrapped up a three-game road trip with a roller coaster of a win in the Windy City as goals from Marcos Dias, Malcolm Fry, and a brace from Liam Butts led Revs II to a 4-3 win.
Here are three thoughts.
1 - Slip and Slide
Sunday was a thrilling contest that had fans of both sides on the edge of their seats.
It started less than a minute into the game when Revs II capitalized on a poor turnover that led Cristiano Oliveira to give New England an early 1-0 lead. A lead that doubled minutes later when Malcolm Fry found the back of the net to give Revs II a 2-0 lead in the sixth minute.
The tide swung in Chicago’s favor as a penalty goal from Dylan Borso and another strike from Oluwaseun Oyegunle leveled the match at two apiece in the 27th minute.
Things turned in Revolution II’s favor in the 37th minute when Liam Butts got on the end of a pass from Damario McIntosh and drilled it home to regain the lead right before halftime.
While it didn’t come as fast as their first goal, Revolution II got the second half off to a good start when Liam Butts found his second goal of the evening to give New England a 4-2 lead.
Despite the odds stacked against them, Chicago wasn’t going down without a fight. Trip Fleming shrank the deficit to one in the 86th minute, but it was too late as New England held on to secure the 4-3 victory.
While having a two-goal lead slip, seeing Revs II regain the lead and hold Chicago Fire II off was an encouraging sight that should hopefully give the club confidence going forward.
2 - Wing Work
One of the things Revolution II has done a tremendous job with in 2025 has been utilizing the wings to generate some good looks.
It's something we saw plenty of on Sunday from the likes of Gevork Diarbian and Damario McIntosh.
We saw it first hand on the second goal when Gevork’s attempted cross to the middle deflected off a Fire II defender and into the path of Malcolm Fry, who buried it to double their lead.
Despite getting an awkward touch on the ball initially, Damario McIntosh composed himself well and regained possession before putting his defender on skates and lobbing a ball across the face of goal to Liam Butts to find Revs II’s third goal of the evening.
Without the work from Damario and Gevork, I’m not entirely sure Revolution II would have walked away with three points in this one.
3 - Road Rewards
After a vicious 2024 season that saw Revs II go winless in all 14 road matches, 2025 has been a pleasant change in scenery.
Through their first nine contests on the road, Revolution II has amassed an even record of 3-3-3 with two shootout victories. Considering Revs II ended their 2024 road campaign with two points on the road, they have to be incredibly happy with the 13 points from their first nine road matches thus far.
It’s not rocket science, but the improved road results in 2025 have largely come from the club finding more goals on the road. 2024 saw Revs II find the net 14 times on the road. Nine road games into the 2025 season, and Revs II have already surpassed that figure with 15 and counting.
There’s room for improvement, but it’s been great to see Revolution II be productive away from home this season. Let’s hope that trend persists through the remaining five road games in 2025.