FOXBOROUGH, MA– The New England Revolution (12-7-4, 43 pts.) drew 1-1 and then were defeated 4-3 in a penalty shootout in their Leagues Cup Round of 16 match versus Querétaro F.C. (1-1-1, 4 pts. in Liga MX) on Monday night.
The match kicked off at 7:30 p.m. ET at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts to a crowd of 10,000.
— New England Revolution (@NERevolution) August 7, 2023
The team started their lineup in a 4-2-3-1 formation with Đorđe Petrović. starting in the net with a backline of (left back) Ryan Spaulding, (center backs) Dave Romney, and Andrew Farrell, along with (right back) DeJuan Jones. The central defensive midfield spots were manned by Mark-Anthony Kaye and Matt Polster. The midfield trio ahead of them were Emmanuel Boateng (left midfielder), Ian Harkes (central midfield), and Noel Buck (right midfield). The forward role was manned by Giacomo Vrioni.
Đorđe Petrović returns to the starting lineup after missing the last match due to personal reasons.
Midfielder Carles Gil and Forward Gustavo Bou both missed today’s match with injuries sustained in their last match.
Newcomer Tomás Chancalay was available off the bench in today’s match.
Today’s match began with the Revolution’s team photo holding up the jersey of defender Brandon Bye. Last match, Bye went down with a right knee injury, that has now been confirmed as a Right ACL tear. He will miss the rest of the season.
? @brandon_bye pic.twitter.com/VXBK1TLezG
— New England Revolution (@NERevolution) August 8, 2023
The match began with Querétaro F.C. starting from the center circle. They elected to play the ball directly back to their center-back, who elected to launch the ball up the right flank of the field into the Revolution’s defensive third.
In the 18th minute, Querétaro midfielder #23 Jordan Sierra was issued a yellow card for a foul on Revolution defender Ryan Spaulding.
The first chance of the match came for New England in the 19th minute when defender DeJuan Jones’ header off of a cross by Noel Buck struck the crossbar.
Querétaro’s first chance of the match came in the 28th minute when midfielder #23 Jordan Sierra’s right-footed shot went just wide of the left post.
In the 40th minute, Revolution defender Dave Romney was issued a yellow card for a foul on Querétaro forward #15 Ángel Sepúlveda.
After the 45+3 minutes, the match entered halftime level at 0-0.
45 more minutes to find a winner.
? @FS1,@UniMas, @AppleTV: https://t.co/Vr7jZm0ml0#LeaguesCup2023 pic.twitter.com/E4viXLGn4k
— New England Revolution (@NERevolution) August 8, 2023
The second half began with New England starting from the center circle. Giacomo Vrioni played the ball backward to Mark-Anthony Kaye who elected to play the ball backward to Ryan Spaulding to build out of the back for New England.
Less than one minute into the 2nd half, disaster struck for New England as Querétaro gained an early lead.
???-??́-??-?? ? ⚽️ https://t.co/IDwkfgf8hY pic.twitter.com/enkvVtGPCH
— Leagues Cup (@LeaguesCup) August 8, 2023
After a poor giveaway in the midfield by Mark-Anthony Kaye, Querétaro midfielder #8 Pablo Barrera played a right-footed service into the penalty area which found the head of midfielder #12 Jaime Gómez. Petrović misread the cross as Valencia over-stepped Farrell for the goal. Initially, it was called offside, but after a video review, the goal was given.
Entering the 57th minute, Revolution head coach Richie Williams made his first three changes of the match by substituting midfielders Mark-Anthony Kaye, Noel Buck, and Emmanuel Boateng and replacing them with Nacho Gil, Damian Rivera, and Esmir Bajraktarević.
Querétaro’s first chance of the second half came in the 59th minute when #15 Ángel Sepúlveda’s right-footed close-range shot was met by a fantastic save by Revolution goalkeeper Đorđe Petrović.
In the 63rd minute, Querétaro midfielder #12 Jaime Valencia was issued a yellow card for a foul on Revolution midfielder Nacho Gil.
