Tonight the New England Revolution take on D.C. United at Audi Field in an MLS regular season match. Here is our match preview which sets the table for tonight’s match.
What: MLS Regular Season Match
Who: New England Revolution vs. D.C. United
Where: Audi Field
When: Tuesday August 25th 2020 7:00 p.m.
How: NBC Sports Boston and 98.5 The Sports Hub
I will be liveblogging the match below with the Starting XI, key events, and insights. Follow along here or on Twitter @TannerRebelo.
Pre-Match Notes:
Revs Starting XI: Matt Turner, Andrew Farrell, Henry Kessler, Gustavo Bou, Matthew Polster, Adam Buksa, Teal Bunbury, Brandon Bye, Alex Buttner, Cristian Penilla
Revs Bench: Brad Knighton, Tajon Buchanan, Scott Caldwell, Diego Fagundez, DeJuan Jones, Michael Mancienne, Justin Rennicks, Seth Sinovic
Once again defender Antonio Delamea is not on the match-day roster and is not listed on the teams injury report. No changes to the Starting XI from last Thursday’s 0-0 draw with the Union. That means a lot of squad rotation is likely to take place on Saturday when the Revolution host the New York Red Bulls.
Both newcomers, Kekuta Manneh and Tommy McNamara are not eligible yet to be with the team due to MLS’s 10-day quarantine period. Both could make their Revs debuts on Saturday.
D.C. United Starting XI: Flores, Kamara, Mora, Gressel, Paredes, Moreno, Felipe, Birnbaum, Pines, Canouse, Hamid
D.C. United Bench: Abu, Asad, Brillant, Higuain, Segura, Seitz, Sjuberg, Sorga, Yow
First Half notes:
1′ We are off, D.C. with a dangerous look a few seconds in
3′ Matt Turner bails out Andrew Farrell with an incredible block on Kamara. Farrell in a Delamesque move turned the ball right over. Right before it Penilla had a chance at net but it didn’t result in anything.
6′ It has been all D.C. early on here
8′ D.C. continues to be on the front foot, a very late off-sides call. This start has been an absolute disaster. So so bad, can’t remember this team looking worse since the departure of BF last May.
16′ D.C. forced to make an early sub with Frederic Brilliant coming on for Canouse
18′ Revolution need to be way more aggressive in the final third and smarter with their decision making
19′ Starting to rain in D.C., just as Bou crosses to Adam Buksa who is just off-sides. Best the offense has looked thus far.
20′ Teal Bunbury taken down by Mora by a late challenge, should have been a yellow card
22′ Finally with some sustained offensive zone possession, result is Gustavo Bou getting a deflected shot off that is saved by Bill Hamid
24′ Such a sloppy match thus far for the Revolution
25′ Bou with the pass and go with Rowe and his shot is just wide, best look of the night
26′ Gustavo Bou with a long-range goal from outside the box, beating Bill Hamid at the near post 1-0 Revs. First Revolution goal in over 330 minutes.
32′ Looks like a weather delay is incoming to D.C. 30 minute min due to thunderstorms in the area. Weather service has a warning until 8 pm.
Some thoughts from the match thus far…
Passing has been sloppy and the defense has been leaky. Matt Turner has come up big a handful of times and so has rookie Henry Kessler. In the last ten or so minutes the Revolution were able to get more offensive zone time and created a handful of chances. While the service on the corner from Kelyn Rowe was disastrous, Gustavo Bou getting a goal is pivotal. Bou is a natural goal scorer and with one there is usually more on tap.
New England entering this weather delay with a 1-0 lead is critical as we do not know how long this delay will last and the whole momentum and pace of the game is a complete unknown once play resumes. This is now New England’s match to lose. The Revolution have been well below average in maintaining leads and this match is a great test for the team.
We will return to our live coverage once the match resumes and will provide updates here.
Update: Looks like an 8:30 p.m. restart for the moment.
32′ We are back
37′ Another poor service from Rowe but Bunbury keeps the play in, finds Rowe whose shot to the far corner is saved by the kick
38′ Teal Bunbury with a goal. Ball in off a corner from Buttner and a veteran header from Teal, 2-0 Revs. In seven appearances, five starts, Bunbury now has two goals on the MLS season. This is Buttner’s first assist in MLS.
43′ This is the first time the Revolution have scored two goals in a regular season match since 9/29/19 against NYCFC
HT: Revs take a 2-0 lead into the half. Rather rough start to the match but were able to work into the match as Gustavo got more involved in the match. Bou goal heading into the rain delay was huge and then the goal off the corner from Bunbury following the delay was even bigger.
Stats Overload:
- Bou had two chances created, Bye and Rowe 1. Revolution had four total chances to D.C’s three
- Bou had three shots attempted, all on target, Bunbury had one shot which was on target
- Henry Kessler completed a match-high 29 passes, on 38 attempts. Matt Polster had 28 passes on 31 attempts
- Rowe was 1/3 on corners, Buttner 1/1
- Penilla was 10/12 in final third passes, Bou 7/9, Bunbury 7/8
- Polster had four interceptions, Bye three
- Revs had an 81.2% passing accuracy and 51.2% possession
- Buksa was nowhere to be found with just four passes, three on target and just five total touches. Yikes…. Not what you want from your DP forward in 45 minutes of action.
Second Half
46′ We are back….
47′ Buksa finally gets into the match, Bunbury finds Buksa who lays up for Brandon Bye whose shot is wide by a mile
48′ Layout save by Matt Turner
58′ Segura on for Flores with DC making their second sub. Flores took a hit to the head with a collision with Buttner. Asad on for Mora
61′ Penilla with a great ball to Buksa who didn’t look confident with the ball and duffed it.
68′ Caldwell on for Rowe for the first sub of the night for the Revolution
68′ Matt Turner with a big save off a D.C. United corner kick
69′ Into a video review with what appears to be a Buttner hand-ball. looks like a penalty
71′ Penalty given
72′ D.C. United cuts the lead in half with Ola Kamara scoring on a penalty kick to make it 2-1
76′ Matt Turner with a dime of a pass to Bou on the side who finds Buksa in the center to earn a corner kick
83′ Red Card handed out to Caldwell, Revs dropping down to 10 men. Took the brunt of the challenge with Felipe. Harsh red card, anyone who knows Caldwell knows that it wasn’t intentional
85′ Diego on for Bou
90′ Higuain in for Brillant
10 minutes of stoppage time…..
Matt Turner with a fantastic save
Tajon Buchanan and DeJuan Jones on for Buttner and Penilla
Adam Buksa with a yellow card just before the halfway mark of stoppage time
Buksa showing fight, burned time and laid off for a good shot by Buchanan
FT; Revolution win 2-1, move to 2-2-4 on the 2020 MLS season
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