Late goal dooms Revolution
Fall 1-0 at CF Montreal
CF Montreal defender George Campbell scored in the 86th minute to secure a 1-0 victory over the New England Revolution on Saturday night at Stade Saputo in Montreal.
The setback dropped the Revolution (12-5-7) into a second-place tie with Philadelphia in the Eastern Conference. The free-for-all in Montreal was the first of three games in eight days for the Revolution.
“We are disappointed and we could have walked away with a point,” said interim head coach Richie Williams. “We just weren’t great in the final third all night long.
“We had a breakdown at the end and it was unfortunate, but I thought they put a good effort in.”
The Revolution begin a two game homestand against Red Bulls New York on Wednesday and Austin FC on Saturday at Gillette Stadium.
“We are hoping to get (injured) players back for the next couple of games back home,” said Williams. “We need to get better from this and get home with our fans in our stadium and get two wins in the next two games.”
Williams was the Revolution’s field manager of record in his first MLS match of the season and third in all-competitions since replacing Bruce Arena on Aug 1. Arena remains on indefinite administrative leave pending an investigation by MLS for making “insensitive and inappropriate remarks.”
Revolution Technical Director and acting Sporting Director Curt Onalfo orchestrated three significant player personnel transactions on Saturday and all involved goalkeepers.
The Revolution finalized the transfer of MLS All-Star
goalkeeper Djordje Petrovic of Serbia to Chelsea FC of the English Premier League for a reported fee of $18 million.
Onalfo used the freed-up international roster spot to sign goalkeeper Tomas Vaclik, 34, of the Czech Republic through the 2024 season. The Revs also tendered a contract extension to backup keeper Earl Edwards Jr. through 2024 and an option in 2025. Edwards made his second MLS start of the season against Montreal.
“I thought Earl had a good game and we are always evaluating our players,”
said Williams. “We will continue to put the best team on the field to win games.”
The Revolution were playing their first MLS match since July 15 and against all-competitions since Aug. 7. Williams elected to employ Giacomo Vrioni as the lone striker in a 4-2-3-1. Revs’ striker Gustavo Bou suffered a left injury in League Cup play and is our for four weeks.
Revolution midfielder Matt Polster picked up a smart yellow card in the 25th minute when he hauled down Bryce Duke
before he could break in on Edwards. Revs playmaker Carles Gil created a pair of scoring chance for himself inside the 30-minute mark but failed convert.
Williams tried to jumpstart the offense in the 61st minute when he subbed in Emmauel Boateng and Tomas Chancalay, who made his Revs’ debut. Striker Bobby Wood came in for Vrioni in the 72nd minute. Montreal dominated the game down the stretch.
The Revolution plastered CF Montreal 4-0 at Gillette on April 8.