MLS New England Revolution

Revolution Advance to Quarterfinal Round of the 2024 Concacaf Champions Cup with 1-1 Draw in Leg 2 at Alajuelense

Published on March 14, 2024 under Major League Soccer (MLS)
New England Revolution News Release


ALAJUELA, Costa Rica - The New England Revolution secured a 1-1 result against LD Alajuelense in Leg 2 of the 2024 Concacaf Champions Cup Round of 16 at Estadio Alejandro Morera Soto Costa Rica, winning the series 5-1 on aggregate. New England advances to the Quarterfinal Round of the continental tournament for the second time in three years, where it will face the current top-ranked club in Concacaf and the defending LIGA MX champions, Club América, to battle for a semifinal berth in the continental tournament.

New England, carrying a four-goal advantage into Thursday's second-leg away match, eliminated LD Alajuelense from the Champions Cup for the first time in three meetings. Tonight's 1-1 draw gives New England an unbeaten 3-0-1 record in the tournament, where it is outscoring opponents 9-1, while the club's record against Central American opponents moves to 4-2-2.

Alajuelense's Carlos Mora opened the scoring in the fourth minute, but the Revolution then settled into the match and limited the host's scoring chances for much of the night. Goalkeeper Henrich Ravas started his seventh game of the season and made five saves. Alajuelense's early goal was the only score conceded by New England through 360 minutes of action in the tournament thus far.

With New England trailing by a goal in the second half, forward Giacomo Vrioni provided a spark off the bench and delivered his first goal of the 2024 season in the 81st minute, assisted by Esmir Bajraktarević. Vrioni now has one goal and two assists in three Champions Cup appearances this year.

Midfielder Matt Polster donned the captain's armband for the Revolution and completed 98 percent of his passes in his 125th appearance for the club across all competitions. Nacho Gil and Tomás Chancalay each made their fourth starts of the tournament, with the latter recording two shots on target in his 57-minute shift.

The Quarterfinal Round series with Club América is set to begin in the first week of April, with schedule details set to be announced by Concacaf soon. Meanwhile, the Revolution return to MLS action at home this Sunday, March 17 against reigning Supporters' Shield winners FC Cincinnati. The 2:00 p.m. ET kickoff at Gillette Stadium, and every MLS match this weekend, is available to watch free on Apple TV in English and Spanish. Listen to the Revolution's local radio calls on 98.5 The Sports Hub (WBZ-FM) or 1260 AM "Nossa Radio USA" in Portuguese.

TEAM NOTES

* New England advances to the Quarterfinal Round of the Concacaf Champions Cup for the second time in three years, where they will meet the reigning champions of LIGA MX, Club América, for the first time. * Through four games in the 2024 Concacaf Champions Cup, the Revolution are 3-0-1 and have outscored their opponents 9-1. * The Revolution are now 5-5-2 in 12 all-time Concacaf Champions Cup matches, while the team's record against Central American opponents stands at 4-2-2. * New England moves to 2-2-2 against LD Alajuelense, advancing past the Costa Rican club in this competition for the first time in three meetings (2003 and 2006).

PLAYER NOTES

* F Giacomo Vrioni appeared as a substitute and sealed the tie with his first goal of 2024 in the 81st minute, his 11th tally with the club. * Vrioni, the sixth Revolution player to score in this year's Champions Cup, now has one goal and two assists in the competition. * M Esmir Bajraktarević logged the assist on Vrioni's equalizer, giving him one goal and one assist in Champions Cup. * M Matt Polster wore the captain's armband and played 83 minutes in his fourth start of the Champions Cup campaign, his seventh start in as many games overall to begin the year. Polster completed 98 percent of his pass attempts on the night.

GAME CAPSULE

LD Alajuelense 1, New England Revolution 1

New England wins series 5-1 on aggregate

March 14, 2024 - Estadio Alejandro Morera Soto (Alajuela, Costa Rica)

Referee: Cesar Ramos (Mexico)

Assistant Referee: Alberto Morin (Mexico)

Assistant Referee: Marco Bisguerra (Mexico)

Fourth Official: Fernando Guerrero (Mexico)

Video Assistant Referee: Guillermo Pacheco (Mexico)

Assistant Video Assistant Referee: Erick Miranda (Mexico)

Weather: 80 degrees and partly cloudy

Attendance: 7,280

Scoring Summary:

