MLS New England Revolution

Revolution Battle Philadelphia Union to 1-1 Draw

Published on May 12, 2021 under Major League Soccer (MLS)
New England Revolution News Release


CHESTER, Pa. - The New England Revolution (2-1-2; 8 pts.) battled the Philadelphia Union (1-2-2; 5 pts.) to a 1-1 draw at Subaru Park on Wednesday night. Forward Teal Bunbury opened his 2021 account with a go-ahead goal in the 85th minute, assisted by DeJuan Jones and Gustavo Bou. Philadelphia's Kacper Przybylko netted the equalizer on an unassisted header in the 88th minute to send both sides home with one point apiece.

Bunbury's goal, his 43rd in a Revolution uniform, gives the 12th-year forward sole possession of fourth place on the club's all-time goals scored list. The 85th-minute strike was latest goal scored by the Revolution this season. New England's away record shifts to 0-1-2 this season with tonight's result.

Tonight's match featured the MLS debut of 23-year-old defender Jon Bell, who logged a 90-minute performance in central defense alongside Andrew Farrell. Bell, the second Revolution II graduate to start and appear in a first-team match, finished tonight's game with team-highs in possessions gained (11) and clearances (5), in addition to two tackles and two interceptions. Meanwhile, Farrell collected his 244th regular season appearance for the Revs, surpassing Jay Heaps for fifth-most games played in club history. Fellow Revolution II product Maciel made his third consecutive start in the midfield and completed a game-high 49 passes in his first career 90-minute outing.

New England concludes a stretch of three matches in nine days on Sunday, May 16 when the Revolution host defending MLS Cup champions Columbus SC for a rematch of the 2020 Eastern Conference Final. Sunday's nationally televised match will kick off at 6:00 p.m. ET on ESPN2, 98.5 The Sports Hub, and in Portuguese on WBIX 1260 AM Nossa Radio USA.

POSTGAME NOTES

New England Revolution 1, Philadelphia Union 1

May 12, 2021 - Subaru Park (Chester, Penn.)

The New England Revolution battled the Philadelphia Union to a 1-1 draw on Wednesday night on the road at Subaru Park. Sporting Director and Head Coach Bruce Arena made three changes in the Starting XI from last Saturday's match at Nashville SC. Jon Bell, Brandon Bye, and Tommy McNamara started in place of Henry Kessler, Gustavo Bou, and Matt Polster. New England's all-time record against Philadelphia shifts to 6-17-7 with tonight's draw, including a 3-11-3 mark in the regular season at Subaru Park. Arena's away record with New England shifts to 8-7-8, while his regular season mark with the club moves to 18-11-18. Arena is now 6-4-5 all-time against the Union. Forward Teal Bunbury came on as a second-half substitute and netted his first goal of the 2021 season in the 85th minute. Bunbury's goal was the 43rd of his Revolution career, surpassing Steve Ralston for sole possession of fourth on the club's all-time goals scored list. The 12th-year MLS veteran owns 62 regular season goals in 295 MLS appearances. Defender DeJuan Jones registered his first assist of the season on Bunbury's goal. The assist was Jones' first since March 30, 2019, when the third-year defender made his first career MLS start in a 2-1 win over Minnesota. For the second straight game, Carles Gil (6) collected twice as many key passes as any other player on the pitch for either side. His four fouls won on the night were also twice the total of the next-highest player. Defender Jon Bell made his MLS and Revolution debuts tonight with a 90-minute performance in central defense. The 23-year-old became the second Revolution II graduate to start and appear in a first-team game. Bell finished with team-highs in possessions gained (11) and clearances (5), while adding two tackles and two interceptions. Defender Andrew Farrell made his 244th regular season appearance for the club, surpassing his former coach Jay Heaps for fifth all time in Revs regular season annals. Midfielder Maciel collected his third consecutive start in tonight's contest. The 21-year-old Brazilian midfielder successfully completed 49 of 55 pass attempts. His 49 successful passes were a game high. Midfielder Tajon Buchanan paced the Revolution with a team-best three shots in his 68-minute shift. Bunbury, Gustavo Bou, Matt Polster, Edward Kizza, and Henry Kessler were the substitutes in tonight's match as Bruce Arena made five substitutes for the second time this season. GAME CAPSULE

REFEREE: Tori Penso

AR1: Corey Rockwell AR2: Cameron Blanchard

4th Official: Silviu Petrescu

Video Assistant Referee: Tim Ford

Attendance: 5,000

Weather: 65 Degrees and Clear

Scoring Summary:

NE - Teal Bunbury 1 (DeJuan Jones 1, Gustavo Bou 1) 85'

PHI - Kacper Przybylko 1 (Unassisted) 88'

Misconduct Summary: PHI - Kai Wagner (Yellow Card) 34'

