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 New England Revolution

Revolution Defeat Pumas UNAM, 3-0, in First Leg of SCCL Quarterfinals

March 10, 2022 - Major League Soccer (MLS)
New England Revolution News Release


FOXBOROUGH, Mass. - The New England Revolution defeated Pumas UNAM, 3-0, in the first leg of the 2022 Scotiabank Concacaf Champions League Quarterfinals on Wednesday night at Gillette Stadium. Sebastian Lletget opened the scoring in the first half and Adam Buksa notched a pair of second-half goals to secure the three-goal advantage heading into next Wednesday's second leg match in Mexico City.

Lletget opened the scoring in the 19th minute, his second goal in three games with New England, to give the Revolution an early lead. Carles Gil notched the assist, his third consecutive game on the scoresheet to open 2022, as New England improved to 23-0-8 across all competitions when Gil records an assist.

Buksa, who recorded a team-high eight shots with four on target, extended New England's lead in the 72nd minute, taking advantage of a deflection from Alfredo Talavera's save on the forward's initial shot. On the third goal, the Polish striker combined with Gil, who recorded eight chances created on the night, to tack on the third goal for New England in second-half stoppage time.

Edwards Jr., making his third consecutive start to begin the season for New England, recorded three saves to pick up his second straight clean sheet. Edwards Jr. was aided by New England's center back pairing of Andrew Farrell and Omar Gonzalez. Farrell made his 300th appearance for New England across all competitions, third most in club history, while Gonzalez surpassed 2,500 career minutes in Concacaf Champions League play.

The Revolution will carry the three-goal advantage into the second leg of the Scotiabank Concacaf Champions League Quarterfinals next Wednesday, March 16, in Mexico City. That match kicks off at 10:15 p.m. ET at Estadio Olímpico Universitario on FOX Sports 2, TUDN, and 1260 AM Nossa Radio.

Next up, New England will continue its Major League Soccer campaign on Saturday, March 12 vs. Real Salt Lake at Gillette Stadium. The match kicks off at 7:30 p.m. ET on WSBK-TV38, myRITV, 98.5 FM The Sports Hub, and 1260 AM Nossa Radio.

2022 Scotiabank Concacaf Champions League Quarterfinals - First Leg

New England Revolution 3, Pumas UNAM 0

March 9, 2022 - Gillette Stadium (Foxborough, Mass.)

Team Notes:

The Revolution made their first appearance in international competition since 2010 and in Concacaf Champions League since 2008, registering a 3-0 win in the first leg of the Quarterfinals over Pumas UNAM (MEX).

The Revolution improved to 8-1-1 all-time against Liga MX opponents and are now 2-0-0 in two meetings with Pumas UNAM.

The Revolution extended its unbeaten streak to 35 games (29-0-6) when scoring first across all competitions.

The victory was New England's first as a club in Concacaf Champions League play (1-2-0) and first in Concacaf club competition since March 26, 2003 (3-1 vs. LD Alajuelense).

Today's Starting XI featured two changes from last Saturday's MLS home opener against FC Dallas, with defender Omar Gonzalez and midfielder Arnór Traustason starting in place of Henry Kessler and Tommy McNamara.

Individual Notes:

Bruce Arena improved his record in Concacaf club tournaments to 16-9-6. His record with the Revolution stands at 44-18-25 across all competitions.

Andrew Farrell appeared in his 300th game across all competitions, becoming the third player in club annals to reach the milestone behind Matt Reis (301) and Shalrie Joseph (305). The defender marked the occasion by completing all 24 of his passes and registering one shot on target.

Omar Gonzalez, playing in SCCL for the second straight year after featuring in the tournament with Toronto FC in 2021, surpassed 2,500 minutes in the competition with his 90-minute effort on Wednesday. Gonzalez was a member of the C.F. Pachuca side that won the tournament in 2017.

Sebastian Lletget scored his first career CCL goal in his fifth career appearance, with his second goal in three games as a member of the Revolution.

Lletget is the first player to tally two goals in his first three games for the club since Gustavo Bou in 2019.

