Vrioni’s second half brace leads to victory versus Orlando City SC

FOXBOROUGH, MA– The New England Revolution secured a victory in a 2-1 versus Orlando City SC in their fifth and final preseason friendly match at Exploria Stadium in Orlando, Florida.

The match kicked off at 7:30 p.m. and was the first broadcast match on Apple TV. The Revolution featured a strong squad that lined up in a 4-2-3-1 formation to start. This starting 11 featured goalkeeper Đorđe Petrović and had center-back Dave Romney (left) and Henry Kessler (right) taking charge in the middle. The outside-back positions were manned by DeJuan Jones (left) and Brandon Bye (right). The defensive midfield positions were manned by Jack Panayotou alongside Matt Polster. In the attacking midfield, the team went with captain Carles Gil in the central attacking position with Dylan Borrero (left) and Damian Rivera (right). Striker Bobby Wood started the match as the lone striker.

Starting XI v Orlando City SC

The match was a battle right from the start with Đorđe Petrović making some stellar saves early on in the match. 17′ minutes in, Orlando City struck first due to a pressing mistake by the Revolution backline. The counter-attack on the right side led to a ball slid across the box to Iván Angulo marked by Brandon Bye who managed to finish off the attack with the goal.

New England did not back down as they continued with a variety of free-kick opportunities and attacks but ended up entering halftime down 1-0.

Image Courtesy of New England Revolution

As the squad took the field for the second half, DeJuan Jones, Jack Panayotou, and Bobby Wood exited the match and were replaced by Giacomo Vrioni, Noel Buck, and Christian Makoun.

With attacks lingering, the team came out of the gate with an intense new look and continued to press on and take control of the match.

Entering the 63′ minute, the Revolution ended up making two more changes as Dylan Borrero and Damian Rivera were replaced by Justin Rennicks and Trialist Ema Boateng.

Just 7 minutes later in the 70′ minute, an Ema Boateng cross found a wide-open Giacomo Vrioni who headed the ball home past Gallese to give tie the match.

Great stuff by Ema and Vrioni, but Rennicks also deserves credit for his distraction run #NERevs pic.twitter.com/V97H8DMLir

— Seth (@SethMan31) February 19, 2023

Entering the 78′ minute, the Revolution made their final substitution as Trialist Noble Okello replaced Matt Polster.

Just 4 minutes later, Brandon Bye looked to cross the ball to forward Giacomo Vrioni on the attack and as he lunged for the ball, this led #6 Robin Jansson of Orlando City to score an Own Goal to give New England the 2-1 lead.

It will go down as an own goal but Vrioni is making the right runs. That’s huge #NERevs pic.twitter.com/1GT7NqfN9o

— Seth (@SethMan31) February 19, 2023