PHI - Jamiro Monteiro (Yellow Card) 53'

PHI - Kacper Przybylko (Yellow Card) 71'

NE - Brandon Bye (Yellow Card) 90+1'

New England Revolution: Matt Turner; DeJuan Jones (Henry Kessler 90'), Andrew Farrell, Jon Bell, Brandon Bye; Tommy McNamara (Matt Polster 79'), Maciel; Tajon Buchanan (Teal Bunbury 68'), Carles Gil ©, Arnór Traustason (Edward Kizza 79'); Adam Buksa (Gustavo Bou 68')

Substitutes Not Used: Brad Knighton, A.J. DeLaGarza, Wilfrid Kaptoum, Scott Caldwell

Philadelphia Union: Andre Blake; Jack Elliot, Jakob Glesnes, Olivier Mbaizo, Kai Wagner; Jamiro Monteiro, Alejandro Bedoya ©, Jack McGlynn (Anthony Fontana 59'), Leon Flach; Sergio Santos (Cory Burke 58'), Kacper Przybylko

Substitutes Not Used: Matt Freese, Matthew Real, Cole Turner, Nathan Harriel, Paxten Aaronson, Quinn Sullivan, Aurelien Collin

Philadelphia Union

Team Statistics

New England Revolution

14 (3)

Shots (on Target)

15 (5)

4

Blocked Shots

2

4

Saves

2

3

Corner Kicks

5

4

Offsides

1

13

Fouls

6

393 (75.1%)

Passes Attempted (% Completed)

398 (80.4%)

49.3%

Possession

50.7%

POSTGAME QUOTES

Revolution Sporting Director & Head Coach Bruce Arena

On his initial reaction to tonight's result:

Arena: "I thought we played tonight. We should have walked off the field with three points, and that's my conclusion on the game."

On his view of Philadelphia's goal and whether he felt Matt Turner was fouled on the play:

Arena: "Well, I haven't seen the replay. First of all, I thought this officiating crew was outstanding tonight, which I don't ever remember saying in an MLS game. The play at the end, I'd say nine out of 10 times that kind of contact on a goalkeeper is called a foul. I'd have to look at it. They did a VAR on that, I'd have to look at it. I didn't see. You're saying he took an elbow. I don't know. I just don't know. The VAR hasn't been real good for us this year, so I don't know what to say."

On Jon Bell's MLS debut:

Arena: "Jon's played very well for us. In preseason, he suffered a hamstring injury in our last preseason game in LA that put him back a little bit and we have been looking for an opportunity to get him on the field. Tonight was a good time and I think he took advantage of the opportunity. He played very well."

On if he is concerned about the team's lack of finishing:

Arena: "Well, you know, the positive part is we're creating chances. We were playing against a very good goalkeeper. I think guys are thinking they're going to be a little bit cleaner with their look at goal. But I'm not concerned. Tonight was a real good night against a real good team. We probably created, I would say, three or four real good goal scoring opportunities. Against Philadelphia, that's a real positive."

On Teal Bunbury's performance tonight:

Arena: "Obviously, it's a good performance. We need guys coming in at that point -- I think he came in around the 65th minute -- we needed a little energy. I thought [Tajon] Buchanan and Arnór [Traustason] played very well also. We wanted to get some fresh legs in there. That's why we brought in Gustavo [Bou] and Teal, and then [Edward] Kizza did a real good job as well coming into the game. I think our reserves played well. Overall, tonight was a real good performance by our team."

On deploying a 4-2-3-1 formation to start tonight's match:

Arena: "We played, in this game, three different formations. So again, I consistently tell you people that you get real hung up on formations. They are starting points. How the 10 field players move dictates your team's shape and it's just a starting point. Obviously, we can shift Carles [Gil] around in different spots. We can utilize other players differently. Just inside this one game tonight, we were playing 4-2-3-1, 4-4-2, and 3-4-1-2. So, we don't get real hung up on the formations. We just try to utilize the players we have as best we can and let them react off the starting points of those formations."

On shifting focus to Sunday's match against Columbus SC:

Arena: "Well, it'll be good to get back home. Columbus is the defending MLS Cup champion. We only saw them once last year. It'll be an interesting game. They've got a real quality team, in particular with their midfield. [Darlington] Nagbe and Artur I think are outstanding players. I think their playmaker [Lucas Zelerayan], I make a mess out of his name, their No. 10, is an outstanding player. Gyasi Zardes is one of the most dangerous goal scorers in the league. And then you bring [Jonathan] Mensah in, who was one of the top defenders in the league last year. So they're bringing in a really good team into Foxborough on Sunday and it'll really test us."

