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MLS New England Revolution

Revolution Battle Columbus Crew to 1-1 Draw

September 18, 2021 - Major League Soccer (MLS)
New England Revolution News Release


FOXBOROUGH, Mass. - The New England Revolution (17-4-5; 56 pts.) battled the Columbus Crew (8-11-7; 31 pts.) to a 1-1 draw at Gillette Stadium on Saturday night. The Crew's Gyasi Zardes netted the opening goal of the night in the 58th minute. Four minutes later, Revolution forward Adam Buksa delivered the equalizer on an unassisted left-footed strike from the center of the box.

The Revolution's home record shifts to 10-1-2, as New England is an unbeaten 6-0-1 over its last seven contests at Gillette Stadium. With 59 points through 26 games, New England is now only three points shy of matching the club's record for points in a single season (59).

Buksa's goal was the Polish strikers' 11th of the season - tied for seventh in MLS and second on the team behind Gustavo Bou's 12 tallies. Including his three appearances for Poland in the FIFA World Cup Qualifiers, the forward has now scored five goals over his last five games. Buksa led New England's attack, which matched the club's all-time single-game record of 33 shots, with a career-high 11 shots in tonight's match.

Midfielder Carles Gil registered his third consecutive appearance and his first start since July 31. Gil played the full 90 minutes, surpassing 5,000 minutes played for his MLS career, and logged a game-high 10 key passes, which matches his season high. Meanwhile, Bou tallied six shots in his return to action after missing the last two matches with an injury.

Prior to Saturday's match, the Revolution honored defender Andrew Farrell with a pregame ceremony for becoming the club's leader in appearances, starts, and minutes played earlier this summer. Farrell, who wore the captain's armband and maintained his position as the MLS leader in minutes played, completed 59 of 60 passes along with four clearances and two interceptions.

New England will travel to Soldier Field to visit Chicago Fire FC next Wednesday, September 22, in a rematch of the season opener. The match kicks off at 8:00 p.m. ET on WSBK-TV38, myRITV, CoziTV, 98.5 The Sports Hub, and 1260 AM Nossa Radio.

POSTGAME NOTES

New England Revolution 1, Columbus Crew 1

September 18, 2021 - Gillette Stadium (Foxborough, Mass.)

Team Notes:

The New England Revolution played to a 1-1 draw with the Columbus Crew on Saturday night at Gillette Stadium, moving their record to 17-4-5 (56 pts.) on the season, including a 10-1-2 mark at home.

The Revolution's 2.15 points per game through 26 matches keep the team on pace to challenge the MLS single-season points record (72 - LAFC, 2019) as well as the MLS points-per-game record (2.13 - LA Galaxy, 1998).

New England's 56 points are now the second most in club history, three away from the team record of 59 (2005) with eight games remaining.

New England's home record shifts to 10-1-2 on the year with four home games remaining. The Revolution, unbeaten over their last seven home games, remain two wins shy of matching the club record of 12 home victories, set in 2017 (12-2-3).

New England's 33 shots match the club's single-game record, set on July 19, 2019 vs. Vancouver.

The Revolution took 14 corner kicks on the night, two shy equaling the club record set on Sept. 25, 2019 at Portland.

Bruce Arena deployed a starting lineup featuring four changes from last Saturday's match against New York City FC, as Tajon Buchanan, Carles Gil, Gustavo Bou, and Adam Buksa start in place of Wilfrid Kaptoum, Emmanuel Boateng, Teal Bunbury, and Edward Kizza.

Individual Notes:

Adam Buksa scored his 11th goal of the season, moving him into a tie for seventh in MLS this season and second most on the team. Buksa also set a career high with 11 shots on the night, including three on target, and added five aerial duels won to his MLS-high total.

Carles Gil played 90 minutes and set a season high with 10 chances created on the night - two shy of matching his career high - while adding three shots.

Gil is the only Revolution player ever to record 10 chances created in a match. He has now done so three times, including his own club record of 12 chances created set on July 10, 2020 vs. Montreal.

Tajon Buchanan matched his career high with seven shots in Saturday's contest to go along with three key passes and three tackles.

DeJuan Jones tied a career high with four chances created and recorded team highs in interceptions (2), tackles (5), and duels won (8).

Andrew Farrell, honored in a pregame ceremony for setting club records for appearances, starts, and minutes played, marked the occasion with team highs in clearances (4) and interceptions (2) and by complete 59 of his 60 passes.

Gustavo Bou recorded six shots, four of which were blocked, and added two key passes.

Teal Bunbury played eight minutes off the bench, recording two shots and two key passes. The appearance was his 314th in MLS play, tied for seventh most among active players.

