Sports stats



MLS New England Revolution

Revolution Fall to Toronto FC, 1-0

October 7, 2020 - Major League Soccer (MLS)
New England Revolution News Release


FOXBOROUGH, Mass. - The New England Revolution (5-4-7, 22 pts.) fell to Toronto FC, 1-0, at Gillette Stadium on Wednesday night. Toronto's Ayo Akinola scored the game's lone goal in the 29th minute, when he slotted a right-footed shot inside of the far post.

Despite out-shooting the Supporters' Shield leaders by a 13-6 margin, New England couldn't find the back of the net. The Revolution were awarded the team's first penalty kick of the season in the 67th minute, but Adam Buksa's bid from the spot went over the crossbar. Buksa paced the team with four shots in a full 90-minute outing in his first start since Sept. 12.

Midfielder Lee Nguyen registered his 250th career MLS appearance in tonight's contest. Nguyen has appeared in each of New England's six games since being re-acquired by the club on Sept. 8, including five consecutive starts. He recorded one shot, once chance created, two tackles, and one foul won in 68 minutes of action tonight.

In net, Matt Turner made two saves, bringing his total to 47 on the season - good for fifth most among MLS goalkeepers this year.

New England returns to action on Sunday, Oct. 11, when the club visits New York City FC at Yankee Stadium. The match kicks off at 4:30 p.m. ET, and will air on NBC Sports Boston, 98.5 The Sports Hub, and in Portuguese on WBIX 1260 AM Nossa Radio USA.

POSTGAME NOTES

New England Revolution 0, Toronto FC 1

October 7, 2020 - Gillette Stadium (Foxborough, Mass.)

Revolution fall, 1-0, to Toronto FC

The Revolution (5-4-7, 22 pts.) fell to Toronto FC, 1-0, at Gillette Stadium on Wednesday night.

New England's all-time record against Toronto drops to 13-9-11, including a 10-3-5 mark at home.

Head Coach and Sporting Director Bruce Arena's all-time record shifts to 215-128-104, and 13-7-15 with New England.

Nguyen Makes His 250th MLS Appearance

Midfielder Lee Nguyen made his 250th Major League Soccer appearance on Wednesday night - his 34th birthday - 197 of which have been for New England.

Nguyen started and played 69 minutes, completing 90 percent of his passes and registering a shot on target.

Jones Records Career High in Shots

Defender DeJuan Jones set a new career high on Wednesday with three shots, all of which were on target.

Defensively, Jones had seven recoveries on the night and won five duels, including two of his three aerials, while completing 45 of his 53 passes.

Jones also logged a third consecutive start - setting a new career-high for consecutive start.

Büttner Returns after Missing Two Games to Injury

Defender Alexander Büttner made his return to the match-day roster after missing the last two matches to an injury suffered early in the match on Sept. 23 vs. Montreal.

Büttner played 10 minutes and made two key passes as a second-half substitute.

Revolution Make Two Changes to Starting Lineup

The Revolution made a pair of changes to the Starting XI from the previous match on Oct. 3 vs. Nashville SC as Adam Buksa replaced an injured Gustavo Bou at striker and Diego Fagundez replaced Teal Bunbury in midfield.

Buksa and Fagundez both returned to the Starting XI for the first time since Sept. 6. Fagundez will make his first start since Sept. 6. The appearance marks his 256th in MLS regular season play, second most in club history and only six shy of Shalrie Joseph's club record.

GAME CAPSULE

Referee: Nima Saghafi

Assistant Referee: Claudiu Badea (AR1), Tyler Wyrostek (AR2)

Fourth Official: Luis Arroyo

Video Assistant Referee: Alan Kelly

Weather: 52 degrees and mostly cloudy

Attendance: N/A

Scoring Summary:

TOR - Ayo Akinola 8 (Unassisted) 29'

Misconduct Summary:

NE - Tommy McNamara (Yellow Card - Unsporting Behavior) 40'

NE - Henry Kessler (Yellow Card - Unsporting Behavior) 48'

NE - Brandon Bye (Yellow Card - Unsporting Behavior) 63'

TOR - Auro (Yellow Card - Unsporting Behavior) 70'

TOR - Richie Laryea (Yellow Card - Dissent) 84'

NE - Teal Bunbury (Yellow Card - Unsporting Behavior) 90'+3

New England Revolution: Matt Turner; DeJuan Jones (Alexander Büttner 80'), Henry Kessler, Andrew Farrell, Brandon Bye (Kelyn Rowe 69'); Tommy McNamara, Scott Caldwell; Lee Nguyen (Cristian Penilla 69'), Tajon Buchanan, Diego Fagundez (Teal Bunbury 80'); Adam Buksa.

Substitutes Not Used: Brad Knighton, Michael Mancienne, Antonio Delamea, Seth Sinovic, Kekuta Manneh.

Toronto FC: Alex Bono; Chris Mavinga, Tony Gallacher (Auro 56'), Laurent Ciman, Richie Laryea; Jonathan Osorio, Marky Delgado; Pablo Piatti (Omar González 85'), Nick DeLeon (Liam Fraser 70'), Alejandro Pozuelo; Ayo Akinola (Patrick Mullins 85').

