MLS Regular Season | Match #3
New England Revolution at Atlanta United FC
Saturday, March 9 | 7:30 p.m. ET
Mercedes-Benz Stadium | Atlanta, Ga.
Watch: _MLS Season Pass_ on Apple TV
English Talent: Jake Zivin (play-by-play), Taylor Twellman (analyst)
Spanish Talent: Sammy Sadovnik (play-by-play), Diego Valeri (analyst)
Listen: 98.5 The Sports Hub HD2 (English), 1260 AM Nossa Radio (Portuguese)
English Talent: Brad Feldman (play-by-play), Charlie Davies (analyst)
CURRENT FORM
New England Revolution
14th in Eastern Conference (0-2-0, 0 pts.)
Last Result (MLS) | 1-0 loss vs. Toronto FC
Last Result (Concacaf Champions Cup) | 4-0 win vs. LD Alajuelense
The goals were flowing on Wednesday night as the Revs raced out to a 4-0 aggregate lead in their Concacaf Champions Cup Round of 16 showdown with LD Alajuelense ahead of next week’s second leg in Costa Rica. Tomás Chancalay scored a pair of goals to raise his tally to four in three games – tied with Philadelphia’s Julián Carranza for the tournament lead – while Nick Lima and Esmir Bajraktarević also found the back of the net. Through three games in the competition the Revs have outscored opponents by a margin of 8-0.
The objective now will be to carry that form into league play, as they’ve opened the year with back-to-back losses to D.C. United and Toronto FC. Head coach Caleb Porter has been encouraged by the performances, however, particularly last weekend against TFC when the Revs outshot the visitors 19-8 only to be denied by a stellar showing from Toronto goalkeeper Sean Johnson.
Atlanta United FC
13th in Eastern Conference (0-1-0, 0 pts.)
Last Result (MLS) | 1-0 loss at Columbus Crew
While the Revs already have five competitive games under their belts, Atlanta have played just once – a 1-0 loss at the defending MLS Cup champion Columbus Crew on opening weekend. The Five Stripes then had a bye on the schedule, meaning they’ll head into the weekend well rested having not played for 14 days.
Saturday night will be Atlanta’s home opener at Mercedes-Benz Stadium, where they’ve been one of the league’s best home teams since entering the league in 2017. They were one of nine teams leaguewide – along with the Revs – to rack up double digit home wins last year, going 10-3-4 on their own turf.
KEY PLAYERS
Revolution goalkeeper Henrich Ravas
Henrich Ravas joined the Revs ahead of the 2024 season aiming to continue the tradition of strong goalkeeping in New England, and the 26-year-old Slovakian has gotten off to a solid start with three shutouts in his first five competitive appearances.
Ravas could be key to the Revolution’s chances on Saturday night against an Atlanta side that scored 66 goals last season, second most in MLS behind the 67 scored by champions Columbus. The Five Stripes scored 42 of those goals in their 17 home games, averaging 2.47 goals per game at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
Atlanta United forward Giorgos Giakoumakis
Thiago Almada exploded in 2023 with a league-leading 19 assists, and there was no greater beneficiary of that service than forward Giorgos Giakoumakis. The Greek striker bagged 17 goals in his debut MLS season – second most leaguewide – en route to winning MLS Newcomer of the Year honors.
At 6-foot-1, Giakoumakis is a powerful but skillful player capable of scoring with his head and his feet, leading Taylor Twellman – a man who knows a thing or two about goals as the Revolution’s all-time leading scorer – to make Giakoumakis his prediction as the 2024 MLS Golden Boot winner.
WHAT THEY’RE SAYING
Revolution head coach Caleb Porter on the midweek win over Alajuelense:
“For us, it’s a great result, especially considering that we had one prep day and a quick turnaround. That’s five games for us and we’ve won three of them, and the other two league games we played very well. I think our guys showed that even though we haven’t won in the league, we’re very confident still. These guys believe in the way
we’re doing things and the approach that we have.”
Porter on Tomás Chancalay scoring twice from the striker position:
“I thought [Chancalay] played very well today. Like you said, he’s not a No. 9 but he is a forward in terms of his mentality. He wants to score. He’s never seen a shot he can’t make. It’s all he wants to do, score. Sometimes to a fault. There were times in the Toronto game where he should’ve passed instead of shot, but I love his goalscoring mentality. He has now had a couple of games playing the No. 9 because we don’t have our starting No. 9 in, and then Bobby Wood was out last game. That was a big part of why we didn’t win that game against Toronto, honestly. We did everything right in that game against Toronto, but we were kind of missing that guy in the box to score. I think he, with a little more time there, looked a little better in this game. He had a great game.”
Revolution midfielder Carles Gil on his decision to re-sign with the Revs:
“Like Curt [Onalfo] said, to have a coach that has won [MLS Cup] two times with different clubs is very difficult. It's very difficult because, like I said, it's just one winner. So obviously, he [Caleb Porter] has the mentality to win, so he's what I want, honestly. If when I finish my contract or my era here, yes, I want to win, but if that doesn't happen, obviously I spent many good moments here. But the important thing is to win and I think we are on the way and with Caleb, it will be easier for sure.”
