MLS Regular Season | Match #5
New England Revolution vs. New York Red Bulls
Saturday, April 2 | 7:30 p.m. ET
Gillette Stadium | Foxborough, Mass.
Watch: WSBK-TV38, myRITV (Rhode Island), Cozi TV (Western Mass.)
- Talent: Brad Feldman (play-by-play), Charlie Davies (analyst), Naoko Funayama (sideline)
Listen: 98.5 The Sports Hub HD2 (English), 1260 AM Nossa Radio (Portuguese)
CURRENT FORM
New England Revolution
11th in Eastern Conference (1-2-1, 4 pts.)
Last Result | 3-1 loss at Charlotte FC
The Revs had a week to forget just before the international break, suffering a trio of losses in an eight-day span – two in the league and one in the quarterfinals of the Scotiabank Concacaf Champions League. That stretch included a rare home loss to Real Salt Lake amidst blizzard-like conditions in Foxborough, and a 3-1 setback in their first-ever meeting with expansion side Charlotte FC.
New England will have plenty of opportunities to bounce back in the coming weeks as Saturday night begins a stretch in which the Revs will play league matches on nine consecutive weekends, through the end of May. All nine of those matches will be against Eastern Conference opposition, including five home games in Foxborough.
New York Red Bulls
5th in Eastern Conference (2-1-1, 7 pts.)
Last Result | 1-1 draw vs. Columbus Crew
The Red Bulls got their 2022 campaign off to the best possible start, picking up a pair of convincing road wins at the San Jose Earthquakes (3-1) and at Toronto FC (4-1). They’ve since followed that up with just one point from a pair of home games at Red Bull Arena, suffering a 1-0 loss to Minnesota United before playing to a 1-1 draw with the Columbus Crew.
Gerhard Struber’s side was good away from home last year, as well, with their five road wins tied for second-most in the East behind the Revolution’s mind-blowing 10. That was good enough to help the Red Bulls to seventh in the conference and a postseason spot for the 12th straight season.
KEY PLAYERS
Revolution midfielder Carles Gil
Carles Gil terrorized much of Major League Soccer last season en route to league MVP honors, but there was perhaps no side that felt Gil’s wrath more than the Red Bulls. The Revolution captain racked up six assists in three appearances against RBNY – all New England wins – including a three-assist showing in the Revs’ 3-2 victory in June. In six career appearances against New York, Gil has registered a total of eight assists.
After totaling four goals and 18 assists in last year’s MVP campaign, Gil is off to another solid start in 2022 with two goals (both from the penalty spot) and three assists through six games in all competitions.
Red Bulls midfielder Lewis Morgan
Scottish winger Lewis Morgan joined the Red Bulls ahead of the 2022 season after spending the past two years with Inter Miami CF, where he started all 57 games during the 2021 and shortened 2020 campaigns. Morgan has continued that trend with New York, playing every minute of the Red Bulls’ first four matches.
The 25-year-old is off to a blistering start with his new club, racking up three goals and one assist in those four appearances, highlighted by a first-half hat trick in RBNY’s 4-1 win over TFC. That performance earned Morgan MLS Player of the Week honors, recognized on the MLS Team of the Week alongside forward Patryk Klimala, who assisted all three of Morgan’s goals.
STATUS REPORT
Revolution
New England’s official availability report lists four players as questionable for Saturday night’s game: Gustavo Bou (upper leg), Andrew Farrell (upper leg), Henry Kessler (muscle injury), and Matt Turner (lower leg). While head coach Bruce Arena told 98.5 The Sports Hub’s Zolak and Bertrand that Turner “will probably be training in the next week or two,” he also said the center back duo of Farrell and Kessler “fully competed this week in training, so we expect them to be on our roster on Saturday.”
Red Bulls
Four players are listed as out for the visitors: Andres Reyes (foot), Wiki Carmona (foot), Cameron Harper (quad), and Serge Ngoma (hamstring). Of that quartet, only Ngoma (two substitute appearances totaling 20 minutes) has appeared in a game this season.
Goalkeeper Ryan Meara (hip) and midfielder Caden Clark (knee), meanwhile, are both listed as questionable. Clark has made a trio of substitute appearances in the season’s early stages after racking up four goals and five assists in 24 appearances last year.
WHAT THEY’RE SAYING
New England Revolution sporting director and head coach Bruce Arena
“He's making progress. We know Jozy [Altidore] is a very good player and it's just going to take him a little bit of time. And you could see over the last couple of weeks, things are getting better. I think by the end of April, Jozy should be in pretty good form. So, it's been a real positive look to see the progress he's made over the last three or four weeks and we look forward to a good showing by Jozy on Saturday, as well. As we move forward, he can continue to get better and get in better form.”
New England Revolution forward Jozy Altidore
“The reset button, it was nice to hit it a bit, get guys back from injury, obviously watch and support guys trying to qualify for a World Cup. Huge congratulations to Adam [Buksa] and Poland. That's spectacular what they've done there. And get the group back together again. We're not whole yet, but we will be obviously by tomorrow and it'll be great to just get back in the swing of things and I think the group is confident in turning things around. These type of weeks will happen in a long season, especially combining Champions League and the travel and everything that goes into account. So for us, it's all about getting back to work Saturday, starting on the front foot and enjoying a few weeks here where we can try to get things back on track.”
