Weekly Roundup: Revs Secure Point in Season Opener, Vermont Green Schedule Released
Plenty of new faces on display for the Revolution to start season 30
After a busy offseason that included more than 30 front-office transactions, the New England Revolution played its season opener on Saturday in Nashville.
In the world of USL, it was a slower news week, but Vermont Green released its 2025 schedule, and former goalkeeper Franceso Montali signed a first-team contract with Bruce Arena’s San Jose Earthquakes.
Internationally, Revolution II midfielder Cristiano Oliveira helped the United States U-17 National Team qualify for the 2025 FIFA Under-17 World Cup.
New England Revolution
New England Revolution 0 - 0 Nashville SC
MLS is back, and so are the New England Revolution, a team that added 14 new players since its last game in October of last year — an agonizing 6-2 defeat in Miami.
Of those 14 new faces, 11 were in the matchday squad versus Nashville, and six were in the starting lineup. Mamadou Fofana, Brayan Ceballos, Illay Feingold and Ignatius Ganago made their MLS debuts, while Leonardo Campana, Jackson Yueill and Luis Diaz made their first Revolution appearances in a goalless draw at GEODIS Park.
Nashville started the match on the front foot, and despite a strong effort from the Revs new center-back pairing of Ceballos and Fofana, the home side found the forehead of forward Sam Surridge in the 19th minute, forcing a strong punch over the bar from New England goalkeeper Aljaž Ivačič.
New England would play its way into the game, however, and create a few chances as the half wore on. In the 25th minute, Ignatius Ganago made a strong solo run down the left channel and fizzed a shot toward goal that deflected over the crossbar.
The best chance of the match for the Revolution came in about 10 minutes later when Feingold curled a clever ball down the sideline with the outside of his boot, finding Ganago, who spun past a defender and teed up Campana on the cutback. Campana’s sidefooted effort from six yards out was blocked before reaching Nashville goalkeeper Joe Willis.
Fans of the Music City club thought their team had found the opener in the 66th minute when former league MVP Hany Mukhtar took down a fantastic diagonal ball and dropped a peach of a cross to fellow DP Sam Surridge, who headed the back into the top left corner of the net. Despite flares setting off in the Nashville supporters section, the goal was quickly waived off for offsides, as Mukhtar had strayed beyond the last defender by a small margin.
According to the Opta expected goals model, Nashville outperformed the Revolution just slightly with 0.9 XG compared to New England’s 0.7 XG.
Surridge added to those numbers with two more scoring chances late in the match, a header straight to the hands of Ivačič in the 78th minute and a strike from eight yards out that was partially blocked by Fofana in the 85th.
New England had a goal of its own disallowed in the 88th minute after Feingold’s long throw-in deflected to the foot of Fofana, who buried a low shot into the bottom corner. The flag was raised after the play, and a replay revealed Fofana was clearly in an offside position.
It was a rather dull start to the season for the Revolution. Strong performances from Ganago, Ceballos, Fofana and Feingold — who is right-footed and played on the left — are key takeaways as New England looks forward to a home match against Columbus next weekend.
Vermont Green
USL League Two side Vermont Green will be back in action this summer for a fourth season. The full schedule was released this week. Notably the opening match will be on the road May 18th at Boston City. The first home game at Virtue Field will be on May 24th versus FC Laval as part of the Maple Cup. The club’s first home USL 2 match is May 31st against Seacoast United.
In other Vermont Green news, former goalkeeper Franceso Montali has signed a first-team contract with the San Jose Earthquakes of Major League Soccer. The contract runs through the 2025 season, with club options in 2026 and 2027. San Jose acquired rights to Montali via trade with the Philadelphia Union in exchange for $50,000 in 2026 General Allocation Money (GAM). He will join former New England Revolution Head Coach and Sporting Director Bruce Arena.
Revolution II
The MLS Next Pro season doesn’t kick off for another two weeks, but Revolution II star Cristiano Oliveira has already started his 2025 campaign with the United States U-17 National Team. Olivera was in the starting lineup for one of three matches in CONCACAF U-17 World Cup Qualifying, helping the squad secure a place in the 2025 Under-17 World Cup.