LDA - Carlos Mora (Unassisted) 4'

NE - Giacomo Vrioni (Esmir Bajraktarević) 81'

Misconduct Summary:

LDA - Manjrekar James (Yellow Card - Hard Foul) 79'

New England Revolution: Henrich Ravas; Ryan Spaulding, Henry Kessler (Dave Romney 46') Jonathan Mensah, Andrew Farrell; Noel Buck (Mark-Anthony Kaye 57'), Matt Polster © (Tommy McNamara 84') Ian Harkes; Esmir Bajraktarević (Emmanuel Boateng 82'), Tomás Chancalay (Giacomo Vrioni 57'), Nacho Gil

Substitutes Not Used: Earl Edwards Jr., Jacob Jackson, Nick Lima, Jack Panayotou, DeJuan Jones, Santiago Suarez

LD Alajuelense: Leonel Moreira; Alexis Gamboa, Manjrekar James, Guillermo Villalobos (Yael Lopez 55'); Celso Borges ©, Diego Campos (Jonathan Moya 55'), Carlos Mora, Kevin Cabezas, Ian Lawrence (Suhander Zuñiga 55'); Johan Venegas (Anthony Hernandez 67'), Joel Campbell (Aaron Suarez)

Substitutes Not Used: Bayron Mora, Duarte, Carlos Martinez, Edward Cedeño, Juan Luis Perez, Michael Barrantes, Fernando Lesme

LD Alajuelense

Team Statistics

New England Revolution

12 (5)

Shots (on Target)

4 (3)

3

Saves

5

9

Corner Kicks

4

2

Offsides

0

9

Fouls

7

459 (80.2%)

Passes Attempted (% Completed)

477 (88.5%)

50%

Possession (%)

50%

Revolution Head Coach Caleb Porter

On advancing in the 2024 Concacaf Champions Cup:

Porter:

"Yeah, we're very pleased to advance in this prestigious tournament with a lot of stake, five-million-

dollar purse, a bid into the [FIFA] Club World Cup. It's a massive tournament and it's important to us, and

you can see that in the four games we played. We knew playing Alajuelense, it was going to be a tough

game. They have good players. We felt after the last game that with a new coach, they would be much

improved. You get that little bounce, for sure, after a change in the coach, and they came out flying, which

we knew that they would throw everything at us, and then they get an early goal. I've been in a lot of different

environments, domestically and internationally, and honestly, I know at the start of the match the crowd

wasn't maybe full, but honestly, one of the best environments I've been in. The supporters here are

incredible. They cheer on every play and they chant all game, and it was a great experience for our guys

to come on the road in this type of environment. And then to go down a goal and to be able to kind of

compose ourselves and bend but not break, and I felt we were very professional after we gave up the goal.

We got on the ball. We composed ourselves. We started to get control of the match with the ball and I think

we played the game at a really good tempo, slowed it when we needed to and did all the things you need

to do to win a football match. So, I'm very pleased with the result, to come on the road and get a draw

obviously

advance with a pretty comfortable lead in the aggregate against a very good team."

On what he noticed about LD Alajuelense tonight in comparison to the first match:

Porter:

"Yeah, they had more fight, more spirit, for me, and much better defensively. We felt in the first leg

that they'd have a lot of the ball, but that they would give up a lot of transition goals, and I think that came

true in the first leg. But today, they were much more organized, much more balanced, and I think had more

fighting spirit."

On if there was concern after going down a goal in the fourth minute:

Porter:

"Listen, there's always concern in every match, because I've seen it all and I've seen a lot of teams

that give up an early goal like that, that crumble, and I couldn't be more proud of our guys that we didn't,

that we composed ourselves. We stayed mentally strong, we stayed organized, we stuck with the game

plan. And it was a very, very professional performance overall, like I said, to come in in a really good

environment like this and then they get early goal and get the crowd in the game and our guys didn't get

rattled. So, we'll draw on this experience and the positives from it,

for sure."

