CINCINNATI – The New England Revolution (4-5-3, 15 pts.) defeated FC Cincinnati (6-6-1, 19 pts.), 3-2, at TQL Stadium on Saturday in a match delayed 78 minutes by inclement weather. Brandon Bye recorded assists on all three goals as Adam Buksa, Sebastian Lletget, and Tommy McNamara each tallied goals in New England’s first away win of the season. The Revolution, unbeaten in their last four league matches, set a club record by scoring multiple goals for the seventh straight MLS match.
Lletget fired the Revolution in front with a spectacular overhead finish in the 17th minute, rising for a scissor kick that sent Bye’s cross past Cincinnati’s rookie goalkeeper Roman Celentano. The Goal of the Week contender is Lletget’s second tally of the season as he has now contributed to a goal in the last three league games.
Cincinnati leveled the score in the 26th minute on a headed goal by Brandon Vazquez, before Buksa reclaimed the lead for New England with a clever backheeled finish in the 43rd minute, again assisted by Bye. Buksa has now scored in seven consecutive games for New England, tying a Revolution club record set in 2000. The Polish international has nine goals in his last eight starts, and six goals in four career starts against FC Cincinnati across all competitions.
Carles Gil moves into a tie for first in MLS with his seventh assist of the year on Buksa’s goal. With an assist in five consecutive MLS games, Gil tied his own club record, shared with Steve Ralston (2002). In the 58th minute, Cincinnati’s Alvaro Barreal found the equalizer to knot the game at 2-2, but the Revolution had the final word. In the 89th minute, Bye delivered his third assist of the game to Tommy McNamara, who scored the winning goal, his first of the year.
Forward Gustavo Bou returned from injury to make his first appearance since March 16. The 2021 MLS Best XI selection played 45 minutes in this third MLS appearance of 2022. Revolution newcomer Dylan Borrero, a 20-year-old midfielder acquired in April from Brazilian champions Atletico Mineiro using the league’s U-22 Initiative, made his MLS debut as a substitute in the 65th minute.
The Revolution head back on the road this Wednesday, May 25 for a meeting with New York City FC in the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup Round of 16. The match at Belson Stadium in Jamaica, N.Y. kicks off at 7:30 p.m. ET on ESPN+. New England then resumes MLS action next Saturday, May 28 at Gillette Stadium against the Philadelphia Union (7:30 p.m. ET – TV38, myRITV, CoziTV, 98.5 The Sports Hub).
POSTGAME NOTES
New England Revolution 3, FC Cincinnati 2
May 21, 2022 – TQL Stadium (Cincinnati, Ohio)
- With three goals tonight, New England has scored multiple goals in seven consecutive league games for the first time in club history.
- New England has won five straight against FC Cincinnati as their record moves to 5-1-0 in all competitions and 4-1-0 in MLS play.
- Adam Buksa has scored a goal in seven straight games in all competitions, tying the Revolution club record set in 2000 by Wolde Harris (7 – all in MLS).
- Buksa is only the third Revolution player to score in six straight regular season games (Wolde Harris – 7 in 2000; Taylor Twellman – 6 in 2002).
- Buksa now has six goals in 320 minutes played across four starts against FC Cincinnati in all competitions, good for a rate of 1.69 goals per 90 minutes.
- Brandon Bye’s three-assist night was the first of his career and New England’s first since June 23, 2021 (Carles Gil). The defender owns a career-high four assists on the season.
- Carles Gil now has an assist in five consecutive MLS games, equaling his own club record (2021) shared with Steve Ralston (2002).
- Gil’sseven assists are tied with Diego Fagundez for the MLS lead, as of the end of Saturday’s match.
- Gil’s 41 regular season assists, the most in MLS since the start of 2019, stand alone as the fourth most in Revolution annals, one ahead of Kelyn Rowe and Chris Tierney (40).
- Sebastian Lletget has contributed to goals in his last three MLS games, and now has two goals and three helpers on the season.
- Tommy McNamara’s game-winning goal in the 89th minute was his first goal of the season and 19th in MLS.
- Matt Turner made his 101st MLS start and eclipsed 9,000 career minutes played. Turner is now 4-0-0 with two clean sheets against FC Cincinnati.
- Colombian midfielder* Dylan Borrero, the Revolution’s recent U-22 Initiative signing, recorded 15 touches in 25 minutes in his MLS and club debut. Gustavo Bou entered at halftime for his third MLS appearance of 2022 and his first game action since suffering a leg injury on March 16 at Pumas.
- Bruce Arena made three changes to the starting lineup from last Sunday’s draw at Atlanta United. Omar Gonzalez, Wilfrid Kaptoum, and Damian Rivera **started in place of Henry Kessler (injury), Matt Polster (suspension), and Emmanuel Boateng, respectively.
