Revolution Outside Backs Excelling Even as Attack Struggles

While New England's attack struggled, it wasn't because of Peyton Miller and Ilay Feingold

Photo By J. Alexander Dolan

While the New England Revolution failed to score a goal in the club’s 1-0 loss to FC Cincinnati, it isn’t due to the play of Ilay Feingold and Peyton Miller.

The duo has been on fire as of late, including combining for all three goals in New England’s 3-0 win over CF Montreal. Against FC Cincinnati, Feingold completed 93 percent of his passes while recording 11 crosses, four passes into the final third, and 75 total touches. Miller added six touches in the final third and three crosses.

Both players were present in the attack throughout the 90 minutes and throughout a formation change midway through the second half. Postgame, head coach Caleb Porter noted that New England was struggling with the absences of Leo Campana and Ignatius Ganago.

“We have Leo [Campana] out and [Ignatius Ganago] out and [Luca] Langoni out, so we're a little thin,” Porter said. But whether it's the breakaway, whether it's one of our 45 crosses. I mean, how many did we get? Highest of the year, for sure. We played very well, box to box, but they were better in the final third. Some games you don't score because you don't get a lot of chances. I don’t think we had a lot of chances, but we [got in] a lot of good positions, and we just didn't turn it into goals. Sometimes we got the cross right and the run wrong. Sometimes we got the run right and the cross wrong.”

Captain Carles Gil also highlighted how frustrating it can be to have Miller and Feingold providing service and the team still being unable to find the back of the net.

“We have two guys that are making good crosses and chances, but if we are not there in the end, it's difficult to score,” Gil said. “We saw that on their goal. The guy [Kevin Denkey] was there and he made the difference.”

If Campana or Ganago is healthy, it is likely that New England scores at least one goal. Towards the end of the match, there was a chance provided by the foot of Miller that should have leveled the score. The youngster played a ball across the face of the goal, expecting a teammate to be there as any player should but no one made the run and the momentum the Revolution had dissipated.

While Ganago will miss at least five more matches but Campana’s future is more of a mystery. New England doesn’t play until the 25th, which could potentially see the striker return to the pitch as he has over a week to recover.

But whether Campana returns or not, New England will continue to rely on the ingers to create chances and provide service in the final third.

“They’re two dynamic guys. They’re athletic and just dynamic going forward, playing in wide areas, and trying to get those guys involved as much as possible to try to help be a part of the sort of the attacking third phase of play,” center back Tanner Beason said of Feingold and Miller. “[There were] plenty of moments where someone like Carles [Gil] might pick the ball up and find Peyton [Miller] in one of those high attacking positions. We've got to continue to look for that and try to execute when we get in those positions.”