The New England Revolution are cruising before a Week 7 match at FC Cincinnati this Saturday (3 pm ET | MLS LIVE on ESPN+), and, in the opinion of the Extratime crew, they’ve emerged as the second best team in MLS.
While Supporters' Shield leaders the Seattle Sounders sit above them, but Bruce Arena’s side isn’t too far behind and lead the Eastern Conference with a 4W-1L-2D record (14 points).
The underlying reasons behind their success, according to co-host David Gass, are multi-faceted. But US men’s national team goalkeeper Matt Turner and midfielder Carles Gil, who they recently re-signed through 2024, offer a good place to start.
“I think they’re better than they were last year, they have a healthy Carles Gil, they’ve improved at center back and they’ve still got the best goalkeeper in MLS,” Gass said. “They’ve been awesome and they haven’t played up to their level. They’re first in the East, they’re getting wins left and right and they have not even scratched the surface of how good they can be.”
During the 2020 season, sparked by Gil returning from a long-term injury, New England reached the Eastern Conference Final. Only the Columbus Crew, eventual MLS Cup champions, could stop them during Arena’s first full year at the helm.
Now, they’re getting impactful minutes from center back Jon Bell and midfielder Maciel after their promotions from USL League One side Revolution II. And their three offseason international signings – left back Christian Mafla, midfielder Wilfrid Kaptoum and winger Arnor Traustason – are still looking to hit their stride.
Aside from those complementary pieces, co-host Calen Carr’s been impressed by how Arena’s finding ways to get the most out of forwards Gustavo Bou and Adam Buksa, who hold two of their three Designated Player spots alongside Gil. They both scored in last weekend’s 3-1 trot past the New York Red Bulls, with Bou starting as the No. 9 in a 4-2-3-1 formation before Buksa came off the bench to ice the match.
“We had questions of can you bring a DP off the bench and how does that work or how do [he] and Bou work together,” Carr said. “I think they’ve just sort of at this point said, ‘At least for right now we’re going to go with the hotter hand.’ And that actually is Bou, and then Buksa has been really dangerous because he’s pretty pacy. Bringing him on late in games, he can actually get on the end of things and stretch and cause problems.
“It’s a nice little one-two because they also switch the formation and go to a 4-4-2 when he comes in. They play the two of them together, which I don't think worked for them as well when they tried to go with that from the start. They just didn’t really have that relationship, but in transition moments, attacking with those two strikers high late in games, you saw at the end, they combined. It’s been a dangerous little wrinkle for Bruce to throw at them.”
For more from Extratime, check out the Revs-centric clip above and the latest episode here.
