Revolution Searching For "Missing Ingredient" After Another One-Goal Loss
“For me, [11 one-goal losses] says that while we’re close there’s obviously a missing ingredient.”
The New England Revolution have officially been eliminated from the 2025 playoffs after Saturday’s 1-0 loss to the Philadelphia Union.
While the coach on the sidelines was different, the game felt familiar.
It started promisingly for the Revs, who pressed effectively and found moments to play direct. They ultimately fell short inside the box.
Part of this had to do with the absence of a target striker. Interim head coach Pablo Moreira opted to play Luca Langoni up top with Carles Gil, as Leo Campana, Ignatius Ganago, and Dor Turgeman were unavailable.
“With the injuries that we have, we don’t have your prototypical No. 9,” Moreira said, “We have to be creative. That’s where creativity came in playing Brandon [Bye] and taking a look at Ilay [Feingold] in that right center back role.
“But in terms of what we were looking out of that [No. 9] position, we really wanted Luca to go on the left side of the center back, which then would give Carles the ability to occupy those spaces,” the interim head coach added. “If Luca was occupying that space, that center back couldn’t release on Carles. I did think we were effective in that sense.
“In terms of Luca running in behind, getting chances on goal, I think they kept him quiet,” he concluded. “But again, like you said, we don’t have your prototypical No. 9, so we’re trying to find ways to get Carles in spaces, drag their guys out, and then be able to get in behind with our speed. Unfortunately we did that, but it didn’t execute in terms of chances and goals.”
The Revs held the Union scoreless through 71 minutes, then Bruno Damiani finished his opportunity from ten yards out.
Plenty of action followed — including a Peyton Miller red card and a Tomas Chancalay shot that was assisted by Andrew Farell — but the end result was another one-goal loss, the Revs’ eleventh of the season.
This one ended the Revolution’s faint chances at the post-season.
“A loss is a loss, but our losses as you can see during the season, are very tight,” Feingold said. “We lost 1-0, 2-1, 3-2. I think we are a team that is really tough to play against. Even if the teams beat us, it’s not like 3-0, 4-0. We are always in the game.
“Again, a loss is a loss as I said, but I think the positive thing is that we are a really tough team,” he added. “But I think everyone needs to think about with themselves what they can do better and what did they do worse. And hopefully, next season will be much better.”
While the Revs won’t lift a championship this year, the players do believe they have something to compete for as the season wraps up.
“We have three more games,” Feingold said. “We have to respect our club, our fans, our team, and to play our best level in order to [get] the best results as we can.”
For Moreira, these games are an opportunity to locate the “missing ingredient” that could turn the close games into more points.
“For me, [11 one-goal losses] says that while we’re close there’s obviously a missing ingredient,” Moreira said. “My job for the next three games is to find that.
“…I just go back to MLS is a league of parity and the margins are slim,” he said. “We’re not finding ways to win games. That’s our goal for the next three games, to find what those finite details are and execute on those.”