The New England Revolution have had a torrid record on opening day with a number of these defeats coming away from home. Another trip beckoned with Charlotte the destination this time and for once, it ended well. In a relatively tight game, defender Henry Kessler popped up in the final minutes to score the only goal of the game.
Henry Kessler Makes the Difference at the Death
Arena Trusting the Youth
There were a lot of questions about how the Revs would line-up in North Carolina and the majority of fans ended up being quietly pleased. Bruce Arena put his faith in youngsters in the face of some injuries with Noel Buck and Damian Rivera the duo to be in it from the off.
Dylan Borrero was another of the younger players on the field and he was massively impressive. The Colombian caused Charlotte fullback Nathan Byrne a lot of problems and Arena seemed optimistic about his impact too. He “can get a little cleaner in the final third of the field, but he was threatening right from the start of the game and had a bunch of good attacking plays. He was certainly a player that they had to focus on at times”.
Dylan Borrero really knows how to put pressure on the CLT defense #NERevs
— Shukri Wrights (@ShukriWrights) February 26, 2023
Buck received a lot of praise on social media after the game and rightfully so. The 17-year-old played well beyond his years and actually was involved in the Henry Kessler goal. He intercepted the ball in the middle of the park and fed Brandon Bye who himself, along with fellow fullback DeJuan Jones, had a strong game.
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The new Henry Kessler and Dave Romney Partnership
Defensive issues were rife in the Revolution squad last season, with a number of individual mistakes costing the team. Djordje Petrovic didn’t have to bail out any of his teammates at Bank of America Stadium and, in the absence of Andrew Farrell, Henry Kessler and Dave Romney formed a resolute centre-back partnership.
Romney worked with Arena at the Galaxy and it was a respectable competitive Revs debut from the former Nashville SC defender indeed. Arena himself said that Romney “played a real solid game” before also going on to that the “centre-back pairing was very good today.”
I woke up feeling dangerous
— Henry Kessler (@HenryKessler4) February 26, 2023
Kessler was complimentary of the man alongside him too, saying the following: “I think we limited their chances for the most part, so I think it was pretty good.” The New Yorker made the difference at both ends, hitting the post before he was then eventually able to beat Charlotte shot-stopper Pablo Sisniega, giving his thoughts on this after the game. “I wish I scored the header. I wanted that one too, because I don’t get too many chances, so I wanted that one, but I was glad that I got another one later and took advantage of that chance.”
It was a defensively resolute performance from the Revolution which isn’t something their supporters were able to become accustomed to in 2022. They are off to a winning start with a number of positives ahead of their first home game against the Houston Dynamo.
