FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – The New England Revolution expected a battle from visiting D.C. United on Saturday night at Gillette Stadium and that’s exactly what they got, grinding out a 1-0 win courtesy of a second-half own goal and a rock solid defensive performance.
It was a game that lacked any sort of rhythm as D.C. set out to frustrate the Revs, and a quick glance at the stat sheet – showing 39 combined fouls, seven yellow cards and just three shots on target – provides a sense of just how rugged and disjointed the match was for large stages.
“It was just a battle. It was a real scrap,” said head coach Bruce Arena, who said it seemed like Carles Gil (five fouls suffered) was fouled every time he touched the ball. “It made for a difficult game. No flow. Difficult to build our attack.”
In many ways Saturday night’s match had 0-0 written all over it, and that likely would’ve suited the visitors just fine. But the Revolution – desperate to build a better home record in 2021 after struggling to put teams away in Foxborough last year – found a way to get the goal they needed to claim three points, even if it won’t make any highlight reels.
Not since last year’s MLS is Back Tournament opener against the (then) Montreal Impact had the Revolution won a game 1-0, and in fact, that was their only 1-0 win of 2020 after winning just a single game by that score line in 2019, as well.
“One of the things we said coming into the game was, if we have to win ugly, win ugly,” said Henry Kessler, who helped limit D.C. to just one shot on target and 0.3 xG. “So we’re happy with the three points at the end of the day. At times, it wasn’t pretty. I thought at times it was actually okay. But overall, good to get the three points even if it wasn’t an ideal performance.”
In addition to three points the match also featured first starts for three offseason signings, including midfielder Arnór Traustason, who was immediately introduced to the physical nature of some MLS sides as he suffered three fouls and picked up a yellow card of his own in the 32nd minute.
Traustason said he’ll continue building relationships with his new teammates as he gets more time on the field, while he’s hoping for another home win next weekend against Atlanta United, however it may come.
“In that particular game it was difficult to manage because they dragged the tempo down, they made some fouls, they hit some long balls,” Traustason said of the D.C. match. “It was almost like a fight, that game.
“It’s just in those types of games, the most important thing is to get the first goal and try to sit on that, and hopefully get another goal and get the win and a clean sheet. That’s exactly what we did today.”
