Revolution battle Union to scoreless draw
The New England Revolution’s long-awaited return to Gillette Stadium ended in a fiercely contested scoreless tie with the Philadelphia Union on Thursday night.
The Revolution gained a point and are 1-1-4 going into Tuesday night’s match at D.C. United. The Revolution’s last game at Gillette was a 1-1 tie with the Chicago Fire on March 7.
New England sporting director and head coach Bruce Arena drew a red card suspension for abusive language in the Revs’ 2-1 loss to the Union in the knockout round of the MLS is Back Tournament in Orlando, Fla., on July 25. Assistant coach Richie Williams called the shots in Arena’s absence.
“We knew he wasn’t going to be there tonight and Richie did a great job in the locker room and out there making adjustments during the game,” said veteran defender Andrew Farrell.
“But yeah, coach Arena was there with us in spirit. He was up in the stands trying to yell at us from up there.”
Despite the suspension, Arena added 14 years of MLS experience to his midfield in separate trades on Monday. The Revs acquired Kekuta Manneh from Cincinnati FC and Tommy McNamara from the Houston Dynamo, but both players were under an MLS-mandated 10-day quarantine and not eligible to play.
New England needed midfield reinforcements when rainmaker Carles Gil damaged his left Achilles tendon against D.C. United on July 17. Gil underwent successful surgery on Aug. 4 but is expected to be out for three to five months.
“We know we’re not going to be replacing the likes of Carles,” said Arena. “In my view that’s not even possible, but we certainly needed to strengthen ourselves in the attacking half of the field.”
Revolution midfielder Matthew Polster, who was making his first start, established a physical presence with a takedown on Jamiro Monteiro in the fifth minute. That was followed by three excellent scoring chances for the
Revs in the eighth, ninth and 13th minutes.
Gustavo Bou collected the ball in the upper right corner of the box and lined up a shot toward the far post. Dynamic Union keeper Andre Blake (UConn) leaped to his right and denied Bou with a fingertip grab.
Cristian Penilla caught Blake out of position but his bid was deflected wide by defender Mark McKenzie. Striker Adam Buksa made a hard surge though the Union’s back end but his shot deflected off the left post. The three scoring chances were created by unpredictable crossing plays that unbalanced the Philadelphia backs.
The Union enjoyed several deep probes in the New England end midway through the frame, but their efforts were routinely interrupted by Revs’ keeper Matt Turner. Union midfielder Brenden Aaronson set up striker Kacper Przybylko in the middle of the box in the 36th minute, but Turner anticipated the shot and recorded his best save of the game. Turner notched his third shutout of the season.
“We were trying to get forward quickly and tried to get at them and I thought we did that at times,” said Williams. “I think we created enough opportunities, but at the end of the day we were unable to get a goal.”
The Union kept Turner occupied in the early minutes of the second half, including a leaping save on a long-range shot by defender Matthew Real. The game got bogged down by unsavory infractions from both camps, but referee Robert Sibiga issued enough yellow cards to quell the unrest.
Both Williams and Union coach Jim Curtin made substitutions in the 66th minute to inject some energy into the flow. Williams upped the intensity when he added dynamic scorer Diego Fagundez to the mix in the 76th minute.