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New England Revolution

Revolution Fall, 2-0, to New York City FC

September 2, 2020 - Major League Soccer (MLS)
New England Revolution News Release


FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – The New England Revolution (2-2-5, 11 pts.) fell, 2-0, to New York City FC at Gillette Stadium on Wednesday night. New York City scored both goals in the second half, the first coming from an own goal by New England's Michael Mancienne in the 60th minute as he tried to clear a grounded cross. NYCFC forward Héber doubled the visitor's lead in the 72nd minute, when he headed in a corner kick from Ronald Matarrita.

Midfielder Diego Fagundez registered his 250th career MLS appearance, joining Shalrie Joseph and Matt Reis as the only Revolution players to reach the mark. With 12 more appearances, the 25-year old will surpass Joseph for most games played in club history. Midfielder Kelyn Rowe also moved up a slot in the club record books tonight, as he surpassed Taylor Twellman for ninth-most minutes played in Revolution history.

Both of the Revolution's most recent acquisitions, midfielder Tommy McNamara and forward Kekuta Manneh, saw significant minutes in tonight's match. McNamara played 56 minutes in his first start since joining the team and contributed 38 touches, one chance created, and two tackles along the right wing. Manneh made his Revs debut as a second-half substitute and played 22 minutes. The appearance also marked the 150th of his MLS career.

In net, goalkeeper Matt Turner made four saves. His 24 saves on the season are tied with Houston's Marko Marico for sixth most among all MLS goalkeepers.

New England returns to action on Sunday, Sept. 6, when the club visits Chicago Fire FC at Soldier Field. The match kicks off at 7:30 p.m. ET on NBC Sports Boston, 98.5 The Sports Hub, and in Portuguese on WBIX 1260 AM Nossa Radio USA.

New England Revolution 0, New York City FC 2

September 2, 2020 – Gillette Stadium (Foxborough, Mass.)

Revolution Unbeaten Streak Snapped

The Revolution (2-2-5, 11 pts.) suffered their first loss in over six months on Wednesday night, falling to New York City FC (4-5-0, 12 pts.), 2-0, at Gillette Stadium.

The loss was the first in league plays since a 2-1 setback on Feb. 29 at Montreal and the first since a 1-0 defeat to the Philadelphia Union in the MLS is Back Tournament Round of 16 on July 25.

The Revolution had only trailed for 16 minutes in the 2020 MLS regular season entering the contest.

Wednesday marked just the second time New England had lost at home to New York City FC, the first since July 6, 2016, though the Revolution still lead the all-time series 6-5-3.

Head Coach Bruce Arena's career head coaching record moves to 211-126-101 as he returned from a three-game suspension for a red card received on July 25 in the MLS is Back Tournament.

Fagundez Records 250th MLS Appearance

- Midfielder Diego Fagundez made the 250th regular season appearance of his 10-year MLS career, all with New England. The Leominster, Mass. product is the third Revolution player to reach the milestone, as he trails only Shalrie Joseph (261) and Matt Reis (254) on the club's all-time games played list.

Manneh Makes Revolution Debut

- Forward Kekuta Manneh made his first appearance for New England since being acquired in a trade with FC Cincinnati on Aug. 17, replacing Brandon Bye as a second-half substitution.

- The appearance marked Manneh's 150th MLS regular season game played. In 22 minutes of action, Manneh managed 17 touches and won two of his three duels.

Rowe Moves Past Twellman in Minutes Played

- Midfielder Kelyn Rowe moved into ninth place on the club's all-time minutes played list, passing Taylor Twellman with a 90-minute performance, moving his career-mark with the Revolution to 15,105.

- Rowe, who trailed Twellman by just 31 minutes entering the night, finished the contest with a team-high 27 of 33 passes completed including 22 in the opposing half along with five possessions gained, two interceptions, and a clearance on the defensive end.

Bou Extends League Lead in Shots

- Revolution forward Gustavo Bou maintained his place as the MLS leader in shots taken this season, adding six more to his tally for 40 on the season.

- Two of Bou's four shots were on target while two more were blocked by NYCFC defenders.

Revolution Make Four Changes to Starting Lineup

The Revolution made four changes to the starting lineup as DeJuan Jones, Michael Mancienne, Tommy McNamara, and Kelyn Rowe started in place of Alexander Buttner, Andrew Farrell, Diego Fagundez, and Adam Buksa.

