Revs bring the heat in cold in 3-0 win
FOXBORO >> The New England Revolution are off to the best start in franchise history after only two games.
The Revolution manhandled the Houston Dynamo 3-0 in the home opener on a blustery Saturday night at Gillette Stadium. The Revolution are an original MLS franchise in business since 1996 and they have never opened a season with backto-back wins.
The Revolution began the 2023 campaign with a 1-0 victory over Charlotte FC on Feb. 25 at Bank of America Stadium. Djordje Petrovic became the first Revolution goalkeeper to open a season with consecutive clean sheets in a pair of wins.
“I think it’s a good start for sure,” said Revolution head coach Bruce Arena. “I think the opening game was certainly a difficult one in Charlotte so to start off with six points in two games is a positive.
“Generally, over the years, my teams struggle in the early going, not that anything is said and done at this point. But it is certainly a real plus to play two games and get six points.”
The Revolution opened the match with a slow deliberate strategy featuring excessive horizontal passes and methodical incursions up the pitch. The Dynamo took a more pressing northsouth approach with deep vertical passes to streakers on the wings.
The Dynamo were active ratcheting up the fouls count while referee Fotsis Bazakos issued first half yellow cards to defender Griffin Dorsey in the 18th minute, midfielder Coco Carrasquilla in the 22nd minute and goalkeeper Steve Clark in the 37th minute.
The Revolution went up 1-0 in 42nd minute on a marvelous collaboration that took shape in the back end. Carles Gil fed Brandon Bye on a deep run down the right flank.
Bye sent a cross into the penalty area to Wood, who heel-kicked the ball back to Dylan Borrero at the top of the box. Borrero cut laterally inside and unleashed a low laser that eluded Clark for the fourth goal of his MLS career.
“Dylan played well obviously and the first goal was a big goal in the game,” said Arena.
The Revolution went up 2-0 in the 53rd minute on another play set in motion by Gil, the definitive rainmaker of MLS. Gil made a long deadeye lateral pass to DeJuan Jones, who was blitzing the left flank. Jones made a clean feed to Wood, who redirected it into the Houston cage.
“I thought Houston came out in the second half and put a lot of pressure on us,” said Arena. “We absorbed that and then we had a little bit of a counter attack with the combination play.
“It was a really good job by Carles keeping possession and tuning a couple of players and getting the ball to DeJuan.”
Bye made it 3-0 in the 65th minute with assists award to Borrero and Blessing. The tally was the eighth of Bye’s career.
“Brandon was a little hesitant in the first half and it took him 35 minutes to really get forward,” said
Arena. “Once he got forward at the end of the half and he made some things happen.
“We told him at halftime that we needed him getting higher up in the attack and he did.”