FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – The New England Revolution were welcomed back to Gillette Stadium on Saturday night with freezing temperatures and bundled up fans, eager to see their team take the pitch at home for the first time in 2025. For six Revolution starters, including defender Ilay Feingold, it was their first taste of home support as they battled the Columbus Crew.
“I was really excited to meet the fans for the first time, that was incredible,” said Feingold. “Unfortunately, we didn’t get what we wanted, but we have to raise our heads and learn from our mistakes and get better for the next game.”
The first half produced very little to separate the sides, but Columbus found the game's only goal shortly after the halftime break through Jacen Russell-Rowe to claim a 1-0 win. The Revs, who kept a clean sheet in last weekend's 0-0 draw with Nashville SC, started strong defensively and held the visitors without a shot in the first half.
“There’s a lot of positives with our defending right now, especially. If you have a really good defensive team, then you’re always going to be competitive in everything, which we will be,” said head coach Caleb Porter. “Everyone knows they are one of the best attacking teams in the league. I was really pleased with the first half and second half, obviously disappointing to give away the goal on a throw in.
“I didn’t really feel like Columbus threatened us much in the run of play. They had a bit of the ball, but never really got going. When the margins are tight in a game like this, you’ve got to find a goal, and or, you can’t give away the goal. So, for sure we have to learn from this moment.”
While the game didn’t produce the desired result for New England, it was viewed as an improvement from last season’s matchups with Columbus. “The biggest thing is we played Columbus last year in our second to last game of the year and we lost 4-0,” said Porter. “So, I think when you look at how much more competitive we were today, how much more organized we were today, how much better our mentality was today, it’s not even close."
With a group of players who've been together for less than six weeks, Porter viewed the performance as hopeful for what the team is capable of in games to come. “Sometimes in a soccer game you’ve got to make the game tight and you have to find the margin to win, and we weren’t able to do that today, but we’re not going to hang our heads. We’re back at home at Philadelphia [next weekend], and we’re going to keep working and keep improving.”
While New England have put together two hard-fought defensive performances in their first matches of the season, the attack continues to search for its first goal of 2025. There was a moment of hope for the Revolution as that goal appeared to be in sight when the referee pointed to the penalty spot in the late stages, but Video Review determined that no handball offense had been committed.
“We could have used a goal in that instance. The length of the time is an unfortunate one, but you know, we have to move on and create more chances after that and try to find other ways to win,” said midfielder Jackson Yueill, who made his Revolution debut in Foxborough.
The Revs will continue their search for a first goal and win next weekend when they host the Philadelphia Union on Saturday night (7:30 p.m. ET). It’s also another chance to continue to build those connections on the pitch as a new team. For Yueill, he says those relationships are growing day by day.
“There’s still a lot to learn from each other and to grow in that relationship, but unfortunately the result didn’t go our way, but I think there is a lot of positive to take from us three in the midfield and the team as a whole," he said.
