CINCINNATI, Ohio – There was plenty of heat for the New England Revolution to deal with in Cincinnati on Saturday night, both in terms of the temperature at the stadium and the tensions on the field. But a first-half brace from striker Giacomo Vrioni and yet another strong showing across the board on defense saw the Revs secure a 2-1 victory, their fourth straight win, over high-fliers FC Cincinnati, who were left to see out the game with only nine players on the field after a red card and a late injury.
Vrioni’s strikes bring his goal total to five in MLS this campaign, tying him with midfielder Carles Gil for most on the team, and making it three tallies in two games for the Albanian international. Gil also continued his own red-hot run of form, recording helpers on both of Vrioni’s goals to bring his own streak to four games with an assist before making way late for defender Brandon Bye, who made his first appearance of the year after his season-ending injury last August.
Going into the weekend it was clear that the Orange and Blue would offer a steep challenge for New England, and so head coach Caleb Porter was naturally happy with the statement his team made by grinding out this win on the road against one of the league’s best. He said after the game that their recent run of results came thanks to the players continuing to do the work and trust the process, and he made clear that the same was true for Vrioni.
“I think he’s gaining confidence,” Porter said of Vrioni. “[But] all season long he’s gotten in great spots, and worked really hard, held the ball up really well, battled for aerial duels. His movement’s always been good; he’s always in great spots. So, I think we’re finding him. When you look at the goals – Ema [Boateng]’s cross, that was a great cross into him – he needs service.”
For his own part, Vrioni said that there was never a question when it came to maintaining his confidence, even when goals were not coming as often as he might have liked.
“I have to,” he said simply. “I have to. I try to do my best every time. I work hard every day – morning, afternoon. It’s all about, for me, [working] hard, having discipline, perseverance.”
That hard work and perseverance doesn’t take place in a vacuum, though, and Vrioni was quick to praise the mentality of his teammates in continuing to believe in the work as well as in themselves through their difficult start to the season.
“I told the guys after the New York City game, when we lost 1-0, to keep believing,” Vrioni shared. “Because in football, everything can change in one game. And I said to them to go at home, relax and enjoy with the family, and come back on Tuesday with the good mentality, because, like I said before, everything can change in 10 minutes, in five minutes. And this is what happened.”
Finding that motivation doesn’t have to be limited to what happens around Foxborough, either; fans of the global game may have recognized Vrioni’s celebration as reminiscent of Erling Haaland’s trademark meditation pose, and Giacomo confirmed that the Manchester City forward was someone he looked up to and sought to emulate in as many ways as possible.
“Yeah, because I like him a lot,” he said with a knowing grin. “I follow him a lot; I like how he moves in everything, so I try to see him a lot, because for me [he’s] the best striker right now. I always try to copy him in both sides:” – here he couldn’t help but laugh – “celebration, and obviously goal.”
On a more serious note, the Revs frontman recognized that the task that still lay ahead of the team was by no means a small one.
“Now comes the most difficult part, that is, maintaining the same mentality and rhythm,” Vrioni said. “This is what we have to do, because we believe in what we’re doing with our coach, we believe in our abilities, and we have to keep going because now comes the beautiful part. We’re happy but we’re hungry now.”
And Porter felt that it was Vrioni’s ability to dig deep and maintain that hard-work mindset that has gotten him to where he is now and enabled him to set him up to be able to imitate one of his idols of the game.
“What was missing was his own confidence,” Porter said, “which, as a coach, you can't give a player confidence. They have to find their own inner confidence and I'm proud that he's had a tough mentality through the lows and he's finally found that inner confidence, and he looked like a top striker today.”
As usual, plenty more can and will be said about the performances of Carles Gil (his 150th MLS regular season appearance, and one that saw him rise to owning the 4th-most assists within that time in league history), goalkeeper Aljaž Ivačič (three saves, a number that masks how crucial each one was), defender Xavier Arreaga (remarkable fluidity and creativity on the ball, not to mention a dynamic partnership with midfielder Matt Polster that saw the two swap places on occasion), Ema Boateng (a beautiful cross to assist Vrioni’s second goal) … you get the idea.
But for tonight, it was the big man with the bigger smile that stole the show in Cincinnati, perhaps breaking a few Ohioan hearts for a short while, but stating loud and clear that he and his teammates are nowhere near ready to quit on this season.
