ORLANDO, Fla. – It was a night to forget for the New England Revolution, as the team’s playoff ambitions took a dent after they fell 3-0 to Orlando City SC at Inter&Co Stadium. Assistant coach Pablo Moreira, filling in for head coach Caleb Porter as he served a one-match touchline ban, said after the game that focus would shift directly to the matchup with CF Montréal on Wednesday, with midfielder Mark-Anthony Kaye echoing that a case of “short-term memory loss” would be the squad’s best response to their performance Saturday night.
On a positive note, midfielder Alhassan Yusuf made his Revolution debut on the night, switching on for Ian Harkes in the 72nd minute. Having returned from international duty with his native Nigeria, the new signing played well, demonstrating his skillset as a box-to-box midfielder and showing promise for the coming weeks and his career in New England.
“I thought the first 20, 22 minutes went well,” Moreira told reporters after the full-time whistle. “We were compact in our structures, we were executing the gameplan we wanted. It’s unfortunate to give a goal up on a set piece there in the 22nd minute. It was a banger; it was obviously a very good goal from them, unlucky for us. But it was more that mentality after it, and trying to improve that.”
The Revolution had found themselves a goal down in almost exactly as much time last weekend against St. Louis CITY SC, but had benefitted from a few moments of individual magic from Luca Langoni and Carles Gil to take a lead into the break. This time around, there would unfortunately be no such comeback, and the defeat, along with other Eastern Conference results, leaves New England 15th in the East standings, six points behind D.C. United in the division’s last wild card spot.
When asked about how he and the team would bounce back from this result, Kaye’s response was to the point: “Short-term memory loss. We’ve just got to move forward and go to training on Monday and work hard, because we have another game. It’s not over yet – we need to really push for three points against Montréal.”
In his first appearance since joining from Belgian side Royal Antwerp FC, Yusuf looked bright off the bench, demonstrating his tackling ability, advancing the ball up the field, and completing all 10 of his attempted passes (including one key pass). As he continues to build match fitness, hope is high that Yusuf will continue to perform at a high level.
“I think what you guys saw today is what we’ve seen and why we wanted him to come here,” Moreira said of Yusuf’s debut. “He tackles, wins balls. Pretty much all of his touches he retained possession. He completed the passes – he had a good ball in behind to Esmir [Bajraktarević]. That ball in particular, that aerial ball diagonal to the winger, it’s something that we’ve seen from him and it could really unlock our wingers. In the attack that’s what we saw. And defensively he’s just got a good motor, he tackles, and plays simple. So, we’re excited for what’s to come with him.”
Fellow midfielder Kaye added that his style of play fit in well with the Revolution’s system, while also bringing a different flavor into the mix.
“He’s comfortable on the ball, wants to get involved, not afraid to look forward, and he’s pretty shifty moving forward,” Kaye said of Yusuf. “He adds a different dynamic to our team. So, I’m happy he was able to get out there and get some minutes under his belt.”
