FOXBOROUGH, MA– The New England Revolution (10-6-3, 36 pts.) were victorious in a back-and-forth 2-1 victory over Toronto FC (3-10-7, 19 pts.) in a match on Saturday night.
The match kicked off at 7:30 p.m. ET at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts to a crowd of 24,596.
Foxboro, Massachusetts: The New England Revolution starting eleven before a MLS game between the New England Revolution and Toronto FC at Gillette Stadium on June 24, 2023. (c) Burt Granofsky
The team started their lineup in a 4-4-2 formation with Đorđe Petrović starting in net with a backline of (left back) Ryan Spaulding, (center backs) Dave Romney, and Andrew Farrell, along with (right back) Brandon Bye. The midfield consisted of Matt Polster (defensive midfield), Emmanuel Boateng (left midfield), Latif Blessing (Right midfield) and captain Carles Gil playing ahead of them in the central role. (Center attacking midfield) The forward roles were manned by Bobby Wood (Left) and Gustavo Bou (Right)
Goalkeeper Đorđe Petrović returns to net following international duty with Serbia. Defender Ryan Spaulding also returns after returning from his loan deal with the Tampa Bay Rowdies early to replace DeJuan Jones (international duty).
Midfielder Noel Buck remained out of the lineup due to a lingering leg injury.
Defender Christian Makoun has been listed out of the lineup due to an injury that he had sustained while on international duty with Venezuela.
Foxboro, Massachusetts: New England Revolution defender Ryan Spaulding (34) in an MLS game between the New England Revolution and Toronto FC at Gillette Stadium on June 24, 2023. (c) Burt Granofsky
The match kicked off with Toronto starting from the center circle. Foward #9 C.J. Sapong took the kickoff and passed it straight back to midfielder #14 Mark Anthony-Kaye. He then played the ball wide to defender #3 Cristian Gutiérrez, who elected to play it backwards for Toronto to build their attack.
The first 10 minutes of action was back-and-forth, but the first moment of the game came for Toronto entering the 11th minute, and they took full advantage.
Fast start in Foxborough ⚽️ pic.twitter.com/xTt5ygxJEt
— Toronto FC (@TorontoFC) June 25, 2023
Midfielder #14 Mark Anthony-Kaye played the ball centrally to find forward #9 C.J. Sapong. He then played it backward to #24 Lorenzo Insigne atop of the area. Instead of electing for the shot, Insigne played the ball wide to defender #3 Cristian Gutiérrez. His left-footed floated delivery was initially missed by Dave Romney and found midfielder #29 DeAndre Kerr at the far post who used his height to his advantage, as he rose above Ryan Spaulding for his team leading 3rd goal of the season.
Foxboro, Massachusetts: Toronto FC forward Deandre Kerr (29) celebrates a goal in a MLS game between the New England Revolution and Toronto FC at Gillette Stadium on June 24, 2023. (c) Burt Granofsky
Toronto continued their attacking threat as just 5 minutes later, #24 Lorenzo Insigne drove past 3 Revolution defenders before forcing goalkeeper Đorđe Petrović to make the save. The initial rebound was not cleared, and managed to find #10 Federico Bernadeschi, but his shot flew over the crossbar.
After Bernadeschi’s miss, New England had their first chance of the match when midfielder Carles Gil’s delivery to the back post found Brandon Bye, but his header was just over the crossbar.
In the 32nd minute, New England equalized.
Bobby WOOOOOOOOOD!!!! pic.twitter.com/QaFUR8y5tB
— New England Revolution (@NERevolution) June 25, 2023
Midfielder Latif Blessing played the ball wide to defender Ryan Spaulding. He then played the ball to his left to find Emmanuel Boateng, who sent a left-footed cross into the box which was initially won by Toronto defender #2 Matt Hedges. His header then found the feet of Revolution forward Bobby Wood, who took 3 touches before unleashing a left-footed shot that knuckled down and away from goalkeeper #18 Gregory Ranjitsingh for his team leading 7th goal of the season.
Foxboro, Massachusetts: Revolution players celebrate a tying goal in a MLS game between the New England Revolution and Toronto FC at Gillette Stadium on June 24, 2023. (c) Burt Granofsky
Entering the 40th minute, New England thought they had gained the lead after a long switch by defender Ryan Spaulding to Brandon Bye, he played a low-driven ball into the area that found Gustavo Bou, who managed to heel-flick the ball past goalkeeper #18 Gregory Ranjitsingh. After a VAR check, Bou was offsides by about 5 yards.