GAME CAPSULE
Referee: Silviu Petrescu
Assistant Referees: Jose Da Silva (AR1), Brian Dunn (AR2)
Fourth Official: Elvis Osmanovic
Video Assistant Referee: Armando Villarreal
Assistant Video Assistant Referee: Mike Kampmeinert
Weather: 67 Degrees &cloudy
Attendance: 22,844
Scoring Summary:
NE – Sebastian Lletget 2 (Brandon Bye 2) 17’
CIN – Brandon Vazquez 7 (John Nelson 1, Luciano Acosta 4) 26’
NE – Adam Buksa 7 (Brandon Bye 3, Carles Gil 7) 43’
CIN – Alvaro Barreal 1 (Dominique Badji 2, Luciano Acosta 5) 58’
NE – Tommy McNamara 1 (Brandon Bye 4) 89’
Misconduct Summary:
NE – Damian Rivera (Yellow Card – Unsporting Behavior) 5’
CIN – Obinna Nwobodo (Yellow Card – Unsporting Behavior) 23’
NE – Emmanuel Boateng (Yellow Card – Time Wasting) 90’+3
New England Revolution: Matt Turner; DeJuan Jones, Omar Gonzalez (Jon Bell 83’), Andrew Farrell, Brandon Bye; Tommy McNamara, Wilfrid Kaptoum (Maciel 64’), Damian Rivera (Dylan Borrero 65’), Carles Gil ©, Sebastian Lletget (Gustavo Bou 46’), Adam Buksa (Emmanuel Boateng 80’)
Substitutes Not Used: Djordje Petrović, A.J. DeLaGarza, Justin Rennicks, Ryan Spaulding
FC Cincinnati: Roman Celentano, Alvas Powell (Raymon Gaddis 61’), John Nelson, Nick Hagglund, Ian Murphy, Obinna Nwobodo, Luciano Acosta ©, Junior Moreno, Dominique Badj (Yuya Kubo 75’), Brandon Vazquez (Arquimides Ordonez 84’), Alvaro Barreal
Substitutes Not Used: Kenneth Vermeer, Haris Medunjanin, Geoff Cameron, Tyler Blackett, Nick Markanich, Harrison Robledo
New England Revolution Sporting Director & Head Coach Bruce Arena
On getting the first away win of the season:
Arena: “Listen, games on the road are hard. We got a break tonight. We haven’t had a break all year, basically. And tonight we got a break getting a call at the end of the game. But, we scored in the last, I don’t know how many road games, we score at least two goals a game. Tonight we had three. So, we’re in position to win games. We’ve made some mental errors, but the team generally has been very competitive on the road, just hasn’t been able to collect three points. Defensively, we’ve got to be better for sure.”
On Tommy McNamara’s performance and the game-winning goal:
Arena: “Tommy’s [McNamara] played very well. He was very good defensively today. You know, dealing with [Luciano] Acosta in the midfield is a bit of a handful and I think Tommy made a bunch of good plays defensively and then obviously, the winning goal. What more you can say? An outstanding performance on his part.”
On the performances of Gustavo Bou and Dylan Borrero and the injury status of Adam Buksa:
Arena: “Gustavo [Bou] did well. I think Dylan [Borrero], for his first game, did well. Obviously, he has to get used to this league, or team, all of that. A little bit of a gamble bringing him in at that time, but we need to get him on the field. He’s going to be a good player. So, for the first game, I thought it was pretty good. And Gustavo looked like a real veteran out there. So that was a real positive.”
On Wilfrid Kaptoum’s performance:
Arena: “Played a good game. You know, he is a good passer. Obviously, not having many minutes in him, his fitness was going to be a factor. So, we got a good, I think 65 minutes of him. I don’t know exactly, but he did a good job – good, solid job in place of [Matt] Polster.”
On Sebastian Lletget’s toughness after being injured and then coming back to score minutes later:
Arena: “Yeah, I mean, an excellent goal. Obviously, just took a shot to the head, which is not unusual in our sport. We had to take him [Sebastian Lletget] out of the game at halftime, because he felt a little tightness in his hamstring, which we discovered is not a problem. But obviously a good 45 minutes, a big goal for us.”
New England Revolution Player Brandon Bye
On if the team feels like they are getting back into their rhythm from the 2021 season:
Bye: “It’s a new year. I hate talking about last year, to be honest. You know, it’s in the past honestly and we look to move forward. But yeah, honestly, it’s nice to get the road win and move forward as a team.’
On any noticeable differences in his play as the season progresses:
Bye: “No, just trusting the process and keep moving forward. Honestly, you know, it’s three great finishes tonight to be honest. Adam [Buksa], Seba [Sebastian Lletget], and Tommy [McNamara], you can’t ask for better finishes. So, I just put the ball in the spot and they do the rest. Happy to get the result and happy to get those three.”
On the progression of his level of service into the box:
Bye: “Yeah, just working every day. We have some great coaches that work with me individually, and you know, I guess that’s showing. Yeah, it’s just a progression and we try to keep moving forward.”
On the return of Gustavo Bou and the debut of Dylan Borrero:
Bye: “Yeah, it’s great to have Gustavo [Bou] back, and Dylan [Borrero], yeah, explosive player. Yet to see too much from him, but looking forward to seeing him more on the field in the future.”