Substitutes Not Used: Quentin Westberg, Jayden Nelson, Tsubasa Endoh, Eriq Zavaleta, Erickson Gallardo

New England Revolution Team Statistics Toronto FC

13 (6) Shots (on Target) 6 (3)

2 Blocked Shots 0

2 Saves 6

7 Corner Kicks 2

0 Offsides 2

15 Fouls 16

531 (82%) Passes Attempted (% Completed) 370 (74%)

59.9% Possession 40.1%

POSTGAME QUOTES

New England Revolution Head Coach Bruce Arena

On his impressions of the match and if Toronto FC just sat deep in defense:

Arena: "I wouldn't exactly say that, but the reason they sat deep is because we were able to take control of the game. We did a good job moving the ball. Not a good job in finishing our chances, but, big play in that game is the non-call on [Andrew] Farrell. That's a penalty. I mean, that's a foul. And we have no one to blame but ourselves, not converting a penalty kick. Us not walking off the field tonight with at least a point is a crime."

On if he wanted Lee Nguyen to stay on the field to take the penalty kick, rather than subbing him off:

Arena: "Yesterday we talked about this on the field and we had some guys take it. [Cristian] Penilla was going to take the penalty if he was on the field and he was just being substituted in for Lee [Nguyen] actually. And Adam [Buksa] was the other choice. They both took penalties yesterday. Adam knew he was going to take the penalty if we had one, if Penilla wasn't on the field. And Penilla was just coming on and we decided it was a little unusual to literally be substituted on the field to take a penalty. So, we let Adam take it and obviously he wasn't successful."

On the frustrations of creating chances and not being able to score:

Arena: "Well, this a low scoring sport, soccer. One goal tonight would've been enough for us, I thought, to win the game. It was going to be one of those games. We had our chances. I think on the night we could've gotten a goal out of run of play and certainly needed to convert the penalty."

On whether or not there were miscommunications that led to Ayo Akinola being left one on one with Andrew Farrell or if they were just good runs:

Arena: "Why is one on one in the back unusual? Isn't that what soccer is? I don't know if you're watching any of these games."

On if Andrew Farrell seemed to be left isolated on Ayo Akinola, further back than the rest of the defense:

Arena: "He might've dropped off a little bit, but being one-on-one is not unusual."

On if Gustavo Bou was available for tonight's match:

Arena: "No. He wasn't available. He had a minor injury. He should be ready to go next week."

On the performance of Adam Buksa:

Arena: "He did okay. If he converted the penalty, he would've done real well tonight. But he played hard. He had a couple of chances. It was an improved performance from the last time we saw him in a start, so that part was encouraging."

On if he is using this match as a measuring stick up against a team like Toronto FC and how far away he believes the team is from Toronto FC:

Arena: "I don't even know you answer that question, to be honest with you. We're not measuring ourselves on Toronto [FC]. We're measuring ourselves on ourselves. And we're getting better as a team and we need to continue to grow."

Revolution Midfielder Scott Caldwell

On how difficult it is to play against teams that sit back defensively:

Caldwell: "It's difficult, don't get me wrong. A lot of teams have been starting to do that, they did against us at the end of last year and they've been starting to do that, especially here at Gillette Stadium. It's difficult and I think at times we handle it well. For the most part up to this game we were preventing them from breaking out and getting good chances on the counter attack. They got a few tonight and we just have to move the ball quicker and be a little more decisive and find our attacking players in good spots in the pockets. When teams like Toronto do what they did tonight, and Nashville did it in the last game as well, keep those pockets tight, we just have to be able to play them in there and let our attackers created."

On navigating through the struggles at home:

Caldwell: "Our guys have been motivated all year and we continue to motivate each other. While we think we've been playing well as of late, we're not pleased with the ties and the losses. So we're motivating each other, we're continuing to work hard in training and getting on each other and moving forward we're just going to have to continue to do that and get better results."

On if Toronto's tactics were surprising:

Caldwell: "A little bit. It's something that when we're presented with that game we have to deal with it and deal with it better. It's something, you know, that we didn't give up to the last minute but we have to create more chances and score more and not let them get us on the break. We just have to continue to work at it and move forward to the next game and be ready for a quick turnaround on Sunday."

On whether the team can defend against counter-attacking teams:

Caldwell: "Of course. That's the risk that you run when you have a high line and play the way we've been playing. It's something that our back line has done a tremendous job on. Matt Turner has done excellent saving us multiple times over the course of the last several games. It's going to happen but it also helps us set the field higher up and give us more chances moving forward but like you said, we run the risk of that happening and our guys across the back line along with Matt in goal have done an excellent job with those situations."

On whether the team can compete with top teams:

Caldwell: "I think we've done great collectively as a team, we just have to keep building on it. Each game we learn a little more of something about ourselves and we just have to continue to improve on those. I think we have done something and put ourselves in position to move up the standings now. We just have to continue to do that and get these results in the next few games."

Revolution Defender DeJuan Jones

On the frustration of being shutout at home:

Jones: "It's extremely frustrating. Especially in the first half, I thought we had a lot of dangerous chances. As the game went on we had a couple of more chances and we just weren't clinical enough again today. It's something that we're going to keep working on in practice. Hopefully, we can start finishing our chances and getting the results."

On balancing frustration with the referee and the team's own performance:

Jones: "I think on the goal, I think maybe it's a foul. Most likely it is a foul. It's really tough to go down 1-0 like that, and then it allows the other team to be able to sit in more, which made it difficult for us. We need to perform better, but I think it doesn't help when you feel like the refs help them get a goal. We'll keep working to try to get the result next game."

On positive takeaways from tonight's match:

Jones: "I thought we did a good job with our possession. We had the ball in their end for a lot of the game, just swinging it, nice ball movement. Again, just getting a little sharper in the final third and being aware on counter attacks and, like you said, it was a good performance I think. We just need to start getting the results."

On converting chances into goals:

Jones: "Continue to work in practice. It's just a matter of doing it. The chances are there, we're getting shots on target. It's just a matter of putting it in the back of the net."

Check out the New England Revolution Statistics



Major League Soccer Stories from October 7, 2020


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