Tomas Chancalay Makes New England Revolution Debut
Tomas Chancalay Makes New England Revolution Debut
"He’s shown that he's a talented player."
While it was mostly a poor night for the New England Revolution on Saturday against CF Montreal, there was one bright spot in the form of Tomas Chancalay making his MLS debut.
The 24-year-old had previously played for the second team but in the 62nd minute, Chancalay trotted out onto the pitch for the first time as a revolution player.
It was a difficult spot for the Chancalay as New England was shorthanded with the likes of Gustavo Bou and DeJuan Jones absent and the 24-year-old was coming off the bench compared to getting a full 90 minutes to get into the flow of the game.
But overall Chancalay had a solid performance. He completed 13 of his 14 passes and recorded 23 touches. The forward also showed that he is a capable defender with an impressive slide tackle a few minutes after entering the match and forcing Montreal to commit a turnover minutes later.
Revolution coach Richie Williams said after the match that New England has seen that Chancalay is a talented player and with time he will continue to get better.
“He’s shown that he's a talented player,” Williams said. “We haven't seen a ton of him, but we wanted to give him an opportunity. We needed to try to create some opportunities in the final third, be a little bit more dangerous. We were hoping that’s something he could bring to the table, and again, not an easy game to come into on the road against a good Montréal team. He looked fine. We expect him to get even more comfortable and a little bit better with us as time goes by.”
Midfielder Mark-Anthony Kaye was also happy for his teammate and expects “big things” from the 24-year-old.
“I’m happy for [Chancalay]. Obviously, he’s a big player who came into the club,” Kaye stated after the loss. “The club and us as his teammates expect big things of him. So, we’re glad that he got his debut in the league. He’s a player who doesn’t give up, works really hard, has that quality in and around the box. He has a good shot. It’s just about us doing our best to support him and help build him up so that as he continues to get on the field he gets better and better.”
While putting in a solid performance against Montreal, the 24-year-old will be hoping to make more of an impact and maybe even find the back of the net this week as New England is staring down a quick turnaround with a mid-week match against the New York Red Bulls and a Labor Day weekend battle between Austin FC.