Photo by nerevolution Instagram
Within the last eight days, the New England Revolution have pulled off two gigantic upsets!
The Revs defeated the Eastern Conference’s number 1 seed, the Philadelphia Union Tuesday, Nov. 24 by a score of 2-0, and Orlando City SC (the number 4 seed) by a score of 3-1 this past Sunday, Nov. 29 – both on the road. The Revs also defeated the Montreal Impact in the playoff qualifier, and were placed as the number 8 seed going into the playoffs.
Ian Nicholas Quillen, who covers the MLS for Forbes.com wrote, “In a normal season, New England Revolution would’ve finished one spot out of the MLS Cup Playoffs, having finished eighth in the Eastern Conference. Now thanks to an expanded postseason field due to the COVID-19 pandemic the Revs are two wins away from the best team playoff performance in MLS history.”
The Revs are also the first team in MLS history to lead 2-0 in the first thirty minutes of two straight playoff matches.
When the Revs took on Philadelphia, the first and only two goals in that game were scored by Adam Buksa and by Tajon Buchanan. In the game against Orlando, Gustavo Bou scored two of the Revs three goals, making Bou only the second player in Revs history to have a two-goal game in the postseason.
The other Revs goal was scored on a penalty kick (PK) by Carles Gil, which was the first goal of the game. The only goal that was scored by Orlando City was in the 32nd minute, when Junior Urso scored his first career MLS cup playoff goal to cut the Revs lead in half. However, in the 59th minute Orlando would lose one of their key weapons on offense, midfielder Mauricio Pereyra, as he earned a red card for cleating Revs midfielder Matt Polster.
Then came the save of the playoffs! Even though Orlando had to play with only ten players for the rest of the match following the red card to Pereyra, they still hung in there. In the 72nd minute, Orlando had a golden opportunity for an equalizer when a foul was called in the box on Polster. Nani for Orlando took the PK which was stopped by Matt Turner.
The Revs then scored an insurance goal in the 85th minute to go up 3-1, and that would end up being the final score. New England takes on the Columbus Crew SC in the Eastern Conference Finals this Sunday, December 6th at 3:00 PM.