FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – It had been more than five months since Matt Polster had stepped onto the field in a competitive match, but that didn’t stop him from going the full 90 minutes on Thursday night as he made his New England Revolution debut in a 0-0 draw with the Philadelphia Union.
Polster, officially signed by the Revs in early July but unable to join his new squad while they competed in the MLS is Back Tournament in Orlando, hadn’t seen action since his final appearance with Rangers FC on March 12, coming off the bench to play the final five minutes of a Europa League match vs. Bayer Leverkusen. His last start had come on March 8 in a Scottish Premiership meeting with Ross County.
Back on the field after such a long, pandemic-induced absence, Polster admitted to tiring in the very late stages, but the fatigue didn’t show as the 27-year-old midfielder was dogged through the final whistle.
“I think I tired a little bit in the last five or 10 minutes, but I thought I was still able to get to second balls, still put in a couple tackles, and get up and down the pitch a couple times,” said Polster. “I feel fine for 90. We’ll see how I recover. I do pretty well when I recover, so I’m not too concerned about that either.
“I settled in a little bit. I think I was a bit excited, nervous, a little bit of everything finally playing my first game, my first 90 in quite a few months, obviously.”
Polster was immense as a deep-lying midfielder, recording seven possessions gained and leading the Revolution in passing percentage (89.2 percent), completing 58 of his 65 passes. He was calm and incisive in possession but relentless in closing down passing lanes and winning second balls.
The former Chicago Fire midfielder also came dangerously close to providing a game-winning assist in the closing stages when he slipped Gustavo Bou into the box, but Bou’s 88th-minute effort was blocked.
“I thought he played well,” Richie Williams, serving as head coach in place of the suspended Bruce Arena, said of Polster. “He’s been settling in. To go 90 minutes and he hasn’t played a game in a long time, he really pushed through it.
“I thought he was good with the ball. He was strong in the midfield. He obviously picked up a caution, but he made some good tackles with pressure, won balls on their midfield against their attackers. He distributes the ball well. He plays a very good ball forward. I thought he had a good game.”
With a debut under his belt, Polster will now turn his attention to recovering quickly ahead of the Revolution’s next match in just a few days, as they’ll visit D.C. United on Tuesday, August 25, at Audi Field (7 p.m. ET, NBC Sports Boston, 98.5 The Sports Hub).
