3 takeaways from the Revolution’s loss against the Red Bulls

The Revolution misplaced 1-0 to the New York Crimson Bulls at Sports activities Illustrated Stadium on Saturday afternoon. New England has now opened the 2026 season with back-to-back defeats.

A frenetic tempo set by each groups didn’t in the end produce too many goal-scoring alternatives within the matchup. The distinction within the recreation was offered by a back-post end from 17-year-old Crimson Bulls ahead Julian Corridor (assisted by 16-year-old New York midfielder Adri Mehmeti’s flick-on header).

Listed here are a couple of takeaways from one other powerful day on the workplace for the Revolution:

Bolstered again line held in a tricky first half

Coming into the second recreation of the season following final Saturday’s 4-1 loss towards Nashville within the opener, the Revolution fortunately welcomed again center-backs Brayan Ceballos and Mamadou Fofana (who every missed the Matchday 1 loss). Proper again Ilay Feingold was introduced again into the Beginning XI, with winger Luca Langoni additionally handed his first begin of the season. Dor Turgeman shifted to middle ahead with Leo Campana unexpectedly dominated out with a decrease physique damage.

Having appropriately anticipated that his group would want to “match [New York’s] depth from the very starting till the very finish” in a pregame press convention, Revolution head coach Marko Mitrovic might solely watch because the relentless Crimson Bulls press all however monopolized possession within the first half (73-27 in New York’s favor).

This positioned strain on the Revolution again line. Luckily for New England, Ceballos and Fofana had been largely as much as the duty, thwarting plenty of shut calls that may have resulted in targets per week in the past. For the entire Crimson Bulls’ possession, Michael Bradley’s group did not create many clear alternatives. In that sense, Mitrovic’s group managed to match Crimson Bulls’ depth (if not their skill to maintain the ball).

Revolution struggled with Crimson Bulls’ press

The possession disparity within the first half was the clearest indicator statistically, however New York’s press was tangible in real-time to anybody watching the sport. The variety of instances New England related greater than two consecutive passes felt distinctly uncommon.

The Revolution’s normal outlet, Carles Gil, struggled to search out each time and area for a lot of the evening, finishing an unusually low 71 p.c of his passes (29 of 41). Together with making some uncharacteristically poor touches, Gil was additionally pressured continually. Although the Spaniard nonetheless delivered some recognizably expansive passes (particularly as the sport progressed), he was largely held in verify.

Apart from Feingold (who led the group in touches and charged ahead on a number of events to trigger momentary panic in New York’s marking), the Revolution lacked dynamism within the assault. A lot of it may very well be attributed to the Crimson Bulls’ defensive depth, however New England continues to seek for constant affect from any of its forwards.

Alternative knocked within the second half, however New England couldn’t reply

Even earlier than New York’s aim, the irony was that the momentum appeared to be shifting. Whereas it could be arduous to say that any portion of the sport was positively within the Revolution’s favor, the sport felt at the least extra evenly matched because the second half ebbed alongside. The Crimson Bulls’ press proved unimaginable to maintain for 90 minutes.

“It’s very tough to maintain that depth with what [New York] is doing,” Mitrovic stated afterward. “We knew that so long as the sport goes, we’d have increasingly area for us.”

Certain sufficient, the second arrived within the 68th minute, when a very good change between Gil and Feingold set the latter down the precise and into area. With Turgeman stretching New York’s again line, Feingold appeared to drag the ball again together with his centering move to the highest of the six-yard field.

However as has been the case for New England in current seasons, the membership’s attacking gamers had been unable to maximise the chance. Substitute midfielder Jackson Yueill and winger Griffin Yow failed to speak with one another as Yow appeared to run into Yueill. The outcome was a botched end from Yueill and a save by New York goalkeeper Ethan Horvath.

Having missed their greatest probability, the Revolution failed to supply any late magic. Nonetheless, regardless of falling to a second defeat in as many video games to begin the season, Mitrovic stored his eye on the long run.

“They’re a group that performs with unbelievable depth and, actually, congrats to them,” he stated of New York. “They’re an important group, and it was an important check for us when it comes to how we will maintain our depth by way of the entire recreation. That one second on the set piece outlined the sport. [We had] some conditions, particularly within the final 15-20 minutes within the second half, the place we might have transformed and scored a aim. We didn’t. I don’t wish to lose video games, however there one hundred pc are some optimistic takeaways from this recreation that we will construct on for the approaching video games.”