Rookie defender Henry Kessler, who has appeared in each match this season, recorded his fourth consecutive 90-minute performance and his sixth appearance on the Starting XI.

GAME CAPSULE

Referee: Armando Villareal

Assistant Referees: Claudiu Badea, Tom Felice

Fourth Official: Adam Kilpatrick

Video Assistant Referee: Alan Kelly

Weather: 69 degrees and foggy

Attendance: N/A

Scoring Summary:

NYC – Michael Mancienne (Own Goal) 60'

NYC – Heber (Ronald Matarrita) 72'

Misconduct Summary:

NYC – Keaton Parks (Yellow Card- Bad Foul) 33'

NE – Teal Bunbury (Yellow Card- Bad Foul) 40'

NE – Kelyn Rowe (Yellow Card- Bad Foul) 76'

NYC – Alexander Callens (Yellow Card- Bad Foul) 84'

New England Revolution: Matt Turner; Brandon Bye (Kekuta Manneh 67'), Henry Kessler, Michael Mancienne, DeJuan Jones (Alexander Büttner HT); Matt Polster (Diego Fagundez HT), Tommy McNamara (Tajon Buchanan 56'), Kelyn Rowe; Teal Bunbury (Adam Buksa 72'), Cristian Penilla, Gustavo Bou.

Substitutes Not Used: Brad Knighton, Andrew Farrell, Seth Sinovic, Scott Caldwell.

New York City FC: Sean Johnson; Maxime Chanot, Alexander Callens, Anton Tinnerholm (Joe Scally 87'), Ronald Matarrita; James Sands (Nicolas Acevedo 87'), Alexander Ring, Keaton Parks, Maxi Moralez (Jesus Medina 64'), Gary Mackay-Steven (Alexander Mitrita 73'); Heber (Valentin Castellanos 73').

Substitutes Not Used: Brad Stuver, Tony Rocha, Gudmundur Thorarinsson, Ismael Tajouri-Shradi.

New England Revolution Team Statistics New York City FC

15 (3) Shots (on Target) 11 (5)

4 Saves 3

9 Corner Kicks 12

2 Offsides 4

11 Fouls 12

311 (73.3%) Passes Attempted (% Completed) 477 (80.1%)

40.6% Possession 59.4%

POSTGAME QUOTES: New England Revolution 0 vs. New York City FC 2

Revolution Sporting Director & Head Coach Bruce Arena

On the starting lineup changes and the second half substitutions:

Arena: "I think on the night we were thoroughly outplayed. I think every player lost their matchup tonight. I don't have a high evaluation. Just in general, I thought Diego Fagundez played well for us tonight. [Tommy] McNamara was fine for the minutes he played. I thought he was going to fatigue and I think he did. Yeah, [Matt] Turner did everything he needed to do. Nothing he could do there. And [Michael] Mancienne was solid, but I think on the night, all the other positions on the field, we were outplayed. Give them a lot of credit. They were certainly the better team."

On what the team needs to do to start getting better results and more wins:

Arena: "Obviously player better, you know. I don't think we played particularly well in D.C. I can't remember. I'm going brain dead now with the other game we played. What was the other game we played? Red Bull. Yeah, we had a very poor start against [New York] Red Bull as well, but New York City [FC] is probably the best team we've played this year and they showed it on the night. We weren't up to their quality and the way they battled. I was very disappointed in our physical performance, in the fact that we were outcompeted in a number of positions."

On being outcompeted and whether it was an off night or if it's becoming a pattern:

Arena: "Oh, there's not a pattern. It was certainly an off night, but you need to give our opponents credit. They were simply the better team. What the reason for that is, needs to be explored a little bit more, but I thought they dominated us physically. And the first half, a number of occasions, we had a chance to create a pretty good goal scoring opportunity and we couldn't connect on our passes. Some poor work technically as well. So, overall, I'm certainly disappointed in the performance."

On the play of Cristian Penilla and whether he's better suited to play on the outside or in the middle:

Arena: "Well, he continues to be a player that's challenging to position him in a spot where he can be productive. He's an attacking player that, to date, doesn't have a goal and has one assist in the opening game against Montreal [Impact] off a corner kick. We're getting nothing out of him and that's disappointing. He's more capable of producing more for us. So, we need to get him to play better."

