The New England Revolution are back after an unexpected week off and playing at home for the first time in 2026. They open their set of 17 homes games for the season determined to improve on last season's disastrous home record. They meet Cincinnati FC, who have suffered back to back defeats to Minnesota and Toronto FC since an opening weekend win over Atlanta United.

Both teams will be eyeing a result in this one having both gotten minimal contributions from their, as our Italian friends would call them, trequartista. That translates to three-quarters in reference to the advanced area in the field a team's playmaker operates. They are eternally drifting around the field looking for space to get the ball, preferring to do so between the opponent's defensive and midfield lines.

Neither Carles Gil or Evander have found much joy on the field so far in 2026. Both had impressive 2025 campaigns with their respective teams finishing on opposite ends of the Eastern Conference table. They are key cogs in their respective team's attacking machines and both teams will be looking for them to make a big impact on Sunday.

Through two games, Gil does have an assist and five additional shot assists but he has yet to take a shot of his own. The Revs need him setting up others and also creating chances of his own, the more attention he draws, the more it opens up for his teammates.

Ideally, Gil would be getting on the ball in both half spaces and the central area of the field in higher positions near the opponent's penalty area. He hasn't had much of a presence in these areas through two games and his teammates difficulty advancing the ball without his aid is partly to blame.

Carles Gil's two heat maps and a graphic showing the half spaces. Heat maps courtesy of our partner, SofaScore.

Marko Mitrovic's USMNT teams displayed an ability to create either numerical overloads or superior positioning up one side of the field to break presses and get into the opponent's half. We haven't seen that develop with the Revs, hopefully two more weeks of training will enable them to do better here. If they can, Gil can stay out of the initial build-up play more often and drift higher, patiently waiting for moments to get on the ball and make things happen close to goal.

If the Revs continue in their 4-2-3-1 shape, we would be looking for three and four player combinations in both wide areas and the accompanying half space. Those combinations would involve a centerback, outside back, one of the deep midfielders and a wide mid. The left sided grouping and right sided grouping of those positions working in cohesion would enable Gil to stay higher. We know he will drop deep if it's not happening.

Below is a snapshot from a previous article about Mitrovic's tactics with the USMNT setup, showing this positional movement to break up one side of the field and into the opponent's half. We haven't seen much of this to date with the Revs.

Short of combining their way up one side or the other, the Revs may look to better utilize overlapping runs from the outside backs or some ability to play off balls hit up to the center forward. Something needs to get going for sure and soon.

Evander's slow start to the season has had more to do with him not being on the field at all. He left Cincinnati's season opener after just thirteen minutes, didn't feature at all in their second game and was only fit to play 16 minutes last week against TFC. It's no surprise Cincinnati failed to score against Minnesota and TFC, their attacking play looked tame and passive without their playmaker. We've seen this ourselves whenever Gil has been absent for the Revs through the years.

Evander came on for half an hour on Thursday night in the CONCACAF Champions Cup against Tigres, he looks to be approaching full fitness. How much he will play against the Revs is unknown. But the Revs will have to have a plan on how to deal with him. And not a plan that involves simply kicking him up and down the field and pulling him back whenever he evades a tackle.

As Evander moves around the field looking for space, there will need to be constant communication and a clear understanding of who is looking after him depending on where he is. The possible midfield pairing of Brooklyn Raines and Matthew Ryan Polster will need to work in tandem similar to a centerback pairing minding a center forward. If one of them presses Evander, the other needs to cover, if he's drifting laterally, they need to communicate passing him off. They'll also need to be disciplined in not getting pulled out of their central positions by following him too far wide or far up the field.

Neither Gil or Evander needs more than a few moments close to goal to turn a game in their team's favor. Which trequartista will win the day?

Grazie per aver letto!