MLS Regular Season | Match #9
New England Revolution at New York City FC
Saturday, June 19 | 7:30 p.m. ET
Red Bull Arena | Harrison, N.J.
Watch: TV38, myRITV, CoziTV
Listen: 98.5 The Sports Hub (English), WBIX 1260 Nossa Radio (Portuguese)
CURRENT FORM
New England Revolution
1st in Eastern Conference (5-1-2, 17 pts.)
Last Result | 1-0 win at FC Cincinnati
New England entered the international break as perhaps the hottest team in MLS, rattling off three straight wins to create a three-point gap at the top of the Eastern Conference standings. In their final match before the break the Revs picked up their first road win of the season with a 1-0 triumph over FC Cincinnati at TQL Stadium. They’ll play five of their next seven games on the road, including Saturday’s trip to Red Bull Arena.
Adam Buksa scored the game winner in Cincinnati – his third straight game with a goal – assisted by Carles Gil, who has now registered a helper in three straight games. While that duo has led the attack, goalkeeper Matt Turner has backstopped a Revolution defense that has conceded just one goal during that three-game winning streak.
New York City FC
4th in Eastern Conference (3-2-2, 11 pts.)
Last Result | 2-1 win at Los Angeles FC
NYCFC snapped a brief three-game winless run (0-1-2) with a massive 2-1 road victory at Los Angeles FC just before the break. Despite going down a man in the 86th minute with the score level at 1-1, the visitors found a 90th-minute winner through Ismael Tajouri-Shradi, who has now scored in back-to-back games.
Only one Eastern Conference team has scored more than the Revolution’s 11 goals, and that’s NYCFC, which leads the East and is third in MLS with 13 goals through seven games. Ronny Deila’s side has been particularly dangerous on set pieces, including a remarkable 5-0 win over FC Cincinnati in which all five goals started from dead-ball situations.
KEY PLAYERS
Revolution midfielder Carles Gil
In fairness, Carles Gil could be listed as the Revolution’s key player in just about every match, but it’s worth highlighting the Revs’ talisman who established himself as an MVP frontrunner through the season’s early stages. Gil currently leads MLS with five assists, while he’s the runaway leader in key passes with 45, almost double second-place Emanuel Reynoso of Minnesota United (25).
Three of Gil’s assists have come in the last three games, and he racked up an impressive one goal and four assists in the month of May, leading the Revs to a 4-1-1 record. Somewhat surprisingly the 28-year-old is still searching for his first goal or assist against NYCFC, having gone scoreless in two appearances.
NYCFC forward Valentín Castellanos
Several players have played key roles in NYCFC’s East-leading attack, but Valentín Castellanos has perhaps been the most consistent. The Argentine forward scored in four straight games to begin the season, and he’s the only NYCFC player to rank in the top five on the club in both goals (4) and assists (2).
Castellanos is also the only NYCFC field player to have been on the field for all 630 minutes this season. Dating back to last November, Castellanos has eight goals and three assists in his last nine appearances.
STATUS REPORT
Revolution
Luis Caicedo and Christian Mafla are both recovering from lower body injuries and will miss out on this weekend’s trip to New Jersey. Sporting director and head coach Bruce Arena said on Thursday that Mafla “had a little bit of a setback earlier this week with a muscle injury,” but the Revs are hopeful the Colombian left back will be fit enough to rejoin training next week.
Gustavo Bou, meanwhile, is “100 percent” according to Arena after the Argentine forward was unavailable for the Revolution’s win over FC Cincinnati just before the international break, while Tajon Buchanan is also available for selection after helping Canada qualify for the final round of Concacaf World Cup qualifying earlier this week.
NYCFC
The hosts will be without four players for Saturday’s visit from the Revs, including center back Alexander Callens, who is with the Peru National Team for Copa América, and midfielder Nicolás Acevedo, who is suspended after being sent off in NYCFC’s win over LAFC.
Héber, who bagged 15 goals in 2019, is out with an injury, as is Chris Gloster.
WHAT THEY’RE SAYING
New England Revolution head coach Bruce Arena
“You have two good teams and we’re playing on a full-sized field, which is good. Yankee Stadium – as much as we appreciate the Yankees if you’re a New Yorker like I, you look forward to going to Yankee Stadium – but it’s not a soccer stadium and it makes games really challenging with sight lines and the size of the field and all of that. It’ll be nice to play at Red Bull [Arena], but at the same time, I don’t think it makes a difference for the two teams.”
New England Revolution winger Arnór Traustason
“(MLS) is way different from what I’m used to. It’s high-tempo and it’s a lot of man-to-man. Pretty, pretty good players all over on every team. It’s different but I like new challenges and challenging myself. It was one challenge that I knew would be here when I came here. I’m just trying to adapt.”
New York City FC head coach Ronny Deila
“Of course, [Carles] Gil is a great player. He’s done really well since he’s come back from injury last year, and we have to pay attention to him, of course. We can’t give him big spaces, and we have to be together in everything we do, and that’s been our strength this year … Of course we have to have extra focus on him so we don’t give him an opportunity to turn and get in between the lines. It’ll be similar like we had with (LAFC forward Carlos) Vela.”
New York City FC midfielder James Sands
“I always look forward to playing against top players. I look forward to the Columbus game against (Lucas) Zelarayán, the Toronto game, Orlando – they’ve all got top players. And I think we’ve got to approach New England the same way. It’s going to be about team defending and making sure that Carles Gil is contained, not giving him a lot of room to work. I think generally we’ve been good against top players, so we’ll have to continue that this weekend.”
