New England Revolution II’s 2026 campaign began on Sunday when they welcomed Liam Butts and Atlanta United 2 to Beirne Stadium.
Despite a disastrous own goal, New England brought the fight and clawed their way back thanks to a 70th-minute strike from debutant Myles Morgan and two saves from Donovan Parisian in the shootout as Revs II secured two points following a 1-1 draw in regulation and a 4-2 shootout victory.
Here are three thoughts.
1 - Dangerous Da
While he wasn’t able to find the back of the net, I was thoroughly impressed with Jayden Da’s performance against Atlanta.
Looking at the stats, thanks to our friends over at SofaScore, Da ended his first appearance with Revolution II with four of seven shots on target, with two of his shots being blocked. Despite being denied in regulation, Da came up big for New England when he converted in the opening round of the shootout.
Considering Da hasn’t played sizable minutes since his ACL injury last preseason, Da had a solid outing on Sunday. Once he gets some more minutes under his belt and gets back to the speed of things, expect Da to be a problem for opposing defenses.
2 - Big Test for Mbaï-Assem
Heading into the new season, one big question I had was how last year’s mid-season additions would fare after a full preseason.
Chris Mbaï-Assem was put to the test first as he made his second start along the backline since signing with the club on August 23, 2025. Overall, I think he put up a good outing as he ended the night with four interceptions, five recoveries, won four of eight duels, and completed seven of 12 long balls.
Looking at the heat map, he was a big presence in the defense but wasn’t afraid to get involved in the attack.
I’m really high on Mbaï-Assem, and Sunday’s performance makes me even more excited to see what he can do now that he’s more acclimated with the club.
3 - Offside Once Again
After ending the 2025 season with the second-most offside infractions, 75, I hoped that 2026 would see this issue dissipate.
Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case as the club was caught offside a staggering 11 times in their opening day contest. Not only is that the most on Matchday One, but it’s also almost double the amount of second-placed North Texas SC and CT United, who had six each.
I’m hopeful that number won’t be as high once this team gels a bit more, but that's the area New England needs to work on ahead of next week’s match against Toronto FC II.