Just before halftime, Carles Gil had a masterclass moment when he took on #14 Mark Anthony-Kaye, played the ball through the legs of #23 Brandon Servania, and then played a left footed shot that went just wide of the goal.
After the 45 minutes, the Revolution entered halftime with the scoreline level at 1-1.
Level at the half. There's more goals out there for us.#NERevs | @SantanderBankUS pic.twitter.com/77zzGjJmPe
— New England Revolution (@NERevolution) June 25, 2023
In the 46th minute, Head Coach Bruce Arena made his first substitution of the match by replacing forward Gustavo Bou with forward Giacomo Vrioni. According to Revolution Senior Staff Writer Jeff Lemieux, Gustavo was substituted due to precautionary tightness in his leg.
New England had the first chance of the second half when midfielder Carles Gil’s longshot went just wide of the right post. Just 30 seconds later, New England gained the lead.
??? pic.twitter.com/GaemaDP6H6
— New England Revolution (@NERevolution) June 25, 2023
After midfielder Carles Gil played a long ball up the center of the field, he found forward Bobby Wood, who took 3 touches before squaring the ball into the box to find forward Giacomo Vrioni, who then took 3 touches of his own before his right footed shot snuck into the bottom left corner past #18 Gregory Ranjitsingh for his 4th goal of the season.
Foxboro, Massachusetts: New England Revolution forward Giacomo Vrioni (9) celebrates a goal with New England Revolution defender Brandon Bye (15) and New England Revolution forward Bobby Wood (17) in a MLS game between the New England Revolution and Toronto FC at Gillette Stadium on June 24, 2023. (c) Burt Granofsky
As the 54th minute came, New England continued to put the pressure on Toronto as they had yet another scoring opportunity when Carles Gil found Bobby Wood, but his close-range shot was blocked.
Toronto’s first chance of the match came in the 57th minute when Đorđe Petrović denied #24 Lorenzo Insigne from long distance. Less than a minute later, #7 Jahkeele Marshall-Rutty had a chance of his own, but his effort was again parried away by Đorđe Petrović.
Entering the 71st minute, Đorđe Petrović made the save of the match.
DJORDJE 'HIM' PETROVIC pic.twitter.com/ugEOFXVnCR
— New England Revolution (@NERevolution) June 25, 2023
After a close range shot by #7 Jahkeele Marshall-Rutty, Petrović had to re-adjust before making the diving stop. The close-range effort by #17 Sigurd Rosted was blocked by Dave Romney, and the ball was then cleared by defender Ryan Spaulding.
In the 87th minute, Head Coach Bruce Arena made his second and final substitution of the match by replacing forward Bobby Wood with defender Omar Gonzalez.
As the 90th minute approached, Toronto believed that they had found the equalizer. Following a long ball from midfield by #7 Mark Anthony-Kaye, the ball found #24 Lorenzo Insigne in-behind and his right-footed shot went past Đorđe Petrović. The linesman quickly called it for offsides, and the play was reviewed. The offsides call stood, and New England held their breaths and the 2-1 lead.
After the 90 +3 added minutes, the Revolution held on for the 2-1 victory.
⚽️ FINAL SCORE THREAD ⚽️
The #NERevs take down Toronto to make it 10 games unbeaten at home. pic.twitter.com/0a9c1dMG7g
— Major League Soccer (@MLS) June 25, 2023
In regard to historic marks, Midfielder Matt Polster made his 100th appearance for the New England Revolution across all competitions and registered his 150th career MLS start. (The midfielder has appeared in matches for the Chicago Fire 2015-2018).
The Revolution also break their own record for best home start as they have begun the 2023 campaign unbeaten at home (7-0-3). (Previous record was 9 unbeaten at home).
The New England Revolution (10-6-3, 36 pts.) head out to Cincinnati, Ohio to face MLS Eastern Conference leaders FC Cincinnati (13-4-2, 43 pts.) in an MLS Match on Saturday, July 1st. The match kicks off in TQL Stadium 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)
New England Revolution
Toronto FC
