Gustavo Bou’s rocket goal leads New England to a 1-0 win over Nashville

Within the first 15 minutes, Nashville had two clear chances.

In the 3rd minute, Former Revolution forward #12 Teal Bunbury of Nashville SC led the attack that combined with reigning MLS MVP #10 Hany Mukhtar who then laid off a pass to #2 Daniel Lovitz whose shot went wide right of the net.

March 18, 2023. Foxboro, Massachusetts, USA. Scenes from the New England Revolution–Nashville FC game, which New England won 1-0.

Entering the 14th minute, Hany Mukhtar’s long-range effort was saved by Revolution goalkeeper Đorđe Petrović. The ball then bounced in the Revolution penalty area as Noel Buck attempted to clear the ball and missed timed the bounce. The ball then found Nashville’s #14 Jacob Shaffelburg in the area and his attempt was blocked by a lunging effort by center back Henry Kessler.

Denying the reigning MVP ❌ pic.twitter.com/wTg2SVzuUL

— New England Revolution (@NERevolution) March 19, 2023

13 minutes later, in the 26th minute, Noel Buck’s through ball pass found forward Gustavo Bou in behind the Nashville defense and his right footed effort glanced just over the bar. This was one of New England’s better chances of the first half.

Following this effort, in the 35th minute, Nashville SC had their best scoring chance of the night. #10 Hany Mukhtar’s delivery from the corner kick found USMNT International #25 Walker Zimmerman who rose over Henry Kessler and won the header. His effort smashed the left upper 90 of the post and ricocheted back into the Revolution penalty area. Two half volley efforts by #14 Jacob Shaffelburg were blocked by Latif Blessing as the ball was launched out of the box.

March 18, 2023. Foxboro, Massachusetts, USA. Scenes from the New England Revolution–Nashville FC game, which New England won 1-0.

The match entered halftime with the team’s level 0-0 at half.

Scoreless at the half.#NERevs | @SantanderBankUS pic.twitter.com/dF37D28bbN

— New England Revolution (@NERevolution) March 19, 2023

Nashville SC kicked off to start the second half and the Revolution took control of the attacking chances early.

In the 47th minute, DeJuan Jones combined with Brandon Bye. His first cross effort found Noel Buck and the ball quickly bounced back toward DeJuan Jones. In his second effort, his cross found Bobby Wood who was wide open in the box. His header was calmly saved by Nashville’s goalkeeper Joe Willis.

1 minute later, Bye had yet another crossing effort towards the penalty area which managed to find Bobby Wood whose effort unfortunately was blocked by his own teammate Gustavo Bou. The effort was later called for offsides.

March 18, 2023. Foxboro, Massachusetts, USA. Scenes from the New England Revolution–Nashville FC game, which New England won 1-0.

Less than 1 minute later from that effort, Bye had yet another crossing effort that found Dylan Borrero in the six-yard box, and his effort was shot directly at Nashville’s goalkeeper Joe Willis who made the simple save.

Entering the 52nd minute, left back DeJuan Jones played a through ball toward forward Bobby Wood. Wood left the pass and the pass found forward Gustavo Bou who took 2 touches before lacing a left footed shot into the top left corner and past Joe Willis. The shot that hit off the post and in was the first goal of the season for Gustavo Bou and the first goal that Nashville SC has allowed all season.

What a finish! Gustavo Bou! pic.twitter.com/AD2V927Sks

— Major League Soccer (@MLS) March 19, 2023

 Following the Revolution goal, Nashville attempted to get back into the game with a pair of efforts in the attacking third that led to nothing.

In the 65th minute, Revolution Head Coach Bruce Arena made his first two changes of the night by replacing forward Bobby Wood and midfielder Noel Buck with forwards Giacomo Vrioni and Justin Rennicks.

In the 69th minute, Revolution midfielder Matt Polster received a yellow card for a harsh foul on Nashville’s #10 Hany Mukhtar. This is Polster’s 2nd yellow card of the season.

In the 77th minute, Nashville had yet another fantastic chance to score off of yet another corner kick. #10 Hany Mukhtar’s corner kick cross was sent into toward #6 Dax McCarty and #7 Fafa Picault. The ball bounced awkwardly off of Brandon Bye toward the back post and the ball was tip saved by New England’s goalkeeper Đorđe Petrović and was bicycle kick cleared out for a corner by Giacomo Vrioni.

In the 83rd minute, Arena substituted left midfielder Dylan Borrero and replaced him with Emmanuel Boateng. 2 minutes later, forward Gustavo Bou was replaced by defender Omar Gonzalez, and the Revolution transitioned into a 5-4-1 formation.

The following 5 minutes saw little to no action, as New England held on for the 1-0 victory.

*Bruce Arena voice* CLEAN SHEETS ‼️‼️

+3 sounds good to us!#NERevs | @SantanderBankUS pic.twitter.com/oQcn6X6mPX

— New England Revolution (@NERevolution) March 19, 2023

Following the end of the match, two supporters inside of the fort shouted toward Revolution forward Jozy Altidore, who was completing wind sprints with teammate Omar Gonzalez, who was subbed on late in the match.

The fan heckled Jozy for roughly 2 minutes before Jozy became upset with something that the fan had said and stopped his wind sprints and began running toward the fan in the stands. Omar attempted to stop him, but Jozy swiftly pushed him aside. Jozy ran and climbed over the advertising boards and was about to approach the fan before being stopped by a Gillette Stadium TeamOps member.

In the video recorded below by @npespitia on Twitter and posted by @revolutioncntrl, the fan can be heard yelling at Jozy, “Make an effort! You didn’t even warm up for the (EXPLICIT) game, you just stood there. You don’t do anything!” What was said prior to the video being recorded has not yet been confirmed.

Following the incident, Jozy did not continue his wind sprints and subsequently left the pitch, and the fan was removed from the supporter’s section.

Members from the individual’s respective supporter group said that the fan will be dealt with accordingly.

Following the match, a New England Revolution fan yelled something in the direction of @JozyAltidore …

Jozy jumped over the endline advertising board and attempted to approach the fan.

Jozy was stopped by security. The fan was removed… and Jozy left the field. #NERevs

— Caleb Pongratz (@CalebPongratz10) March 19, 2023

A few #NERevs fans were heckling Jozy Altidore after tonight’s game

Jozy: What do you want me to do? pic.twitter.com/hhg2IVtwy2

— RevolutionCentral (@revolutioncntrl) March 19, 2023

In regard to historic marks, a few Revolution players had milestone moments after the 90 minutes finished versus Nashville.

Center-back Dave Romney registered his 175th appearance after playing the match. Along with that, center-back Henry Kessler registered his 75th career start with New England. Midfielder Latif Blessing made his 125th MLS start on the night. Forward Justin Rennicks surpassed his 1,000 career MLS minutes milestone tonight, and forward Gustavo Bou scored his 41st goal in his New England Revolution career. The player is currently 9th all-time in Revolution scoring and sits 1 goal behind Shalrie Joseph (2003-2012, 2014) and 2 goals behind Joe Max-Moore (1996-1999, 2003-2004).

Center back Omar Gonzalez now remains 17 minutes away from surpassing the 22,000 minutes milestone.