Revolution Midfielder Diego Fagundez

On his takeaway from tonight's match:

Fagundez: "It wasn't the best game for us. Overall, I think we just weren't really hitting a lot of passes. We weren't really making any plays really happen. And that's on us. We need to be better. This team is one of those teams that you don't even want to look back into it. Now, we just have to keep moving forward, make sure that we're playing better. Not the best way to celebrate [250 career appearances], but at the same time, it's another step to get better. We're going to go over film tomorrow and the next day and make sure that we're fixing those mistakes. At the end of the day, today wasn't our best game."

On frustration with the team's attack:

Fagundez: "I think everyone is frustrated, not just the attackers, not just the defenders. I think that there's so many points that we could be having right now and we're not. There's so many plays we could make happen and we're not. It's just that final touch, that final shot. There's a lot of things that we aren't doing right, but at the same time, in this game, we're going to have opportunities, there's going to be chances that we need to finish, goalkeepers are going to make saves. We can't get mad. We can't get frustrated. One play at a time. Someone just needs to step up and make that play happen. Today wasn't the best game for it, not that we had that many clear chances, but we would have those chances if we were a little dangerous. At the same time, now we need to be better. We're going to be practicing more in training to make sure we're finishing our play off and we're in front of our goal. Someone needs to be deadly and make sure that we're scoring."

On rotating in and out of the starting lineup:

Fagundez: "I think that as a player, we're going to start, we're not going to start – it's part of the game. I know I had a meeting with [Bruce Arena]. I haven't really played a lot of minutes and so they wanted me to rest a little bit so I can be fresh again. Today, I went in at halftime and I was trying to make a difference. I tried everything I could. I tried to get forward, tried to get in the attack, but it wasn't the best game to get into it. It's always nice to get into the game and try to help out the team."

On the team struggling to connect on passes:

Fagundez: "I think that overall we need to be better. We know how to pass the ball. We've been doing it for years. We're all professionals. We do it in training everyday. Today wasn't the best. I know when I went in I was still missing some of those passes. Some other players were missing those passes. Those are passes we need to be making, especially in the first half we need ot make sure we're comfortable with the ball. I think today we weren't really comfortable with it. That's something that we need to work on and make sure more people are comfortable with the ball, that they want the ball, that they want to carry the ball and try to make a difference. If we keep playing the way we've been playing, people are going to punish us. Bruce said it at the end of the day today, that today was the first time that another team actually punished us. Overall, since the D.C. and [New York] game, we weren't to the our best ability at the beginning and today we actually got punished. Now, we need to learn from this and make sure we start the right way and finish the right way."

Revolution Goalkeeper Matt Turner

On frustration over struggling offense:

Turner: "I think it's just frustration all around. Tonight, nobody did their job – we didn't score any goals and we conceded two goals. So frustration all around, we were physically just dominated all night. We didn't win any of our individual battles on the field and a better team came in and just walked all over us on our home turf."

On what made it difficult to create chances:

Turner: "I would love to watch the tape back of this one. Sometimes my eyes can deceive me but just off the top of my head it really felt like we were just wasteful in that final third, but maybe not. Sometimes I say that and then I turn around and it's like I'm a cynical goalkeeper so I always think people can do a little bit better. But I think overall, at the end of the day, if you watch this game again you're going to see us losing second balls all over the field, not getting stuck in the tackles, and until you can do those things and earn the right to play on the field, you're going to have a tough time creating anything."

On Tommy McNamara:

Turner: "Tommy is a good pro, he's been around the league obviously a bit. He comes with some experience and I think he showed it tonight. I thought he was one of the few that did a pretty good job but I think he just ran out of gas a bit down the stretch in the second half. So I think it's definitely something for him to build off of, find his legs, find his fitness and I think he can be a good player for this club."

On lack of fans weighing on the team:

Turner: "Obviously I always say soccer is nothing without the fans, they're the lifeblood of the sport. They're the reason I got into soccer in the first place was just the passion that soccer supporters show. But at the same time, it's the same for both teams so if we're going to use that as an excuse as to why we can't go out there and at least put in a physical effort. I mean we were out of the game and we rarely say that at the end of games. We didn't have any chances, we were down 2-0 and they were passing the ball around all over us. I was a little embarrassed to be honest. So it didn't seem to affect them so why should it really affect us."

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