New England Revolution

6 takeaways as Revolution advance in Champions Cup, brace for matchup with Club América

After conceding early, New England kept calm and avoided a repeat of the 2022 collapse against Pumas UNAM.

By Hayden Bird

March 15, 2024

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After an ominous start, the Revolution settled down and eventually earned a 1-1 draw against Liga Deportiva Alajuelense in Thursday’s second leg of the CONCACAF Champions Cup Round of 16 matchup. As a result, New England advanced on aggregate (5-1) to the quarterfinals, where a serious test awaits in the form of Liga MX powerhouse Club América.

The game began badly for the Revolution, with the Costa Rican home team finding the back of the net after just four minutes via Carlos Mora’s close range tap-in off of Celso Borges’ initial shot.

Yet despite incessant pressure for much of the first half, New England’s defense may have bent on a number of occasions, but avoided breaking. And after successfully managing the game through halftime with just a one-goal deficit, Caleb Porter’s team looked slightly more solid in the second half.

Somewhat unexpectedly (given his rocky start to the season), substitute Giacomo Vrioni scored the decisive goal in the matchup when he latched onto Esmir Bajraktarevic’s chipped through ball, cut back around Alajuelense center back Manjrekar James, and fired in his first goal in a competitive match in 2024.

While it was far from their best performance, Porter’s team showed a necessary level of composure and situational awareness required to grind out a result on the road (and amid an ongoing period of schedule congestion).

Here are a few takeaways:

The low block invited early pressure.

Revolution captain Carles Gil was left on the bench (as he had been in the earlier game against Alajuelense), as he and several other starters from the weekend loss in Atlanta were not included in the Starting XI. The 4-3-3 system first unveiled on Saturday was again called upon, with the ever-present Matt Polster partnering with Ian Harkes and Noel Buck in central midfield.

Having run up a 4-0 lead in aggregate score after a dominant first leg win at home last week, Porter switched up New England’s approach on Thursday given the circumstances.

The initial period of the first half produced a bevy of chances for Alajuelense, highlighted by Mora’s goal. Part of the home team’s dominance could be attributed to a more passive defensive approach from New England.

After pressing the Costa Rican side effectively at Gillette Stadium and creating multiple goals off of turnovers in the first matchup, the Revolution sat deeper in defensive positions on Thursday in what’s called a “low block.”

When combined with the insistence on playing the ball out of the back of defense — though there were a few exceptions where New England were simply forced to clear it — the main result early on were several harrowing moments of near-turnovers off of nervy passes deep in their own half of the field.

Still, notwithstanding Alajuelense’s early momentum with the quick goal, it proved to be the only real disaster sequence of the night for the Revolution.

Henrich Ravas showed his mettle.

Even on the goal that he conceded early, Revolution goalkeeper Henrich Ravas showed real quality. He stopped Alajuelense captain Celso Borges’ point-blank shot:

Unfortunately for Ravas, Mora was lurking right in the path of the rebound, and tapped home the opening goal.

From there, the 26-year-old Slovakian managed to hang tough. By the end of the night, he had tallied seven saves in what was arguably his most impressive performance since joining New England in the offseason.

After being spoiled with the above-average performances of previous goalkeepers Matt Turner and Djordje Petrovic over the past several seasons, New England has been waiting to see what it has in Ravas. If Thursday was any indication, he might have quite a bit of potential too.

Jonathan Mensah has quietly been an effective rotation player.

When 33-year-old center back Jonathan Mensah was signed as a free agent prior to the season, Porter — having coached Mensah in Columbus — acknowledged that he was no longer an everyday player.

“He’s at a stage of his career where he’s not going to play every game,” Porter said in January of Mensah. “But, the games he plays, he’s going to be fresh, and he’s a quality player.”

That was indeed the case on Thursday, when the veteran defender was added to the starting lineup in place of fellow center back Dave Romney.

As was the case in the first leg, Mensah was a rock in the middle of New England’s defense, thwarting numerous Alajuelense opportunities in front of goal. He led the game in both clearances and headed clearances (imperfect stats, but indicative of his timely defensive role).

“You could see his experience, and for me, he was for sure one of the best players today and he had to be in this type of game,” Porter said afterward.

The result helped put to rest lingering doubts from 2022.

It was a game played in the shadow of the Revolution’s last foray into continental competition, when a 3-0 first leg lead evaporated in the thin air of Mexico City against Liga MX side Pumas UNAM in 2022. The resulting penalty kick loss sent the Revolution crashing out of the tournament in shocking fashion.

The concession of an early goal on Thursday — evening with a seemingly insurmountable lead on aggregate — inevitably filled some Revolutions fans with a sense of dread as they feared a repeat of the earlier disaster.

Yet by managing timely possession and with patient defending, New England methodically saw out the rest of the game without conceding again.

The only New England player who featured in both the 2022 debacle against Pumas and Thursday’s matchup in Costa Rica was Polster. While he has looked fatigued at times in recent games (given that he has started every game of the season so far), the 30-year-old Polster was instrumental in keeping the roof from caving in against Alajuelense.

He led all players in the game with 86 touches. He also tallied a game-high number of passes (72) as well as passing completion rate (92 percent). The Revolution as a team also completed passes at a higher rate than the opposition (84-percent vs. 82-percent). In all, it was a reassuringly composed performance even after the early concession.

Could the goal be a big moment in the long-term for Giacomo Vrioni?

It has, to put it mildly, not been an ideal start to the season for Vrioni.

New England’s enigmatic striker entered the night having accrued more suspensions than goals (he was sent off in the MLS opener, and missed the initial Champions Cup game against Alajuelense after exceeding the yellow card limit).

Finally, he managed a satisfying riposte to his chorus of critics. The emphatic goal in the 81st minute put a bow on the Revolution’s Round of 16, giving his team a crucial away goal.

Looking at the rest of the season, Porter’s squad will never reach its full potential unless it gets greater production from the center forward position. If Vrioni can use his clutch goal as a springboard, Revolution fans might end up looking back on Thursday as a turning point. The inscrutable 25-year-old now needs to display consistency to fully disprove the skeptics.

A major matchup awaits in the quarterfinals.

With Alajuelense and the Round of 16 now taken care of, New England turns its attention to the team that had already advanced: Club América. The two quarterfinal games will take place on April 2 and April 9. The first leg will be played at Mexico’s famed Estadio Azteca (where, among other events, the Patriots faced the Raiders in 2017), with the second game coming at Gillette.

América are the most decorated team in Mexican soccer, having won 14 league titles and seven Champions League/Champions Cup trophies.

This will be by far the biggest test of the Revolution in the Champions Cup. New England has played its best 2024 soccer in the continental competition, and will need to reach an even higher level to overcome the talented Mexican opposition.