PREVIEW – There can’t have been many busier summers in the history of the New England Revolution franchise. The comings and goings are there for all to see and it isn’t done yet. Attentions turn away from the MLS transfer window though as the Revs will travel south. Exploria Stadium and Orlando City beckon in a major Eastern Conference clash. Who will prevail?
New England Face Orlando to Distract From the MLS Transfer Window Chaos
A Win Can Put the Revolution Into the Playoffs
There is a lot of doom and gloom surrounding the Revolution right now, yet the playoffs remain in touching distance. With a game in hand on most of the teams above them out East, three more points would see them go above the line. Orlando City won’t make it easy for them, particularly given the conditions. In the words of Bruce Arena: “Playing on the road is always a challenge in Orlando given the heat and humidity.”
The Revs may be winless in six, and this MLS transfer window could be crucial, but the last two games have been better. It has been a case of two pairs of draws on either side of two defeats against the Union and NYCFC. In Columbus and at home against Toronto FC, it finished 0-0 thanks to Djordje Petrovic’s heroics in between the sticks.
Another Djordje clean sheet 🟰 more donuts 😋🍩#NERevs | @dunkindonuts pic.twitter.com/b7d1QDmVOP
— New England Revolution (@NERevolution) August 2, 2022
Meanwhile, Orlando City has been hit-and-miss. After this match, they will face the New York Red Bulls, a team who they put five past in the Open Cup semi-final just days ago. Beyond that, they haven’t won since early July. In the Florida Derby, a Damion Lowe own goal at the death made the difference with Oscar Pareja’s side winning 1-0.
Talking of the Orlando manager and his counterpart spoke highly of him. “Oscar [Pareja] is a veteran coach in this league now, having many years in Dallas and now in Orlando. He’s done a good job in Orlando. He’s one of the veteran coaches now in the league and does a good job year in and year out.”
The Spoils Were Shared When the Pair Last Met
Just less than two months ago, prior to the MLS transfer window opening, Orlando visited Gillette Stadium. The spoils were shared with Carles Gil as the man on target for the hosts. The Spaniard talked of the importance of this final stretch. “Now is the moment to win games, to make the difference if we want to make the playoffs. I think now is the important moment and we need to show what kind of team we are.”
New England scored two in both of the 2021 meetings, one of which was a draw whilst the other saw them prevail. It is hardly surprising to see that the recently departed Adam Buksa scored three across the two fixtures. Gil spoke highly of the Pole’s replacement, Giacomo Vrioni, “He’s a very good striker. He’s doing very good movements for me to try to pass him a good ball. I think he’s improving and I’m sure he will score many goals for us.”
Carles ➡️ Dylan 🟰 🙌⚽️😃 pic.twitter.com/T32A55txuz
— New England Revolution (@NERevolution) June 19, 2022
This is Arena’s breakdown of this weekend’s opposition. “[Alexandre] Pato’s played well this year, [Facundo] Torres on the left is good. [Junior] Urso’s is a real solid veteran in the midfield, [Mauricio] Pereyra is an excellent player, [Benji] Michel and their number nine [Ercan Kara] is a good striker, leading goal scorer and their goalkeeper, [Pedro] Gallese is excellent, so they’ve got a good team. They are in the Open Cup Final, so they are a team, despite losing their last game, that is probably pretty confident at this point.”
Read More: Sebastian Lletget Trade Sees Him Join FC Dallas
What A Hectic MLS Transfer Window!
When it comes to the pre-match press conference, a lot of the conversation was related to the MLS transfer window and understandably so. In the words of Gil, “We lost [Jozy] Altidore first and now Sebastian [Lletget], we’ll miss him inside and outside the pitch. He’s a top player, top person, so I hope he will have very good times in Dallas.” Altidore was unable to make an impact on the field but the Lletget trade comes as quite a surprise.
On the other hand, as well as Vrioni following Dylan Borrero and Petrovic through the door, there is set to be further business in this MLS transfer window. Goalkeeper Clement Diop is supposedly in the pipeline whilst Venezuelan defender Christian Makoun has been brought in from Charlotte. Arena believes that “He’s a player that can help our team.”
Makoun surely won’t make the trip to Orlando with his new Revolution teammates but Vrioni is in line to be further integrated. The Florida side has a number of newer players in 2022 but they arrived in the off-season MLS transfer window. Will them being more settled make the difference at Exploria Stadium?
The game kicks off on Saturday at 7:38 p.m. ET. It will be shown live on MLS LIVE on DAZN, Fox 35 Plus, TV38, and MyRITV & CoziTV.