Revolution Defender Jon Bell

On making his MLS debut:

Bell: "You know, it's always hard when you're on the road, especially a team like Philadelphia Union, they're really the team. Our emphasis for the day was just come in and work hard from the first whistle. Being away, you're not going to get the certain calls that you want so we just had to defend first with the right mentality throughout the whole game, and we were able to do that. Unfortunately, that's what happens when you're away, you don't get the calls that you would usually get at home because that was a pretty debatable call at the ref made at the end. But other than that, I was just really blessed, to make my MLS debut. To be honest, I wasn't even nervous going out, I was just really anxious, really wanted to finally be able to get on the field so really happy for that."

On what he saw on Philadelphia's goal:

Bell: "Yeah, I just, I saw Matt [Turner] call and come out, call for keeper, so he went for it and I saw [Kacper Przybyłko] just collide with him with his elbow. It came at me so fast, I tried to head it out of the way, and it went up in the air. Then the second one, I unfortunately wasn't able to get my head on that one. I thought for sure the ref definitely saw the connection between Matt and [Przybyłko]. It's really just upsetting that ref didn't call that. I thought they would at least look at it with VAR. That's how it is when you're on the road."

On settling into the game:

Bell: "It's always great because it builds your confidence throughout the game, especially for me, being my first MLS debut. You always want to do the right things starting from the beginning of the game. So once you get one good interception or one defensive play, you just build a try to build on it. Getting those early touches in the game, winning the headers and stuff like that, it just builds my confidence to keep me going throughout the rest of the game."

On his relationship with Andrew Farrell:

Bell: "I think it was really great. Andrew [Farrell] is one the guys that when I first came in at preseason, he was really open to helping me a lot because he knows that I'm still learning center back and he's always a person that has always allowed me to ask some questions at practice and because we also got to play a lot together in preseason when we were in LA too. Our relationship with each other on the field just makes it even easier for us. And just that off-the-field a relationship as well just helps me a lot."

On starting alongside Maciel after they both featured for Revolution II last year:

Bell: "It's just really a blessing. That's the whole reason for Revolution II, for guys like us, that we can make that transition from the second team to the first team. For us to be both on the field at the same time and starting - Maciel already has got now three games under his belt - it's just a really great feeling for the both of us. I'm really happy for him because you know he's still excelling, he's still playing his game the way he played it at Revs II, so just a really great opportunity for both of us."

On how Revolution II prepared him for his MLS debut:

Bell: "I think [Revolution II] prepared me a lot from just the culture that Revs II has to what they teach us as players in development still. Especially for me because I was a new-found center back, so for me I had to learn even quicker. But for Revs II, they groomed me in a way that I think was the best way possible to set me up for this opportunity that I got. And I give all my thanks to the coaching staff as well because they really did an incredible job just helping me be myself and be comfortable and learning how to play out of the back, learning about the style the play that they want to have. Even as the Revs II season had gone on, they would tell me about how this is the stuff that will help you excel when you get to the next level. If you want to get to the next level, these are the steps that you have to learn to get there so I'm really grateful for them."

Revolution Midfielder Arnór Traustason

On his initial reaction to tonight's result:

Traustason: "It was an even game. I think we played pretty good and we had some chances, as well as myself, had a good chance to go up 1-0 there. Yeah, we got the 1-0 goal and they put some good pressure on us and that was a bit of an unlucky goal that we conceded. But that's just the way it is."

On the mood in the locker room following the 1-1 draw:

Traustason: "After we got that goal it felt like three minutes and then we conceded the 1-1 goal, so it was a bit unlucky. It felt like something happened in the box. I didn't see what happened, but it was unlucky. But we take the point and move forward. It's not the end of the world, so we'll take the point and learn from the game."

On how the team responded tonight after a disappointing performance last Saturday:

Traustason: "I mean, yeah, we stunk the Nashville game. We were so bad. So, it was really nice to see the energy coming into this game. Like the days before the game, the group was eager to bounce back and we were eager to get three points here, but we got a bit unlucky. But it was a good bounce-back performance today."

On if he feels the team played well enough to come away with three points tonight:

Traustason: "Yeah, you could see the players were a little bit upset with how we lost those two points. But we're a team and we stick together, and we just get back up. There's a game again on Sunday, so we just need to get ready for that game."

On his performance and how he feels he is meshing with the team on the field:

Traustason: "I'm okay with my performance. Just quite angry with myself with not being able to put that goal in the far corner. It was bad. I'm a bit angry with myself, Other than that, it was okay."

On playing alongside midfielder Carles Gil when Gil is in a central attacking role:

Traustason: "Carles, yeah, it's nice to have him there. He's a fantastic player. He has a good eye. He's able to find some guys in those runs that the players are taking, so it's really nice having him there central. I'm trying to link up more and more with him, so I think we're getting there."

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