CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Charlotte FC entered the weekend atop the Eastern Conference standings and boasting a perfect 5-0-0 record at Bank of America Stadium.
And then the New England Revolution came to town.
Carles Gil scored his team-leading fourth goal of the season in the 77th minute and the Revs kept their third straight clean sheet to claim a 1-0 win and become the first team to take any points home from Charlotte – let alone the full three – since last August.
“We’re over the moon,” said head coach Caleb Porter. “We just beat the team that’s top of the East, a team that’s putting up gaudy numbers of goals against teams, a team that has scored a lot of goals in the second half. And we shut them down.”
While it was Gil’s goal that made the difference, it was yet another rock solid defensive performance that set the foundation for Saturday night’s win. Charlotte officially registered 18 shots, but just four were on target and the vast majority of attempts came from outside the penalty area, rarely troubling New England goalkeeper Aljaž Ivačič.
The central defensive trio of Brayan Ceballos, Mamadou Fofana, and Tanner Beason were particularly strong, and with just seven goals against through nine games, the Revs have matched the best defensive start at this stage of a season in club history (2005). That’s a remarkable turnaround for a team that allowed a club record 74 goals in 2024.
“You don’t know how hard it is to defend as well as we’re defending right now,” said Porter. “It takes organization, it takes a good mentality, it takes grit.”
Porter pointed to a tense sequence in the second half when a shoving match broke out between the sides near midfield, and just about every Revolution field player joined the fray to defend their teammates. It was largely unremarkable in the context of the 90 minutes, but it showed the type of team spirit that Porter has been craving.
It also provided the Revs with a spark of energy at a critical moment.
“I think we have a tightknit group, and in those little moments, even though the actual incident is never really a big deal, you see the response from the team, you see the kind of commitment that we have to one another, and the care we show for one another in those moments,” said Beason, a North Carolina native who had upwards of 30 friends and family in the stands at Bank of America Stadium. “Not only that, but just the general competitive energy, that was good to see.
“I think that was a little bit of a galvanizing moment for us in the game to kind of reenergize us for the rest of it.”
Grit, belief, and camaraderie can set the tone for a defensive performance, but for three points, you also need a match winner. And as he so often does, Gil stepped up to play that role against Charlotte, feinting a cross to get defender Tim Ream off his feet before cutting inside onto his left foot and curling a clever shot just inside the far post.
“Our attacking group gives us a ton of confidence,” said Beason. “There’s a lot of talented players up there, and Carles is most certainly one of them. They’re all capable of producing those really cool moments, those bits of quality, which is what wins games ultimately, especially tight games. Carles did that tonight.”
Currently one of Major League Soccer’s most in-form sides with four wins in their last five, the Revs will remain on the road for the vast majority of May, including a trip north of the border to Toronto FC next weekend. And while the Revs will feel confident after back-to-back road wins in Atlanta and Charlotte, Porter also knows his side will need to continue improving as they eye a continued climb up the Eastern Conference table.
“We’re going to celebrate this. Obviously, it’s a big win,” Porter said. “But I told the guys, on Tuesday, we get back to work.”
