HARRISON, N.J. – New England Revolution sporting director and head coach Bruce Arena believes his side remain in a strong position to advance to the Leagues Cup knockout stages.
The Revolution earned a point in Saturday’s group stage opener with a goalless draw in normal time at New York Red Bulls, but were edged out 4-2 on penalties. Despite Djordje Petrović’s early save from Elias Manoel, DeJuan Jones struck the post and Giacomo Vrioni saw his effort thwarted by Carlos Coronel, before John Tolkin tucked away the decisive spot-kick to clinch the bonus point.
Though disappointed not to have secured a winning start in the East 4 encounter, Arena called for calm with his side still in a promising position. Victory in 90 minutes in Wednesday night’s home visit of Liga MX outfit Atlético de San Luis would secure passage to the Round of 32, though the head coach admits New England will need to produce an improved performance to achieve the win.
“Your takeaway is that you’re still in the tournament,” he said after the game at Red Bull Arena. “The idea is to advance out of group play. We’re still in position to do that – that’s what I take away from it.
“We’re still in the competition, we have to win on Wednesday. Our mission is clear: we have to win on Wednesday.
“We have to play to win, it’s that simple. We have a point in the competition, Red Bulls have two … They [San Luis] have a weekend off at home, so based on last year – the way they set everything up – obviously the teams with the two home fields obviously have an advantage.
“They [New York] are in a good position, we have to go out and play a little bit better on Wednesday, and get three points.”
Saturday’s fixture saw the Revs and Red Bulls go head-to-head for the second time in two weeks, having contested a controversial encounter in Eastern Conference action on July 8, in which the hosts claimed a 2-1 win in a game most remembered for Andrew Farrell’s incorrectly disallowed injury-time equalizer.
Reflecting on this weekend’s visit to New Jersey, Arena once again credited New York for their part in providing another physical test, and for emerging victorious in the shootout.
“The games were somewhat similar – a grind-out affair,” he added. “We play Red Bulls, that’s what games are going to look like – there’s going to be a lot of contact; challenging on the referee.
“It was a real battle. Petrović made a real good save in regulation. When you save a penalty, that’s the job of the goalkeeper in a shootout, so we let him down. Obviously, you give credit to their goalkeeper for stopping one as well.
“The game was a grind-out game, and I thought the Red Bulls had a lot of good play out of their entire team. I thought they did a good job – they wanted to get after the ball, and chase it, and battle.
“I think they hit the wall a little. The substitutions they made helped them get into the shootout, so they did a good, solid job.
“I thought Carles Gil was good for us, I thought [Mark-Anthony] Kaye and [Ian] Harkes played well in midfield. [Gustavo] Bou had a good second half, our center backs did a good job.
“It was an even match all the way – there’s not much more I can say about it.”
Arena made three changes to the side that earned a 4-0 win over D.C. United last weekend, as Kaye lined up for his full debut, while Noel Buck made a welcome comeback from injury, and Jones slotted back into the defensive line having returned from international duty with the United States Men’s National Team.
Asked whether he may opt to rotate again in midweek against San Luis, the head coach admitted it was too soon to say.
“I can’t answer that question now,” he replied. “Our guys have played three games in a week with some rotation [this weekend], and I anticipate we’ll probably do some – but I can’t tell you.
“We have to wait and see how the players recover. We certainly have enough time to get guys recovered to play on Wednesday.”