Carles Gil provided a pair of assists, his third consecutive game finding the scoresheet to begin the 2022 season. Gil, the reigning MLS MVP, provided helpers on goals by Lletget and Buksa and registered eight chances created in the contest.

With the victory, New England improved to 23-1-8 across all competitions when Gil records an assist.

Adam Buksa scored two goals, his 25th and 26th for the club across all competitions, to become the first player in Revolution history to notch a multi-goal game in international competition.

Earl Edwards Jr. recorded his second consecutive clean sheet and extended his shutout streak to 192 minutes across all competitions, making three saves on the night.

Gustavo Bou registered five shots on the night, twice hitting the woodwork, and won five of his seven duels.

Arnór Traustason and Emmanuel Boateng both made their season debuts. Traustason started and played 64 minutes before being replaced by Boateng midway through the second half.

GAME CAPSULE

Referee: Said Martinez (HON).

Assistant Referees: Walter Lopez (HON - AR1); Raymundo Feliz (DOM - AR2).

Fourth Official: Melvin Matamoros (HON).

Video Assistant Referee: Carol Anne Chenard (CAN).

Assistant Video Assistant Referee: Selvin Brown (HON).

Weather: 32 degrees and snow.

Scoring Summary:

NE - Sebastian Lletget 1 (Carles Gil 1) 19'

NE - Adam Buksa 1 (Unassisted) 72'

NE - Adam Buksa 2 (Carles Gil 2) 90'+2

Misconduct Summary:

PUM - Favio Alvarez (Yellow Card - Bad Foul) 67'

New England Revolution: Earl Edwards Jr.; DeJuan Jones, Omar Gonzalez, Andrew Farrell, Brandon Bye; Matt Polster, Arnór Traustason (Emmanuel Boateng 64'), Sebastian Lletget (Tommy McNamara 78'), Carles Gil ©, Gustavo Bou (Jozy Altidore 78'); Adam Buksa.

Substitutes Not Used: Brad Knighton, Jon Bell, A.J. DeLaGarza, Maciel.

Pumas UNAM: Alfredo Talavera ©; Alan Mozo, Arturo Ortiz, Ricardo Galindo (Washington Corozo 63'), Nicolas Freire, Jerónimo Rodríguez; Leonel López (Diogo De Oliveira 63'), Higor Meritão (Santiago Trigos 88'), Favio Alvarez, Rogério De Oliveira (Omar Islas 79'); Juan Dinenno.

Substitutes Not Used: Julio González, Álek Álvarez, Jesús Rivas.

New England Revolution Team Statistics Pumas UNAM

18 (6) Shots (on Target) 8 (3)

3 Blocked Shots 0

2.62 Expected Goals (xG) 0.64

3 Saves 3

6 Corner Kicks 2

3 Offsides 0

14 Fouls 14

479 (80.0%) Passes Attempted (% Completed) 489 (77.3%)

49.8% Possession 50.2%

POSTGAME QUOTES: New England Revolution 3 vs. Pumas UNAM 0

New England Revolution Sporting Director & Head Coach Bruce Arena

On the importance of getting three home goals in the first leg:

Arena: "Well, it's very important. This is a 180-minute game, basically, and away goals count. I think Concacaf is about a year behind the rest of the world with this stuff. So, away goals count in this competition. So, it was important to score goals, as well as not concede any, so we can go to Mexico City with a little bit of a cushion, but it's not going to be easy."

On the thought process when picking the starting eleven for tonight's match:

Arena: "Well, for the most part, that's our team, with the exception of obviously some players that are injured. But, for the most part, that's our team."

On the overall performance tonight:

Arena: "I thought we were very good. I think if we're guilty of anything, it's not getting more goals. I think that first half, that second goal was huge that we got at the end of the first half. Am I correct in that? It was 1-0 at half, right? Yeah, second half, Adam [Buksa] had the two. And then the third goal at the end of the game was huge, because I think 2-0 is really inviting for this team next Wednesday, not that they're not going to be ready to make up this goal difference, but I think the third goal was huge."

