Revolution unbeaten home run reaches 10
FOXBOROUGH — The Revolution are off to one of their best starts to a season, but Bruce Arena was far from satisfied after the Revolution took a 2-1 victory over Toronto FC Saturday night.
“I don’t know about Toronto, but we look affected tonight,” coach Bruce Arena said. “We didn’t play well. We’re fortunate to get 3 points. Toronto made us, I guess, earn the 3 points. I don’t know whether we earned them or not . . . We did not have a good night.”
The Revolution (10-3-6, 36 points) are 7-0-3 at Gillette Stadium, setting a team home unbeaten streak record to start the season before a crowd of 24,596. They also are 4 points behind the 2021 team’s record (12-3-4) after 20 games.
Bobby Wood and Giacomo Vrioni converted as the Revolution rallied from an early deficit to move into second place in the Eastern Conference. Toronto (3-7-10, 19 points), which played and lost on Wednesday night, started strong, but coach Bob Bradley replaced Federico Bernardeschi after halftime and used four other substitutes before the 71st minute.
Deandre Kerr’s back-post header opened the scoring in the 11th minute. C.J. Sapong and Lorenzo Insigne helped set it up, drawing the defense as Christian Gutierrez crossed, with Kerr outmaneuvering Ryan Spaulding to convert his third goal of the season.
Wood equalized with his seventh in the 33d minute, finishing low inside the right post off an Emmanuel Boateng cross headed on by Toronto defender Matt Hedges.
Vrioni broke the deadlock with a rightfooter in the 52d minute, his fourth goal of the season and first since a two-goal performance April 22. Carles Gil set things up with a long pass to Wood in the penalty area. Wood found Vrioni, who took two touches and finished past Greg Ranjitsingh.
Observations from Saturday’s game:
Defining moment: Gil’s ball from the halfway line to set up the deciding goal caught Wood in stride on the right side of the penalty area. It was among the few times Gil had time on the ball, and he capitalized with exceptional ability to deliver quickly and on target.
Difference-maker: Djordje Petrovic, returning from a stint with Serbia’s national team, stopped marquee TFC players Bernardeschi and Lorenzo Insigne, in the opening half. Then, Petrovic helped preserve the lead by batting away a Jahkeele Marshall-Rutty attempt in the 72d minute, Ryan Spaulding clearing Jordan Perruzza’s follow.
Tactical: Spaulding replaced DeJuan Jones (US national team) at left back in the Revolution’s 4-4-2 set-up, complementing the back line’s strong one-on-one defending. Spaulding struggled early, but did not back down, advancing on the left and combining with Boateng in setting up Wood’s goal. Arena made only two changes, Vrioni subbing for Gustavo Bou after halftime and scoring seven minutes later.
Statistical analysis: Toronto took 14 shots, including misses high by Bernardeschi and Insigne, and had 10 on goal.
“I wouldn’t say they were good looks,” Arena said. “If they had 10 shots on target and had one goal, they obviously weren’t good looks.”
Road ahead: The Revolution will take a six-game unbeaten streak (3-0-3) to league-leading FC Cincinnati next week, then visit the New York Red Bulls July 8.
What they said: “It’s a tough time around the league. The month of July is going to be crazy with the Gold Cup and the [Leagues Cup] that starts in July. You can see it’s affecting teams,” Arena said. “We’re like probably every team, just going to try and hang in there and try and collect points as we go.”