Even with Wednesday's loss, the New England Revolution are exceeding expectations this season. They're heading into the last home game until July this Saturday sitting in third place and seem to be on pace for a return to the playoffs. There is plenty of room for improvement from the team as a whole and several individuals.
Dor Turgeman probably finds himself at the top of many Revs fans' list for individuals that need to do more, in case winning purely by liking each other so much wears off as the season progresses. Turgeman has just two goals over 12 games and 1,000 minutes this year after scoring three goals in 212 minutes after joining the team late in 2025.
In addition to the lack of goals, he has had limited involvement in the Revs build-up play. Rarely does he facilitate patterns of attack like an up-back-through or hold the ball up or even drop centrally to overload the center of the field. This lack of involvement in the first two-thirds of the field leaves Turgeman confined to getting it all done close to goal.
This situation isn't entirely down to Turgeman; there are at least two other factors affecting how often he's on the ball. The first is one we highlighted all the way back when Marko Mitrovic was hired after analyzing how his U20 and U23 USMNT teams played. Simply put, the center forward on both teams had very limited involvement outside the attacking third.
The team is exhibiting some other aspects from Mitrovic's previous teams during build-up play, mostly a determination to move the ball up one side of the field and then look for long, forward switches of play to the opposite side. We saw long passes hit over to Peyton Miller on the left flank several times on Wednesday night. It was more or less the Revs only way into the attacking third in the first half.
The way the Revs are setting up in early attacking play, as shown below, helps facilitate playing up their preferred right side and affords space to the left back on the opposite side. The drawback is the ability to access and play through the center of the field and get Turgeman involved is limited. Brooklyn Raines and Alhassan Yusuf have helped in this regard when fielded centrally together. This midfield pairing was missed on Wednesday night against Nashville.
The other factor limiting Turgeman's opportunities is that Carles Gil isn't operating anywhere near him in most attacking phases. Furthermore, Gil is showing some minor elements of a lessened influence with the ball at his feet this year. His completed long passes, chipped passes, and crosses per game are all down so far in 2026 compared to 2025. Not having Gil near him or being unable to feed him the ball from further away, as we would expect, means teams can mark and track Turgeman more diligently.
Further inhibiting Turgeman's ability to contribute and score goals is the Revs being one of the least effective and least often pressing teams in MLS. They currently rank near the bottom of nearly all of Opta's metrics to measure pressing. That includes the fact that they are still one of two teams in MLS without a single goal from a forced high turnover.
Winning the ball high up the field can provide strikers with some of their best chances on goal, with the opposition spread out and the close proximity to goal meaning chances can be found quickly in ample space. Turgeman has shown a clear ability to score goals; he's capable of finding the target in a variety of situations and is a crafty operator in the penalty area. He's not an incredible dribbler and doesn't have blistering speed; he hasn't shown the ability to score from long range either.
Those attributes would be great to have in a center forward, but it doesn't mean Turgeman can't be a more prolific goalscorer than he has been. One only needs to look at Preston Judd, San Jose's primary center forward, with his nine goals already this season as a good example. Judd had seven goals in 55 games between 2024 and 2025. He doesn't profile as a multi-dimensional elite goal scorer, and is only slightly scoring goals at a higher rate than his expected goals would suggest he should. And Judd gets on the ball even less than Turgeman, he averages 17.1 touches per game to Turgeman's 24.8.
Judd is thriving as the front man of San Jose's relentless pressing machine and is being provided with high-level opportunities because of it. If the Revs could evolve their press by pushing it higher, doing so a little more often, and being more willing to go man for man, they may create more chances for Turgeman. Judd is averaging double Turgeman's shots per game on target tally. There isn't a clear talent gap between the two to explain the huge gap in goals scored.
Anytime a striker isn't scoring at least once every two or three games, questions will be asked. Turgeman's first impression in 2025 also raised expectations for what he could do over a full season, especially with the tremendous positive vibes turning nearly everything in the Revs favor. It's not all down to Turgeman himself, though he has missed chances and maybe not let some shots fly when he should have, it's a multifaceted issue.
The Revs are going to need Turgeman to get going after the World Cup break, there's plenty of ways the team as a whole can help him as much as he can help himself.