On Earl Edwards Jr.'s performance:

Arena: "He's done very well. He had to make one - I remember one big save, and then I thought his distribution was very good tonight."

On DeJuan Jones' early season performances and him being active in the attack:

Arena: "He's been very active in the attack. He performed well, had a good game. Got a little tired at the end."

On the snow and the weather conditions for the match and if the team embraced it:

Arena: "Do I feel that we embraced it? Well, they performed well. I thought our guys actually weren't too troubled by it. We had no advantage. We haven't practiced in the snow either. So, it was as challenging for us as it was our opponent tonight, but it seemed to me that we adjusted a little bit better."

On Adam Buksa's performance tonight:

Arena: "He had a tough time for large segments of the game. He kept working hard and pushing and hanging in there, and then he got two huge goals. So, that's the signs of a good striker. Strikers don't have great moments throughout a match. There are tough times, because they're the ones that play closest to goal and there's a lot of challenges from their opponents. They challenged Adam [Buksa] tonight and he had a tough time in the first half, I thought. And then the second half, he grew into the game a lot better and got two absolutely huge goals for us. And I thought Gustavo [Bou] played very well in the second half. He hit the crossbar on one and had one called back that looked pretty close. I obviously didn't see the replay, but I thought Gustavo played very well. And then, Jozy [Altidore] came in and gave us 15 good minutes and was part of that third goal, holding the ball up and laying it off. I think it was to Carles [Gil]. I could be mistaken there. So, Jozy did his part as well."

New England Revolution Midfielder Carles Gil

On playing in the snow:

Gil: "It's difficult. I've never had that type of game, but yeah, we know that it was hard for both teams, so we tried to play it, to play easy in the defense and try to keep the space behind the defense. Many crosses, you know? I think we did a very good job in the second half or so and without the snow, better to play.'

On the team's performance:

Gil: "I think for sure it was our best game of the season. We did an amazing job together in defense and in the attack. We created many, many, many chances. Maybe we could've won by more goals, and also they had two, three, four big chances. Earl [Edwards Jr.] did an amazing job and, yeah, very good result to go to Mexico."

On setting up Sebastian for the first goal:

Gil: "Yeah, I think, you know, he's amazing, his space, and when he starts running, I try to be in the box, and yeah, Sebastian did perfect because he said to me, 'Carles,' so I know that it was there and he finished. You know, he's a top player. He can score goals, assists, many things, defense too. It's his second goal and we are really happy for him."

On taking advantage of the weather conditions and bringing momentum to Mexico:

*Translated from Spanish*

Gil: "Well we knew we wanted to get an important win here. We knew it would be difficult on them with all of the conditions today, with all the snow. We know it'll be the same over there with the altitude and all of that. We know it'll be difficult to get a good result. We still have 90 tough minutes to play over there. They're a good team but we hope to advance to the semifinals."

On Sebastian Lletget goal timing and message from coach arena:

Gil: "Yeah, like I said Sebastian [Lletget] do many things. He's running all the time in defense and attack and he's a very good player to run into the box and I think we scored a very good goal. We know that it was a difficult game with the snow, with everything, against this team. We know we need [our substitutes] to win and we needed to win the duels, so I think we did a very good job."

On the mindset at halftime:

Gil: "Yeah, continue like this. We did a very good first half. I don't think they had many chances. We had many, many chances to score goals. So yeah, try to continue. We know that the snow stopped, so it was easier to play. You know, and yeah try to finish our chances and we are very happy for Adam [Buksa] too because he had many chances in the second half, and he scored two big goals and hopefully he continue like this."

On the importance of Adam Buksa's goal in stoppage time to seal the 3-0 win:

*Translated from Spanish*

Gil: "It was super important. It was vital. In an elimination round we know that goals are important. Getting the clean sheet was important too. We know that if we score a goal there we have many options to advance. We're very happy. We deserved this because we created many chances. They had a couple good ones too. Now we'll focus on Saturday's game and then we'll travel to Mexico."


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