ORLANDO, Fla. – Head coach Bruce Arena said “it wasn’t pretty,” but the No. 8 seed New England Revolution took down No. 4 Orlando City SC, 3-1, at Exploria Stadium on Sunday afternoon to advance to the Eastern Conference Final in the Audi 2020 MLS Cup Playoffs.
“We had to work real hard,” said Arena. “That was a real good team we played today – a very good team. Maybe the best team we’ve faced this year. A great win, obviously. Big play in the game had to be Matt Turner’s save on the penalty kick. And obviously, the red card was huge as well. Our guys hung in there.”
In an intense and physical battle, that “big play” was perhaps the moment that locked up New England’s win.
In the 74th minute, shortly after being reduced to 10 men, Orlando had an opportunity to equalize when the Revs led 2-1. Daryl Dike drew a penalty kick, and if it had played out differently, it could have drastically changed the outcome of the game.
Nani, who had six goals and five assists on the season, stepped up to take the penalty. However, Matt Turner denied the Designated Player the opportunity to level the score in front of a sold-out, limited-capacity crowd, keeping the momentum in the visitors' favor.
“It was pretty much just me versus [Nani],” said Turner. “It wasn’t about anybody else in the stands, I didn’t hear anything else. It was just focus on the ball, focus on the moment, trust the homework that you did, trust your technique to dive, trust all that, and if you did all your preparation correctly you should be in a position to make the save. So that was what was going through my head.
“On this particular one, [I] sort of did the homework. [Nani’s] taken a lot of penalty kicks this year so it’s all statistics and stuff like that. I picked my side early, went as hard as I could that way, made sure I kept my foot on the line, and made the save so it felt really nice.”
As Nani prepared to take the penalty, Turner used his homework to his advantage. He looked at how Nani set up, anticipated his run and made a calculated decision to dive to the right as far as he possibly could.
“I’d like to congratulate [Turner] because that was a decisive penalty kick in the final minutes,” said Gustavo Bou, who scored the Revs' second and third goals. “That helped give us some strength to finish the game the best way possible.
“Thank God [Turner] read the play and guessed correctly. It was a big relief for us. Like I said, it gave us a lot of strength and calmed us down knowing that the game was still in our favor. The third goal came after that, thank God, and we were able to win the game calmly.”
That calmness carried over immediately. Orlando drew a corner kick following the penalty save, but the Revolution didn’t let that shake their conviction.
“Obviously, you make the save and you want to celebrate but we had a corner kick to defend,” said Turner. “We’ve been pretty bad at those all year, but luckily we got that one out and were able to relax a little bit. I’d say that’s pretty much the moment for me. It was a really great one for me, it feels good, and we’ll just continue to build because the job’s not done yet.”
“It’s huge in the fact that we were able to win our last two games on the road against two very good teams,” said Arena. “It’s preparation. It’s moving your team forward at the end of the year when it matters."
The Revs' next test will be at the highest stage in the East, the Conference Finals. New England is set to square off on Sunday, December 6, when they'll visit Columbus Crew SC at 3 p.m. ET (ABC, ESPN Deportes).
