FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – The New England Revolution (5-4-7, 22 pts.) fell to Toronto FC, 1-0, at Gillette Stadium on Wednesday night. Toronto’s Ayo Akinola scored the game’s lone goal in the 29th minute, when he slotted a right-footed shot inside of the far post.          

Despite out-shooting the Supporters’ Shield leaders by a 13-6 margin, New England couldn’t find the back of the net. The Revolution were awarded the team’s first penalty kick of the season in the 67th minute, but Adam Buksa’s bid from the spot went over the crossbar. Buksa paced the team with four shots in a full 90-minute outing in his first start since Sept. 12.

Midfielder Lee Nguyen registered his 250th career MLS appearance in tonight’s contest. Nguyen has appeared in each of New England’s six games since being re-acquired by the club on Sept. 8, including five consecutive starts. He recorded one shot, once chance created, two tackles, and one foul won in 68 minutes of action tonight.

In net, Matt Turner made two saves, bringing his total to 47 on the season – good for fifth most among MLS goalkeepers this year.

New England returns to action on Sunday, Oct. 11, when the club visits New York City FC at Yankee Stadium. The match kicks off at 4:30 p.m. ET, and will air on NBC Sports Boston, 98.5 The Sports Hub, and in Portuguese on WBIX 1260 AM Nossa Radio USA.

POSTGAME NOTES
New England Revolution 0, Toronto FC 1
October 7, 2020 – Gillette Stadium (Foxborough, Mass.)

Revolution fall, 1-0, to Toronto FC

• The Revolution (5-4-7, 22 pts.) fell to Toronto FC, 1-0, at Gillette Stadium on Wednesday night.
• New England’s all-time record against Toronto drops to 13-9-11, including a 10-3-5 mark at home.
• Head Coach and Sporting Director
• Bruce Arena’s all-time record shifts to 215-128-104, and 13-7-15 with New England.

Nguyen Makes His 250th MLS Appearance

Midfielder Lee Nguyen made his 250th Major League Soccer appearance on Wednesday night – his 34th birthday – 197 of which have been for New England.

• Nguyen started and played 69 minutes, completing 90 percent of his passes and registering a shot on target.

Jones Records Career High in Shots

• Defender DeJuan Jones set a new career high on Wednesday with three shots, all of which were on target.
• Defensively, Jones had seven recoveries on the night and won five duels, including two of his three aerials, while completing 45 of his 53 passes.
• Jones also logged a third consecutive start – setting a new career-high for consecutive start.

Büttner Returns after Missing Two Games to Injury

• Defender Alexander Büttner made his return to the match-day roster after missing the last two matches to an injury suffered early in the match on Sept. 23 vs. Montreal.
• Büttner played 10 minutes and made two key passes as a second-half substitute.

Revolution Make Two Changes to Starting Lineup

• The Revolution made a pair of changes to the Starting XI from the previous match on Oct. 3 vs. Nashville SC as
• Adam Buksa replaced an injured Gustavo Bou at striker and Diego Fagundez replaced Teal Bunbury in midfield.
• Buksa and Fagundez both returned to the Starting XI for the first time since Sept. 6. Fagundez will make his first start since Sept. 6. The appearance marks his 256th in MLS regular season play, second most in club history and only six shy of Shalrie Joseph’s club record.

GAME CAPSULE

Referee: Nima Saghafi
Assistant Referee: Claudiu Badea (AR1), Tyler Wyrostek (AR2)
Fourth Official: Luis Arroyo
Video Assistant Referee: Alan Kelly
Weather: 52 degrees and mostly cloudy
Attendance: N/A

Scoring Summary:
TOR – Ayo Akinola 8 (Unassisted) 29’

Misconduct Summary:
NE – Tommy McNamara (Yellow Card – Unsporting Behavior) 40’
NE – Henry Kessler (Yellow Card – Unsporting Behavior) 48’
NE – Brandon Bye (Yellow Card – Unsporting Behavior) 63’
TOR – Auro (Yellow Card – Unsporting Behavior) 70’
TOR – Richie Laryea (Yellow Card – Dissent) 84’
NE – Teal Bunbury (Yellow Card – Unsporting Behavior) 90’+3

New England Revolution: Matt Turner; DeJuan Jones (Alexander Büttner 80’), Henry Kessler, Andrew Farrell, Brandon Bye (Kelyn Rowe 69’); Tommy McNamara, Scott Caldwell; Lee Nguyen (Cristian Penilla 69’), Tajon Buchanan, Diego Fagundez (Teal Bunbury 80’); Adam Buksa.

Substitutes Not Used: Brad Knighton, Michael Mancienne, Antonio Delamea, Seth Sinovic, Kekuta Manneh.

Toronto FC: Alex Bono; Chris Mavinga, Tony Gallacher (Auro 56’), Laurent Ciman, Richie Laryea; Jonathan Osorio, Marky Delgado; Pablo Piatti (Omar González 85’), Nick DeLeon (Liam Fraser 70’), Alejandro Pozuelo; Ayo Akinola (Patrick Mullins 85’).

Substitutes Not Used: Quentin Westberg, Jayden Nelson, Tsubasa Endoh, Eriq Zavaleta, Erickson Gallardo