In the 65th minute, Querétaro defender #14 Federico Lértora was issued a yellow card for a foul on Revolution midfielder Ian Harkes.
Querétaro’s next best chance came in the 73rd minute when defender #2 Omar Mendoza was found wide open at the back post and met with another spectacular save by Đorđe Petrović at close range.
Entering the 78th minute, New England leveled the match with a wonder strike.
The 18-year-old kid! ?
What a way to score your first #NERevs goal Esmir Bajraktarević.
An equalizer against Club Querétaro in the 78th minute. pic.twitter.com/YoFmXwK1wT
— Major League Soccer (@MLS) August 8, 2023
Midfielder Matt Polster received the ball from DeJuan Jones on the left flank and played a central low-driven pass to find Esmir Bajraktarević. His spectacular half-turn set him up for a left-footed volley into the bottom left corner. This is Esmir’s first professional goal for the New England Revolution’s first team.
New England had yet another chance in the 86th minute when Matt Polster’s right-footed shot was saved for a corner kick.
As the match entered the 92nd minute, Giacomo Vrioni just missed the rebound from Dave Romney’s header to let the ball out for a goal kick.
After the 90 +2 minutes, the match ended 1-1 and entered the penalty shootout.
Straight to penalties we go.
? @FS1, @UniMas, @AppleTV: https://t.co/Vr7jZm0ml0#NEvQRO 1-1 | #LeaguesCup2023
— New England Revolution (@NERevolution) August 8, 2023
Following both coin tosses, New England won both tosses and elected to shoot toward the Revolution supporters and elected to shoot first as well.
New England’s first penalty kick taker was Giacomo Vrioni. His left-footed effort went into the middle left of the net past Querétaro goalkeeper #35 Fernando Méndez to make it 1-0.
Querétaro’s first penalty kick taker was forward #15 Ángel Sepúlveda. His right-footed effort went into the bottom right corner past Revolution goalkeeper Đorđe Petrović to level it 1-1.
New England’s second penalty kick taker was Matt Polster. His right-footed effort went into the top right corner past Querétaro goalkeeper #35 Fernando Méndez to make it 2-1.
Querétaro’s second penalty kick taker was defender #4 Kevin Escamilla. His right-footed effort went into the top left corner past Revolution goalkeeper Đorđe Petrović to level it 2-2.
New England’s third penalty kick taker was DeJuan Jones. His right-footed effort went into the middle right of the net past Querétaro goalkeeper #35 Fernando Méndez to make it 3-2.
Querétaro’s third penalty kick taker was forward #9 Jonathan Torres. His right-footed effort went into the bottom left corner past Revolution goalkeeper Đorđe Petrović to level it 3-3.
New England’s fourth penalty kick taker was Nacho Gil. His right-footed effort into the bottom left corner struck the post and was saved by Querétaro goalkeeper #35 Fernando Méndez to keep it 3-3.
Querétaro’s fourth penalty kick taker was midfielder #14 Federico Lértora. His right-footed shot went into the bottom left corner past Querétaro goalkeeper #35 Fernando Méndez to give Querétaro the 4-3.
New England’s fifth penalty kick taker was Ian Harkes. His right-footed effort into the middle left of the goal was saved by Querétaro goalkeeper #35 Fernando Méndez to win the match for Querétaro 4-3.
With the penalty shootout win @Club_Queretaro has punched its ?️ to the quarterfinals!#LeaguesCup2023 pic.twitter.com/61fPFIKvy0
— Leagues Cup (@LeaguesCup) August 8, 2023
Querétaro F.C. advances to the Quarterfinal. They are set to face the winner of Philadelphia Union/New York Red Bulls.
The New England Revolution (12-7-4, 43 pts.) return to MLS play on August 20th as the team heads to Nashville, Tennessee to face Nashville SC (11-8-5, 38 pts.) in an MLS Match. The match kicks off at Geodis Park at 7:30 p.m. ET on MLS Season Pass on the Apple TV app.
(Editor’s Note: For more of Burt Granofsky’s photos, click on the link)
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