On Giacomo Vrioni and the rotation of the lineup:

Porter:

"Yeah, so we had a plan coming into this game knowing that we're behind in the league and that

Sunday game is really important too. We felt it was important, up 4-0 in the aggregate, to rotate so that

we're not only fresh in this game, but also now we're fresh for Sunday. So, we had a plan of always starting

Tomás [Chancalay] and bringing on Giacomo [Vrioni], just so we'd get a good push out of each guy, and

then now for Sunday, we're fresh. We did the same thing with [Henry] Kessler and [Dave] Romney. We did

that with [Mark-Anthony] Kaye coming into the game as well. So obviously, we rotated [Ryan] Spaulding

and [Andrew] Farrell in at outside back, so couldn't have gone any better. For us to actually get a result and

not just hang on, because I've seen this game go two, three to zero, and then you hang on and then it

doesn't feel good, right? Even though you advance, you feel nervy and you don't gain as much confidence

from the experience. So, I think we gained by getting the result and dealing with the pressure of it, and now

we're fresh for Sunday. This Sunday game is massively important, so now we've got a group that's fresh

for the first time."

On Henrich Ravas:

Porter:

"I thought [Henrich] Ravas was excellent. I thought he had a really good game. He looked confident

and even on the goal that he gave up, he had a great save. Nothing he can do about that bang-bang kind

of play on the rebound. But I thought he looked really composed with his feet playing out, but also just

managing all the moments they had in the box. We knew they would throw numbers forward. We knew they

would throw the kitchen sink at us and get a ton of crosses in and I thought he and the back four, the entire

back four, were excellent today. I thought Jonah Mensah looked like a man, a guy that's experienced. He's

played two World Cups. You could see his experience, and for me, he was for sure one of the best players

today and he had to be in this type of game."

On the opportunity to face Club América in the quarterfinals:

Porter:

"Yeah, obviously, we're aware that our next opponent is one of the best teams in the continent,

and can compete in the world with the best teams. With a big budget, huge talent, massive fan support, it's

a great opportunity for our club to play against a team with the caliber of that. We're focused on the league

right now. We've got a game in two days that we need to win at home, but for sure, we'll start to think about

and look at and scout Club América here once that game is done."

Revolution Forward Giacomo Vrioni

On the result and advancing in the Concacaf Champions Cup:

Translated from Spanish:

Vrioni:

"We're happy because overall this wasn't easy today. The fans made a lot of noise supporting their

team. We stayed composed and we're happy to continue advancing."

On scoring his first goal of the season:

Vrioni:

"Now happy. Happy, finally. Now, [it's] nothing now. We have to be focused because suddenly we

have an important game [on Sunday]."

On taking advantage of the 4-0 lead entering the second leg:

Vrioni:

"Our mentality was coming here and make our game, be solid on the field and the defense and try

to find a goal, and this is what we did. We were composed, definitely very strong, and at the end, we find

the goal to close the match."

On meeting Club América in the Quarterfinal Round:

Vrioni:

"Another beautiful game. We are looking forward to playing against them, but nothing now. Like

what I said before, we are focused on Sunday, because it is an important game on Sunday against

Cincinnati."

On what the team can expect from Club América:

Translated from Spanish:

Vrioni:

"The history tells us that it will be a difficult game, like all of them. But we want to advance in the

tournament, because we want to win it.

"

On how the Revolution have progressed through the first seven games of the season:

Translated from Spanish:

Vrioni:

"We're showing it every day in training and matches. In the end, we will see where we can go. The

mentality has to be that we have to work hard."

Revolution Defender Ryan Spaulding

On the approach to this second leg:

Spaulding:

"It was a tough environment to come into. We knew that when we got here and we just knew

we had to come in and do the job, and I thought we did that well."

On facing Club America in the Quarterfinal Round:

Spaulding:

"Of course, Club America is a great team, a historic team. I think we are going to just take it a

game at a time. We're going to look at film like we usually do from any team and just make our game plan

from there."

On his mindset making his first start of the season:

Spaulding:

"My approach was really it was just a next-man-up mentality. I had a chance to go out there

and prove why I deserve to get some minutes and just listen to what coach was telling me. I just went out

there and worked hard for the boys and I was happy we got t

he result to go through."

On the team's approach with a four-goal advantage heading into Leg 2:

Spaulding:

"Honestly, it was more just we were going to go out there and we were going to play to win,

because we knew if we got a win or a tie, we were through. It wasn't really a 'let's protect what we have'.

We were just like, let's go out on the front foot and try to get a result."

Check out the New England Revolution Statistics

Share: Facebook | Twitter/X | LinkedIn | Reddit | Email



Major League Soccer Stories from March 14, 2024


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

OurSports Central