Subsitutes Lift Revolution Over Mazatlán

Porter: "I was real proud of the guys that they found the goal and that they got the win, and I was really pleased we got the clean sheet.”

Photo Courtesy of J. Alexander Dolan

With the New England Revolution missing their three Designated Players and one U-22 Player, recent games have been about grinding out results.

And that’s exactly what the Revs did on Saturday when they recorded a 1-0 win over Mazatlán F.C.

The first half was relatively quiet. The best chance came when the Revs forced a turnover, allowing Ian Harkes to take a long-range shot.

The first substitutions of the night—which came in the 64th minute—proved to be the difference as Ema Boateng and Jack Panayotou were involved in the game-winning goal.

Harkes found Boateng, who moved inside before slipping a pass to Matt Polster. A centering ball eventually made its way to Panayotou, who scored his first goal for the Revolution first team.

The Revs held on for a 1-0 win.

“Obviously, the subs that came in gave us a lift,” head coach Caleb Porter said. “It's great to have Ema back; you can see what he brings to the table. Obviously, everybody knows who we have out in the attack, so it's not surprising that it was a tight game and we had trouble creating chances and scoring, but I was real proud of the guys that they found the goal and that they got the win, and I was really pleased we got the clean sheet.”

The clean sheet was important as the Revs haven’t shut out their opponent since Jun. 8. Porter complimented the entire backline.

“Obviously, Peyton [Miller] again, another good game,” Porter said. “He had kind of a knock on his rib, first half, that was bothering him, and his calf just cramped. He'll be fine.

“But I think again, you see there's another game where he's got it. He's a quality player. You can see it in the first touch, he brings it off his chest, simple, pops the ball down, should have had an assist on that cut back, I thought, to Esmir [Bajraktarević]. He defended really well again. He's quick.

“Brandon [Bye] continues to get rhythm; that's important for him. I thought [Henry] Kessler and [Xavier] Arreaga did well today, and Aly [Aljaž Ivačič], he's a top goalkeeper. When we need him to make a save, he did that. So, really pleased with the clean sheet.”

Saturday’s win came without several key players.

Carles Gil has been out since Jun. 29, Dylan Borrero has only played one game since Jun. 22, and Giacomo Vrioni has missed the last three games.

Noel Buck, DeJuan Jones, and others have also been dealing with injuries.

Porter said he’s “really proud of the whole group.” He noted, “We showed a much better mentality these last two games. I thought we fought really hard. We defended well.”

When asked if any particular players stood out recently, Porter pointed to the central midfielders.

“I thought Matt and Ian today were outstanding,” Porter said. “You know, Ian had a little kind of hip – he missed a training this week, and we didn’t know if he would be available. He was like, ‘No way I’m missing.’

“You just like that, because there had been some guys that are out and they’re out, and you think they’re back in, and you just love guys that want to be in. I thought he and Matt were outstanding today.”

The lone goal was enough for the Revs to collect three points in their opening Leagues Cup game. One week earlier, the Revs conceded a late penalty to allow FC Dallas to salvage a point in a 1-1 draw.

Porter said the Dallas game led to some reflection.

“We thought long and hard just about the end of the last game and what we can do better as coaches, and made some adjustments there at the end of the game in terms of our decisions,” Porter said.

When asked to expand on that, Porter said, “We always talk before the game about what could happen in the game. We try to – in our ability to impact the end of a game, we have these subs, five of them, and we have three stoppages.

“We want to always feel the game, but you also don't want to be just deciding everything in the heat of the moment. So, we try to somewhat program and preplan what we might do, predict it more than anything.

“We've done well. We've gone into the five with Jonah [Mensah]. So, I still think that's a good way to go, especially if teams are getting a lot of crosses in. Like the Cincy game [on June 22] for instance, or Nashville [on June 1], those teams were getting a lot of crosses in and were dangerous on set pieces, so those games have helped us. I don't know if we'd get the win without it, but in the last game, it didn't work. So, we wanted to read the game and we decided we didn't need it. We didn't need the five this game.”

The Revs now have a break before hosting Nashville SC in their second group stage game on Aug. 6.