GAME CAPSULE

Referee: Allen Chapman

Assistant Referees: Andrew Bigelow (AR1); Gjovalin Bori (AR2)

Fourth Official: Robert Sibiga

Video Assistant Referee: Rosendo Mendoza

Weather: 73 degrees and clear

Attendance: 19,004

Scoring Summary:

CLB - Gyasi Zardes 5 (Harrison Afful 2, Darlington Nagbe 1) 58'

NE - Adam Buksa 11 (Unassisted) 62'

Misconduct Summary:

CLB - Saad Abdul-Salaam (Yellow Card - Bad Foul) 65'

CLB - Isaiah Parente (Yellow Card - Bad Foul) 77'

New England Revolution: Matt Turner; DeJuan Jones, Henry Kessler, Andrew Farrell ©, Brandon Bye; Matt Polster, Tommy McNamara (Arnór Traustason 82'), Tajon Buchanan, Carles Gil; Gustavo Bou (Teal Bunbury 82'), Adam Buksa

Substitutes Not Used: Brad Knighton, Earl Edwards Jr., A.J. DeLaGarza, Christian Mafla, Wilfrid Kaptoum, Scott Caldwell, Edward Kizza

Columbus Crew: Eloy Room; Josh Williams, Jonathan Mensah ©, Milton Valenzuela (Harrison Afful 45'), Saad Abdul-Salaam; Darlington Nagbe, Marlon Hairston (Liam Fraser 75'), Alexandru Matan (Erik Hurtado 61'), Derrick Etienne Jr.; Gyasi Zardes, Miguel Berry (Isaiah Parente 70')

Substitutes Not Used: Evan Bush, Vito Wormgoor, Aboubacar Keita, Grant Lillard, Bradley Wright-Phillips

New England Revolution Team Statistics Columbus Crew

33 (7) Shots (on Target) 6 (2)

8 Blocked Shots 2

1 Saves 7

14 Corner Kicks 2

0 Offsides 1

2 Fouls 10

541 (89.3%) Passes Attempted (% Completed) 357 (80.1%)

61.4% Possession 38.6%

POSTGAME QUOTES: New England Revolution 1 vs. Columbus Crew 1

Revolution Sporting Director & Head Coach Bruce Arena

On how frustrating it was not to convert the scoring chances into a second goal:

Arena: "Yeah, that's a game we should win. No question about it. Yeah, that should have been a three-zero game."

On what can be done to rectify the inability to finish tonight:

Arena: "What would you suggest? Tell them to shoot on goal? That's a starting point."

On if he was happy with the team's decision-making tonight:

Arena: "There was a lot of good decisions. Some poor decisions. We just wasted our chances. We did a sloppy job on their goal. Give [Gyasi] Zardes credit for finishing it. There's some mistakes there that our players made tonight, that we talk about all year. This is a good - I wouldn't call it a wake-up call - it's a good lesson for them, because all these little things we have to get right, if we want to be a team in the postseason that can win games. So tonight, our players know, and they'll be reminded again tomorrow, some of the things they need to do better. And if we did those little things better today, we would've won the game."

On the decision to let Andrew Farrell wear the captain's armband tonight:

Arena: "That was Carles [Gil]'s decision. I certainly supported it."

On Carles Gil playing 90 minutes:

Arena: "Well, we kind of eased him in some ways - 25 minutes, 45 minutes, 90 minutes. He didn't seem like he really tired. He played a pretty good game. I'm sure he's going to feel it over the next couple of days. But, you know, he's got to get on the field and play. In our sport, basically, the best way to get fit is play 90 minutes. So, that mission's accomplished."

On his relationship with Andrew Farrell:

Arena: "He's a first-class guy. He's really a bright guy, articulate, a real team player, bilingual. He helps us with our Spanish-speaking players, which is wonderful as well. But just a guy that comes into work every day, does a real good job, has a great attitude, great approach. His family is wonderful. It's just nice to see that good people like that, who work hard and are good, honest people, get rewarded. I don't know exactly how many years he's been here with the Revolution, but it's been a wonderful run for him. And to see him get recognized for it is really nice."

On Gustavo Bou's performance and the status of Emmanuel Boateng:

Arena: "First of all, the injury part, we never know, how these guys come back from a muscle injury. So, we anticipate he [Emmanuel Boateng] could be ready for Chicago, but who knows. We'll worry about that as we get into the week. Gustavo [Bou] did fine tonight. We need to get him back on the field playing regular minutes and continuing to fit in with the group."

On if this is his preferred starting lineup for the playoffs:

Arena: "I haven't given that a thought at this point in time. The playoffs are two months away. Two months away. I'm thinking about the game in Chicago, not our playoff game, to be honest with you. I have no idea how to answer that question, to be honest with you."

Revolution Defender Brandon Bye

On the number of quality chances:

Bye: "Yeah, I think everybody had chances tonight, guys that need to step up and that's the way it goes sometimes. Wishing I would have put that one in the last 10 seconds of the game away. But it happens, and we just have to be cleaner next time."

On the team's mindset being frustrated whenever they drop points at home:

Bye: "Yeah, I think every game we look to win and that's the way it is. Anytime we drop points is a little bit disappointing. The positive is that we created a lot of chances tonight. I think that's going to bode well for us down the road."

On what positives he can take away from the game:

Bye: "The amount of chances we created. I thought we were pretty good in possession. But yeah, at the end of the day, we all wish we would have buried one of those chances or someone would have come up big at the end of the game. It is what it is."

On if there is something the team can do to bury those chances the next time:

Bye: "No, I don't think it's anything specific. I think it is what it is. I think the positives are that we created those chances, and that's what we'll look at, for sure."

On if the approach changed after Eloy Room suffered an injury late in the match:

Bye: "Maybe a little bit. But yeah, that was tough to deal with. But again, I think it's just you know, bombard them as much as possible and hope to crack through."

On if this game had similarities to the game at Columbus on July 3:

Bye: "Yeah, I think they might have played similarly in this game. I think they're a good team, so at the end of the day, it's tough to break them down, tough to break their backline down. Their goal was good. Again, we created a lot of chances tonight, and I think that's the positive."

On what Andrew Farrell means to the team inside the locker room:

Bye: "Farrell is amazing. A guy that comes in every day, works hard. A guy that I've looked up to, that younger guys look up to. A guy that I've played the majority of my games next to. A great guy - great guy on and off the field. So yeah, it's special for him, and we keep congratulating him obviously, but no, it's awesome."

Revolution Midfielder Tommy McNamara

On Saturday's result:

McNamara: "It was a very frustrating night not to come away with three points. We played well up until the final pass or the final moment and couldn't get the second goal. We just weren't quite sharp enough, it is what it is. These things happen. Better to happen now than if we make the playoffs, then in the playoffs. But yeah, it's definitely frustrating not to get three points."

On if the team understands that nights like this happen:

McNamara: "I mean, yeah. But at the same time, we want to be the best we can be, be the best version of ourselves. Tonight, it wasn't good enough, we weren't sharp enough to find the second goal and we only gave up two chances and they've scored one goal. That's not good enough either. It is what it is. We walk away with one point when we should have come away three, so we're pretty frustrated and disappointed."

On taking away positives from Saturday's match:

McNamara: "Yeah, I think we did a really good job to limit their chances but then we let them have two really good chances. But other than those two, we did a really good job against their counter attack in terms of stuffing it out, winning balls, winning second balls. I thought we did a really good job of building the play and getting into very dangerous areas on the pitch either down to the end line or one-on-one situations or combining into the box, and we got into the ball pretty easily. We were able to progress the ball into really, really good spots where we can hurt teams but ultimately then didn't hurt them in the end."

On if you can chalk up Saturday's match to a bad night:

McNamara: "No, it's just about being focused and concentrated and being in the moment. Sometimes these things happen. Of course, like I said it's better to happen now then if we get into the playoffs or when we get into the playoffs to happen in a playoff game. So, we just need to make sure that we're prepared to be ruthless in these games and in this final end of the season where teams are desperate, desperate, desperate for points and into the playoffs you need to be ruthless. When you get chances, you need to take them and you need to put the game away when you have them, and on the flip side, you can't give nothing away and so it's a lesson for us to be ruthless in moments."

On missed opportunities:

McNamara: "Yeah, I'm not sure, could be any number of reasons and I'm sure it's not just one reason covers all of them. So, I'm not sure, it was a bad night. I think everybody needs to reflect on it themselves and kind of figure it out and you know we move forward; we prepare for Chicago now and hopefully we're much more clinical in front of net."

On the short turnaround to Chicago on Wednesday:

McNamara: "Yeah, we've done really well of so far this season when we've had negative results to bounce back and immediately kind of respond with three points and that's a credit and a testament to this team and this character that if we have a bad moment in a game and bad result, that we're able to quickly turn around, figure out how we can improve and be focused and ready for the next game to get three points. So, it's critical again. It's a short turnaround. Guys are going to be relied upon that maybe didn't play tonight. We need to make sure we bounce back and get three points in Chicago, a difficult team and a difficult place to place."

On the team's fitness and injuries:

McNamara: "Yeah, that might be part of it too, people coming back and being up for a little bit. The sharpness, it takes time to get back into the game and stuff. But it's critical as we go into this final stretch of the season that we have everybody healthy, available, fit, and in game rhythm, as we try to close out this season in a really good way and prepare ourselves for the playoffs to make a run. So yeah, it's very positive. I think we have a couple of injuries at the moment so hopefully they're pretty minor and we get those guys back pretty quickly and then, yeah, we have a full strength roster that's ready to go to see out this season in a really good way, in a good manner, and be very prepared for the playoffs."

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